The skeleton in the closet

There are a couple of ways of looking at plot, ranging from the bird's-eye view at a macro level to the order of scenes, and events and incidents within scenes. The one most people run across first - and one of the most useful ways of looking at it for many writers - is the macro level plot skeleton.

The basic plot skeleton works like this:  your protagonist has a problem — solving the murder, stealing the Hope Diamond, restoring the True King to the throne, winning the love of a good...