The story is the WHO, WHAT, and WHERE. It is the chronological events—from which we learn who is in the story, what happens, and where it happened.
Plot, by contrast, is the HOW, WHEN, and WHY. It is a series of scenes that tells us how the characters act in relation to the central conflict, when in the context of these character’s lives the conflict occurs, and why characters act the way they do.
You need both in writing—not just in fiction—to provide a compelling narrative.
An example of something that is all story would be if you find yourself stringing together a series events by saying “and then, and then, and then.” It is harder to imagine something that is all plot, but it might be a piece of writing that discusses motivations and back stories while failing to describe any of the events that actually occur in the character’s life.
For example, in The Gift of the Magi, Della sells her hair, then she buys a watch chain, then she gifts the watch chain to Jim, and then Jim gives Della hair combs. That is story. You can already sees the contours of the plot in the series of events, but it would hardly be a satisfying piece of writing if O. Henry had only told us those events. We care that Della cut her hair because she was selling it, her most prized possession, for money to buy her husband Jim a gift. Jim, too, sells his most prized possession, his watch, because he wants to buy a gift for Della. We are moved by the story only because we get to see why the characters performed the actions they did.
Freytag’s Pyramid is a classic way of visualizing exposition, the inciting incident, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. You do not have to, nor should you, devote equal time to each part of Freytag’s pyramid. This type of visualization can be modified to fit the needs of your story—such as having more than one climax which naturally leads to more than one section of rising action and falling action.
The ABCDE plot structure is another way of organizing the events in your story.
Action: The events that set off the story. This section will introduce the setting, characters, and inciting incident.
Background: Provide background and context for the characters and their actions while the conflict is being developed. Obstacles help demonstrate motive, motivation, and character.
Climax (or crisis): The culmination the story where the conflict finally comes to a head.
Denouement: The events following the climax where you can explore the impacts of the climax; beginning wrapping up any loose ends.
Ending: The conclusion; something—the character, the world, or both—has changed and we cannot go back to how things were before the story began.
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