The fundamental aspect of the novel is that it tells a story--what happens and then what happens next and then what happens next.

A story is a narrative of events placed within a time sequence.

A plot is also a narrative of events, but its emphasis is on causality.

Here is the famous example of the difference between story and plot

• "The king died and then the queen died" is a story.
• "The king died and then the queen died of grief" is a plot.

The story asks and then?
The plot asks why?

A story requires curiosity.
A plot also requires intelligence and memory, intelligence because the reader picks up a fact and relates it to other facts and memory because it is the ability to recall facts.

A plot, then, is a series of events selected and arranged by the author of a work of fiction.

A plot does not depend solely on the sequence of events, but on the relationship between events, the way that one event might cause another and so on and so on.

Plot is the foremost element of much genre fiction:

• we read murder mysteries to find out whodunnit
• we read thrillers to see if the good guys will stop the bad guys from blowing something up
• we read romances to find out if the guy gets the girl

The plot-driven best seller is often referred to as a "page-turner"; what is making the reader turn the pages is a quickly moving plot.

Some novels have a main plot that focuses on the primary character's obstacles and goals and one or more subplots that focus on secondary characters.

For example, in The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, the main plot consists of the abused child Lily's search for the history of her mother. But subplots include Lily's relationship with Rosaleen, the nanny with whom she is traveling, and the inability of May to handle any kind of unpleasant situation.