You watch, hear or tell a story every day but you applaud the one that touches you…that relates to you!
Every story you can relate to, excites you.
And you simply wonder how great the narrator would have been for he gave you “Oh-such-a-wonderful-story!”
You consider him a whiz with super innovative powers.
But what if I tell you, “You could be one of them.”? Yes, you read it right.
The world is full of stories and stories are filled with plots. While the entire world is trying to figure out how to develop interesting stories, we take you into the insides of developing a plot. We are sharing with you a tiny resourceful secret that will empower you too to plot a fantastic intriguing story of your own.
We call this secret – “The Knotty 7 Plot Secret”. These basic plots and a creative knack to fool around with them is all you need to build a connecting tale. A single theme or a combination of 2 or more themes boosts up the story. And for this the world is grateful to Christopher Booker for sharing these 7 basic archetypes:
- Overcoming the Monster
Every family has a black sheep and every story has a villain. Monster makes your story spicy and entertaining with his notorious acts. And your hero sets on the journey to confront the evil in any form and a story is created. This story should be a web of-
- Evil and dangers of evil
- Destruction of evil
- Victory of good over evil.
- Rags to Riches
A rag to riches is a onetime experience in a person’s life and no other incident can inspire people as much as a person who has achieved this. The leading character who once struggled for bread is now a well known person with all the luxuries and lavish status. Hard work, patience and dedication eventually pay off. This story has the elements of-
- Passion and big dreams
- Great effort and undying spirit
- Inspiration
- Success
- The Quest
The protagonist sets on an unknown journey to find the truth and the meaning of life and in this journey he discovers himself, life and the hidden treasures. The story brings out
- Lost identity/ hidden reality
- Expedition
- Finding a treasure or truth
- Voyage and Return
Your hero goes to some strange land as nobody but over there he faces struggle and situations that bring out the hero in him; he returns and makes people proud.
- Struggle and distress
- Victory and Pride
- Comedy
Protagonists attract the crowd with their sense of humor and win brownie points. Comedy looks easy but its creation is one of the toughest jobs for the team. While there are around 20 types of comedy, generally your stories revolve around-
- Wit
- Non sense/ Mindless fun
- Satire
- Black
- Irony
But in modern times, we can see the following scoring points –
- Spoof
- Stand up
- Sitcom
- Tragedy
Life revolves around tragedies and so do stories. While creating a tragedy look up to 3 E’s:
- Emotions
- Experiences and
- Evolvement of people connected to it.
- Rebirth
Even if you are no believer of rebirth, after coming across a wonderful rebirth story, I bet you will start acknowledging rebirth. Sometimes one life isn’t enough to make every odd even and so a hero is born again with the required might this time and a story is developed.
- The loose ends
- Reconnection
- Happy ending
If you think storytelling and such classic stories are meant just for typical Bollywood/Hollywood movies, you are undoubtedly under wrong impression. These classic plots have influence and importance present in every individual’s life and hence they are noticed every time you confront a story. Even the lullaby you grew up hearing every night has borrowed its shape from one of these archetypal storylines.
One of the more interesting aspect than these strategies is the fact that these plot lines have been adopted for marketing brands and products… for example American Tourister bag supports your voyage,Center Shock takes you to a tragedy whereas an Idea can change your life. In marketing “Customer is Hero” and a product is connected to him to create his personal story. Do notice it the next time you are being wooed by marketers.