Without Motivation, your characters are floundering.

Motivation is as important to your plot as the Premise. Your characters must have a goal that they're aiming for. A burning desire. Whether it be to win the person of their dreams, or to stop a terrible event from taking place, they must have a path to follow. And that path must be lined with obstacles. Someone is trying to stop them from accomplishing their goal. For instance: a man wants to marry the fiance he cannot  live without. Meanwhile, a former suitor interferes. He loves the girl and refuses to give her up. So he bribes the caterer to deliver food that is unpalatable to the wedding. He bribes their flower shop to send dead flowers and so on. How does the potential groom discover the deception and stop it in time to make the wedding a perfect event? That's where a writer comes in. You need to make it happen--in a believable way. So remember: Motivation and Obstacles are driving forces in any novel. Without them, there is no story. At least not a page turner.