The Basic Plots

The plot is essentially what happens in the story, when you take out the details and boil it down to the most basic description that’s when you know what the plot is. There are a handful of plots that come up in every almost every story. While they can be combined in various ways and each story will vary wildly based on the other elements.

Overcoming the Monster

Don Quixote and Sancho Panza at crossroads by Wilhelm Marstrand

The triumph of good over evil the backbone of overcoming the monster stories. The protagonist represents the good in the world. The honest decent common folk, and the monster is the evil. The thing that makes their lives miserable.

The protagonist goes out to face a monster they can’t hope to win. The enemy is stronger, older, wiser, and better fortified. The battle seems unwinnable and their situation is dire, but the protagonist believes in what they’re fighting for. They believe that they are standing between evil and its dominion, so they find a way to win.

The story is satisfying if they find a way to use their unique advantages to beat the monster.

Rags to Riches

Rags to riches usually brings one story to mind, Aladdin. The story of a beggar that falls in love with a princess. To win her love he finds a way to become a prince.

A rags to riches story follows a protagonist from humble beginnings to great wealth. Usually they learn the value or lack thereof of material possessions along the way.

Quest

The quest story is a story with a goal at the end. The protagonist set off to reach some far away location. Sometimes what they find at the end of their journey isn’t what they set out to find.

Voyage and Return

A voyage and return plot is when a character travels away from their comfort zone, learns something, and returns back home having been changed from the experience.

Comedy

Comedies exist to be fun. Their highest purpose is to make the audience laugh.

Tragedy

A tragedy is a story that ends in disaster. A great tragedy has the protagonists major character flaw leading to their ultimate demise. The flaw in their character may be something out of their control, ultimately what makes a tragedy is the failure of the protagonist.

Rebirth

A rebirth story is a story where a character on a dark path awakens and grows as a person. The old version of themselves is cast off and a new, better version is left standing at the end of the line.