Basic Plots

I had a dream last night that led me to a question about recycling basic plots in TV shows. When I woke up and thought about it a little, it led me to a Google search for "100 basic television plot lines". This led me to this blog entry and subsequently to Hatch's Plot Bank.

HPB could be used to develop a tool for classroom creative writing and for camp scriptwriting.
Some of the plots listed in it wouldn't be appropriate for kids, so a derivative would have to be developed.


The blog entry suggests that there is no definitive list of TV plots, but that several people have versions of it, including:

20 Master Plots (And How to Build Them) by Ronald B Tobias

1. Quest
2. Adventure
3. Pursuit
4. Rescue
5. Escape
6. Revenge
7. The Riddle
8. Rivalry
9. Underdog
10. Temptation
11. Metamorphosis
12. Transformation
13. Maturation
14. Love
15. Forbidden Love
16. Sacrifice
17. Discovery
18. Wretched Excess
19. Ascension
20. Descension

6 stories/plots according to Stephen King (From Secret Window, Secret Garden -
Four Past Midnight)

1. Success
2. Failure
3. Love and Loss
4. Revenge
5. Mistaken Identity
6. The search for a higher power, be it God or the Devil.

Literary Conflicts

1. Person vs. Self
2. Person vs. Person
3. Person vs. Society
4. Person vs. Nature/Environment
5. Person vs. Supernatural
6. Person vs. Machine/Technology

Christopher Booker's The Seven Basic Plots

1. Overcoming the Monster
2. Rags to Riches
3. The Quest
4. Voyage and Return
5. Comedy
6. Tragedy
7. Rebirth

Georges Polti's list of 36 is also mentioned. More on this later.