Most good stories start with a fundamental list of ingredients: the initial situation, conflict, complication, climax, suspense, denouement, and conclusion. Great writers sometimes shake up the recipe and add some spice.
Exposition
You Think You Have Social Anxiety
Cather Avery has just arrived at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to begin her freshman year. Her twin sister, Wren, didn't want to be her roommate—after all, they've been roommates their entire lives—so Cath's living with a super cool girl named Reagan. As if rooming with a hot, self-assured upperclassman wasn't enough, Reagan's best friends with her ex-boyfriend, Levi, which means he frequently loiters in Cath's room.
Fortunately, though, Reagan's usually out, leaving Cath plenty of time to hole up in their room writing Simon Snow fanfiction and eating protein bars and peanut butter for sustenance. The one bright spot in Cath's terrifying college existence is that she's been given permission to take a junior-level Fiction-Writing course with Professor Piper, a published novelist.
Rising Action
It's AllConflict and Complication When You're Cath
College is a triple-whammy of issues for Cath. First of all, even though Professor Piper likes her first assignment, giving her a big fat A, Cath gets a big fat F when she turns in a piece of Simon/Baz fanfiction. Second of all, Wren's started binge-drinking, which means she spends most of her time sucking down tequila with her roommate Courtney and ignoring Cath.
But the third complication is perhaps the most agonizing: Cath's fallen into mad crushitude with Levi, and when she kisses him, she thinks the crush is mutual. However, when she goes to a party at his house and sees him kissing another girl, she's ready to throw in the towel and leave UNL forever.
Climax
Let's Just Put the Whole Dang Family in the Hospital
Did we mention that Cath's dad is bipolar? When his daughters go off to college, Mr. Avery starts eating all his meals from a convenience store and working on advertising campaigns 24/7. Needless to say, he has a severe manic episode and ends up hospitalized.
Cath needs a ride back to Omaha to visit him, so she's forced to call on Levi, whom she's been dutifully ignoring ever since the party, since he's the only available person with a car. Mr. Avery pulls through, and Cath decides Levi's okay—which is a good thing, because she has to call on him again when Wren ends up in the hospital with alcohol poisoning shortly thereafter. Ugh.
Falling Action
I'll Be Over Here Holding the Insurance Card, Kissing My Hot Boyfriend
Cath and Levi have made it through the classic romantic plotline: They've covered boy meets girl, boy loses girl, and boy regains girl. Now it's all awkward sexual tension all the time, punctuated by the occasional make-out session.
Professor Piper, having refused to fail such a promising student for a single instance of gay vampire fanfic, gives Cath an incomplete, which means she has another semester to write her required short story. Cath's life has gotten decidedly better, but she still prefers writing Gemma T. Leslie's world to her own. While she races against the clock to finish Carry On, Simon before the publication of Leslie's eighth and final book, Levi encourages her to get it together and write the Professor Piper story, already.
Resolution
A Work/Gay Vampire Balance, At Last
To the delight of her fans, Cath finishes Carry On, Simon just before the eighth book comes out. She and Levi continue being awesome. Wren's punishment for nearly killing herself with booze is that she has to go home to Omaha every weekend, which means she and her dad are looking out for each other, which means Cath can stop worrying about them all the time. Yay. She and Levi profess their love for each other, and Cath finally writes the story for Professor Piper, which wins the Underclassmen Prize in the Prairie Schooner. Boo ya.