The Place For My Writers Notes

Original posting 4 September 2007

Hum. Little or no time, but on another list, I saw a rehash of the famous discussions of how many plots are there (and what good does it do)? Anyway, along the way various folks starting spouting out their "plot skeletons" - the key notions that they use to hang a story by, if you will.

E.g. man against man, man against society, man against nature.

Or maybe:

Rescue the victim
Slay the monster
Find the treasure

boy meets girl
sin and redemption
betrayal and revenge
impersonation
overcoming high odds
quest

There's Polti's list of dramatic elements, there's the 20 masterplots, plenty of plots to go around.

But what are the ones you like to use? If you want to start with one of the big lists, at least highlight the ones that you really feel driven to write about. Or maybe just start from your own heart, and try to sketch out the ones that sing for you right now.

Make a list of . . . say five to ten . . . key plot skeletons for you. Give each one a memorable title, and maybe sketch in the main acts or scenes of the plot. Feel free to share your list with WRITERS (that's us) or keep it close. But consider drawing up a list of the plots you want to use, and when you feel dry, take a glimmer of the news or some such and consider how you might tell those stories again - you'll find that it refreshes both the stories and your juices.

Let the muse play sometimes.
watcha'tink?