How To Form A Story

 There are three core needs to creating a story.

1. Characters 

2. Plot

3. Conflict

...I get every story needs a character, but plot and conflict are the same thing. 

No, no they aren't. Conflict is the thing the cast of characters is to overcome. Plot is how the cast of characters overcomes said conflict. 

...But why must there be conflict? My romantic pairing is awesome. They totally belong together, and I don't want any of that ugly conflict. I want my story to be beautiful and positive.

Sure. But why do they belong together? What brought them together? What makes them stay together? What makes your story interesting if there is no conflict?

There is technically a fourth core need in a story, and that is investment. If the reader doesn't care, they're not going to read or even want to remember your story. It's not interesting to read that a random couple blinked near each other, instantly fell in love, and lived happily ever after. What's there to invest in? What's interesting about that? Nothing.

What is interesting is reading about a vision impaired female and a hearing impaired boy violently slamming into each other in the middle of crossing a busy street, and both of them drop their identical briefcases. Rushing to not get hit in said busy street, they rush to pick up said identical briefcases to continue onto their destinations. But wait! They figure out later on in a tension filled and important moment, that they picked up the wrong briefcases and they need to get the correct briefcase back. But how? How does a random female who can't see and a random man who can't hear find each other in the big, bad city, and organically fall in love along the way. All the while, salvaging said screwed up important moment or opportunity that the mixed up briefcases caused in the first place. I'll leave that up to you to read and find out. 

This example isn't a Pulitzer masterpiece, but this story has all three core needs. 

1. Characters: The girl and the boy

2. Plot: How the characters get their briefcases back

3. Conflict: The characters have to overcome their impairments to find each other in a large city.

Conflict is what makes your plot interesting. Conflict is what brings organic character growth. Interesting plot and organically changing characters is what makes readers want to read your story, invest in it, and remember it. Conflict is beautiful.