So, you wanna be a financially successful author, eh? Unless you set a solid theme within a defined genre using appropriate archetypes, your goal may prove elusive.

A plot without a conflict is like a car without a gas tank: It might look lovely from a distance but it isn't going to get you anywhere.

A plot is more than "one darned thing after another" — it's an opportunity to highlight a story's conflict through plausible, meaningful sequences of events.

Every good story balances speech — both internal and external — against action, within a defined place-and-time that, in itself, functions as a character.