Often in the writing community, people define plot by conflict. “Story = conflict”–or so they say. In reality, goals, not conflict, are the true foundation and framework of plot. It’s by changing and evolving the protagonist’s goal that you truly progress the plot, not by how much or how little conflict you have.

This isn’t to say conflict isn’t important; it most certainly is. I still consider it a critical element (most of the time). But more important than that, is actually the goal, which is where true plot starts, anyway.

You can’t have conflict, until you have an antagonistic force. The antagonistic force is a form of opposition–it’s something in the way of the protagonist’s pathway. In other words, it’s something in the way of the goal. So, you can’t have a real antagonist, until the protagonist has a goal.

Okay, already some of you who are new around here, are chomping at the bit to tell me I’m wrong. You want to tell me you can think of great stories where the protagonist wasn’t pursuing a goal. She was just enjoying her life, until something interesting happened.

And that’s one of the problems with talking about goals in the writing community: most of us have a narrow idea of what a goal is. Too many of us envision big or aspirational goals, but that’s actually only one type of goal.