No part of your story exists in isolation. They are merely a component of a greater whole; just as walls and a roof disconnected from its foundation would collapse, so also will your story if each element doesn’t dovetail into the other. Because of this, writers need to understand how each part of the story fits together.

Here are some articles that examine a story’s major components and how they work together:
• Five elements of a story 
• Five parts of a plot 
• Types of conflict (the heart of every story) 
• Character arc