i need some help with developing my plot

So I have had this idea for a while and I really want to start writing it but it feels like its missing something? Its a fantasy, adventure story.

Here's the 1st Plot/Summary I made for it:

What do you do when a Curse turns into a Dream come true? Princess Flora, 16 year old soon to be 17, eldest child & daughter of the King and Queen of Talam and the future ruler of her kingdom wants nothing more than to fly free. Ever since a young age Flora has always been attracted to Birds, Butterfly's and….. Dragons. So what do you do when you meet a little girl on the night of your 17th birthday in the garden's who curses you but it turns out to be a dream come true? Well almost a dream come true, the curse brings Flora outside the safety of her kingdom. Where Flora faces new challenges such has a Duke trying to get payback, Knights wanting to kill their first dragon, and a tempered Dragon Prince cursed to be human.

I want to make the plot more Young Adult based and a bit darker but I am not sure how do that while keeping my center idea for the story or completely changing it but keeping the characters since I have developed them a lot.

Looks like a good synopsis, but not really a plot. What you have here seems to be the setup. This is a good start -You have enough here to start working on a first draft. What exactly does the curse do (Does it turn her into a dragon?) That part was unclear. Overall It sounds good, but ask if you need help on conflict and resolution later in the story.

Hi, Just be clear Flora has been turned into a dragon correct? Ha, hopefully I read that right or else all of this will be pointless, Anyway, the duality of a curse that is taken as a blessing is a great idea and a great tagline, anyhow before you can go much further in this plot I'd suggest making sure you know your character very well, for example why is she cursed? there must be a reason, was it because she mistreated the little girl who turned out to be a sorceress (?, I'm guessing) in disguise? People aren't cursed for no reason, even if it's for something not her own fault (like said sorceress having a beef with the king or queen) or if it's a long con the whole time (Flora was such a good person she was "cursed" all the while the sorceress herself knew how much she'd love it.) Or what does flora find out about herself, is she an selfish girl who wants only her own desires and then by the end of the story realizes she desires only to go back home with a new appreciation for her family (This is a very Disney Trope) Or is she some kind of chosen one and is fated to use this new power to overthrow a greater evil (This is a very Young Adult Fiction Trope) But also it's worth mentioning you of course know your story and characters much more than I do. For the duke you mentioned, you should ask yourself who is he and why he wants revenge, does he know the dragon is flora and desire to kill her? does he simply hate all dragons in general or is it more personal? or has he tragically mistaken her for someone else?
The idea of a Knight wanting to kill a dragon to prove himself is my favorite because it can go in many different directions, he might be boy raised into knighthood and wanting to make his family proud but not really wanting the life he's been assigned to (That's very YA). he could come close to killing her but not have the heart to and become a friend of even romantic interest or (in the interest of darkness) he could spare her life, lie about not being able to and then try to kill her later once she trusts him and her guard is down. Also how intelligent are dragons compared to humans? can they still learn think and speak like we can? You'll need to know this for your dragon prince (lovely Idea by the way) to know if he can talk or fit in with human society. Anyway that's a lot of things and I hope some of them help at least a little bit, it's a really fun idea though I must say at the moment it sounds more like a story that'd be better loved by a preteen audience then typical "young adult"audience. Anyway though great start good luck etc.

Looks like a good synopsis, but not really a plot. What you have here seems to be the setup. This is a good start -You have enough here to start working on a first draft. What exactly does the curse do (Does it turn her into a dragon?) That part was unclear. Overall It sounds good, but ask if you need help on conflict and resolution later in the story.

The curse does transform her into a dragon and yes I do need help with the conflict part and resolution part. I do realize that what I have is good enough to start the first draft its just that in between and ending I am struggling with.

@Azuresbend

Okay so I hope I am about explain this well if it confuse's you please let me know. Answering your first and second question on why she is cursed is connected with the Duke. So The Duke hired a witch to curse Flora, the Witch pretends she is a child and acts like she is lost in the castle and Flora being good-hearted person decides to help her.

And the curse part has more to do with beef with Flora's father, King Tarkon. The Duke is King Tarkon's older brother, he originally was suppose to be King when Tarkon and The Duke's father mysteriously died and left a will. The will stated that Tarkon was to be crowned King instead of The Duke (Ardyn is the duke's real name). Their is a whole separate story between Tarkon and The Duke.

Basically The Duke has decided to get back at King Tarkon by targeting Flora who is the Crown Princess and next in line for the throne. I should also mention that King Tarkon has a deep hate for magic (like King Uther from Merlin but toned down a bit) because of The Duke. So the Duke decided instead of killing Flora on spot, cursing her instead, since if there is a magical creature loose near the kingdom Tarkon is likely to send Kinight's to kill it. Especially if Tarkon believe's that the dragon kidnapped or killed Flora.

This leads into your third question about the Knight, the Knight his name is Ayven. He has grown up in Talam and his family is from a long line of Knights and Nobility. So it is expected for any son heir in his family to be a knight, when Ayven would really rather be an Alchemist but follows with the Knighthood to make his sickly Father proud. He is actually pretty close to Flora since the two have grown up together and he is basically a brotherly figure to Flora and her siblings.

The Head Knight convinces King Tarkon to let Ayven help hunt the dragon as a way for him to graduate and achieve full Knighthood. I really like your idea of him gaining Flora's trust then turning on her. (Maybe because he thinks she is lying and actually kidnapped Flora.)

Onto your next question, the Dragons are very intelligent in this world on par and above Human intelligence. They all can speak to Human's and are generally peaceful unless one of their own kind is killed. There also fast to learn while they might not understand some forms of Human Education they are great storyteller's and remember everything. This follows into the Dragon Prince that is cursed to be Human. Ignis, the Dragon Prince is next in line to lead the Dragons so his father made sure he had a good understanding of Humans since he would have to speak and trade with them when he is on the throne.

This also leads into more of how the curse works, the only way the Witch could turn Flora into a dragon is there was an equivalent exchange. This is why Flora and Ignis will have an important relationship since they both are key to the other turning back.

I hope that gives some more insight on the basis of the story and if anything needs more explanation i will be glad to respond.

@InTheRye Ha, WOW that was all amazing, okay I take it back obviously you know what you're doing and it sounds great. You have a lot of in depth character motivations and a whole backstory set up (no offense but your first post didn't exactly make it seem like you did) names and everything. It looks like you have a lot more than even you seemed to think you did. It's funny actually when I first replied I was going to ask you if the dragons were similar in intelligence to kilgharrah from Merlin but wasn't sure you'd know the reference but obviously you do, Ha. But this has the makings of an interesting story and I think you're on a good track.

@InTheRye Ha, WOW that was all amazing, okay I take it back obviously you know what you're doing and it sounds great. You have a lot of in depth character motivations and a whole backstory set up (no offense but your first post didn't exactly make it seem like you did) names and everything. It looks like you have a lot more than even you seemed to think you did. It's funny actually when I first replied I was going to ask you if the dragons were similar in intelligence to kilgharrah from Merlin but wasn't sure you'd know the reference but obviously you do, Ha. But this has the makings of an interesting story and I think you're on a good track.

Well I am glad then! As i was writing that out it helped me realize I had more depth to it then I thought. I think what I am struggling with is writing it out in a way that flows and whether or not people would be interested in reading it. I also am having trouble with the resolution of the story, since I hope to make a sequel focusing on Flora's brother.