Which Plot is Right for Your Story?

A book, short story or screenplay without a well defined plot is like flesh without enough bones to appear human. The plot is the structure for the story. Perhaps one of life’s endless questions is: how many types of plots exist? 

In writing the Poetics, Aristotle (384-322 BC) described two plot types: simple and complex. His idea of a simple plot was linear where the action followed a logical conclusion based on the situation.  Ok, admit it: who thought the two plot types were good and awful? The complex plot was evident in the finest Greek tragedies where a series of circumstances cascaded to a fateful conclusion.

Since the Greek intellectuals faded away, writers continued to complicate Aristotle’s elegant simplicity. In 1959, William Foster-Harris in The Basic Patterns of Plots took this to 3 types: A –happy ending, B- unhappy ending, C-Literary plot or complicated situations where fate trumps facts or feelings.

In 1916, George Polti attempted to align plots with emotional responses and presented his book, The Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations based on work of Carlo Gozzi according to Goethe.  Who really did create this? With so much second hand information, it’s hard to tell. Regardless of the original source the concept seems like he is splitting literary hairs.  In my mind, “murderous adultery, adultery, crimes of love, necessity of sacrificing the loved one and dishonesty of a loved one” are fruit from the same poisonous tree.  Overlap among “disaster, falling prey to misfortune, erroneous judgment and remorse” are kissing cousins. 

Fans of Writer’s Digest Books learned from Ronald Tobias’ 20 Master Plots (1993) that there were spin-offs to the simple/complex including such plots as; the quest, rescue, temptation, underdog, metamorphosis, forbidden love and more.  Tobias was gracious enough to give many examples of books and plays that are based on each plot type. For me, this makes his book the most practical as a writer can see how the plots are shaped in an actual published work.

While thrilled to receive Tobias’ book in my Writer’s Digest book club order, this book initially did more to confuse than enlighten. Years later in the development stages of a fiction project, I dusted it off again and read. Then I realized my error; I was attempting to write a story to fit a plot. That made as much sense as an architect developing elaborate blueprints without asking the family who would live in that house about their lifestyle. When I paused to visualize in my mind the story and how it would progress from my outline, then it began to make sense which “plot” was right for the structure of my story.

Reading Tobias’ book and studying these plots in actual books provided necessary background information.  Find the right match between your story and plot type. Be willing to change your mind about the type of plot that works best. After all, to apply a well-worn phrase to plot selection: “If it (story) does not fit, you must edit it.”