Quest Plot
The quest plot consists of 4 primary pieces:
1) The lead is incomplete somehow and generally has a typical life.
2) He/she searches for something of critical importance.
3) There must be huge obstacles preventing him/her from attaining it.
4) Character arc. The character must learn something. Must change somehow. Could be for better or worse, doesn’t matter.
It doesn’t matter whether the lead attains his goal. The important thing is what he learns, how he changes. It can be a change for the better or a change for the worse. Just so long as he changes.
It’s just like real life. Consider your own life. It’s been a quest has it not? Through our lives we chase our passions and dreams. We’ve often met with failure. But we kept pressing on and finally, finally we attained that goal!
Put your character through the same struggles. Her quest must come with challenges. She must learn something about herself, others, the world around her or all of the above. Her struggles teach her perseverance and she reaps its rewards. Attaining the goal then becomes oh so sweet.
And we can relate to that. The reader, or viewer, will feel her pain when she fails and share her triumph when she succeeds.
Pretty simply eh?