Ever wondered if there’s a secret formula to crafting a compelling story? Whilst there’s no single right way, the majority of truly great stories do follow recognisable patterns. This prompts another question… Is there a finite number of plot patterns for stories?
Depending on who you ask, the number of plot patterns used for storytelling may differ, and recognising these patterns can help you understand the underlying structures of stories.
Let’s cut through the noise and take a peek behind the curtain of plot structures with a roundup of the main ones and some examples of stories that use them.
- What Is the Plot of a Story?
- How Many Different Story Plot Patterns Are There?
- The Three Basic Story Plot Patterns.
- The Seven Basic Story Plot Patterns.
- The 6 Definitive Story Plots.
- The Most Engaging Story Plot Patterns.
- Can You Use More Than One Plot In A Story?
- Stories Need a Plot to Keep the Audience Engaged.
- Get Sketches & Storytelling Delivered to Your Inbox.
What Is the Plot of a Story?
A story’s plot is the sequence of events that connect your audience to your protagonist and the goal they’re striving to achieve.
Simply put, it’s the ‘what happens’ in your story.
- Focus: The plot typically centres around the primary goal of the protagonist – the biggest challenge they’re trying to overcome – the story’s central problem.
- Structure: Plot points are interconnected, creating a chain of cause-and-effect events that propel the story towards a climax and resolution.
Stories rely on a series of plot points to flow logically and engagingly, and although a plot can be seen as a sequence, it doesn’t need to follow a chronological order. Plots can incorporate flashbacks, dream sequences, or other non-linear elements.
With that said, it’s important to understand that a story’s plot is different from plot patterns.
What Is a Plot Pattern?
Plot patterns are the recurring structures or frameworks that underlie a story. This essential element of storytelling can be used as a template that provides a basic framework for the narrative.
You can think of it this way:
Plot is like a unique recipe with specific ingredients and cooking instructions.
Plot pattern is like a general cuisine or cooking style, such as Italian or Indian, which provides guidelines on common ingredients, flavours and techniques.
How Many Different Story Plot Patterns Are There?
There are almost as many different numbers in answer to this question as times this question has been asked.
Pinpointing an exact number is tricky, as different theorists offer varying perspectives. The most prominent theories suggest three, seven, or six primary plot patterns, so let’s take a look at each of these…
The Three Basic Story Plot Patterns.
In his book, ‘The Basic Patterns of Plot’, William Foster Harris suggested three types of plot:
- Happy Ending: The protagonist overcomes obstacles and achieves their goals.
- Unhappy Ending: The protagonist fails to achieve their goals.
- Tragedy: A specific type of unhappy ending where the protagonist’s downfall is often a result of their own flaws or tragic mistakes.
The Seven Basic Story Plot Patterns.
In his book, ‘The Seven Basic Plot Points: Why We Tell Stories’, Christopher Brooker expressly listed seven main plot points that universally cover the plot structure of any story:
- Overcoming the Monster: The protagonist confronts and defeats a formidable enemy.
- Rags to Riches: The protagonist rises from poverty or obscurity to wealth, success, or fame.
- The Quest: The protagonist embarks on a journey to find a person, place, or object.
- Voyage and Return: The protagonist travels to a foreign land, undergoes transformative experiences, and returns home changed.
- Rebirth: The protagonist undergoes a significant transformation, often from a negative state to a positive one.
- Comedy: A humourous story that often involves misunderstandings, mistaken identities, and ultimately, a happy resolution.
- Tragedy: A story that depicts the downfall of the protagonist, often due to their own flaws or tragic circumstances.
Many academics agree upon this number of basic plots, each of which can be easily recycled and made different by their unique messages, settings, characters, and conflicts.
Let’s take a look at each of Christopher Brooker’s basic plots in a little more detail and see some examples of stories that use them.
Overcoming the Monster.
Overcoming The Monster stories involve a protagonist who must destroy a monster that usually threatens much more than just your protagonist’s life alone. In this battle of good versus evil, your monster must feel like a genuine threat, and failure to overcome it will prove fatal.
The monsters in this type of story can be literal, ideological, or even a combination of the two.
In classic tales, the decisive battle of overcoming the monster usually occurs in the monster’s lair.
Examples Of Overcoming The Monster Stories.
- Star Wars
- Beowulf
- Every James Bond
- It
- Jaws
Rags to Riches.
Rags To Riches stories involve a protagonist who is poor and downtrodden and struggles to get through each day until a series of events changes their circumstances and enables them to reach their potential and achieve their desires.
Although riches can mean wealth, it’s often used metaphorically in relation to the growth of your protagonist’s character and can be depicted by newfound strength, success, importance, power, or happiness.
Examples Of Rags To Riches Stories.
- King Arthur
- Cinderella
- Great Expectations
- A Knight’s Tale
- Memoirs Of A Geisha
The Quest.
Quest stories involve a protagonist who sets out on a journey to find a person, object, or place that’s located far away. The person, object, or place being sought doesn’t necessarily need to bring happiness or positive results.
Examples Of Quest Stories.
- The Lord Of The Rings
- Treasure Island
- Raiders Of The Lost Ark
- Around The World In 80 Days
- Finding Nemo
Voyage And Return.
Voyage And Return stories involve a protagonist setting off on a journey to a faraway place – usually a strange and enchanting world – returning to their normal world changed by the experience.
The events of a Voyage and Return storyline should have a profound effect on your protagonist that can change them for either better or worse.
Examples Of Voyage And Return Stories.
- The Hobbit
- Alice In Wonderland
- The Wizard Of Oz
- The Odyssey
- Castaway
Rebirth.
Rebirth stories involve a protagonist who is either set free from being trapped in a state of living death or makes a life-changing transformation, usually from bad to good.
In classic stories of this type, the protagonist doesn’t usually save themself, but this can be used to great effect for a protagonist to choose to change within themselves and resolve any inner conflicts.
Examples Of Rebirth Stories.
- ET: The Extra-Terrestrial
- Sleeping Beauty
- A Christmas Carol
- Beauty And The Beast
- The Lion King
Comedy.
Comedy stories involve a protagonist who must overcome a multitude of character flaws, misunderstandings, and muddled events before achieving a happy ending. They can often be define in three key ways:
- A story with a happy ending
- A story containing humour or satire
- A story about finding true love
Examples Of Comedy Stories.
- There’s Something About Mary
- Bridget Jones’s Diary
- Airplane
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream
- Monty Python And The Holy Grail
Tragedy.
Tragedy stories involve a protagonist who has to deal with events that ultimately lead to an unhappy ending resulting in their downfall.
Similar to comedy stories, tragedy stories are usually defined as such by their ending, which is always unhappy and the central problem is left unresolved.
A tragedy story doesn’t have to rely on an innocent protagonist who makes an irreversible mistake. It can also use a protagonist with an irredeemable character flaw or defect that leads to their demise.
Examples Of Tragedy Stories.
- Frankenstein
- Of Mice And Men
- Titanic
- The Hunchback Of Notre Dame
- Hamlet
The 6 Definitive Story Plots.
Researchers at the University of Vermont suggested six due to the computational data analysis of over 1700 English-language novels:
- Rags to Riches: A steady rise from bad to good fortune, or sadness to happiness.
- Tragedy or Riches to Rags: A fall from happiness to sadness, or good to bad fortune.
- Man in a Hole: A fall followed by a rise.
- Icarus: A rise followed by a fall.
- Cinderella: A rise followed by a fall, followed by another rise.
- Oedipus: A fall followed by a rise, followed by another fall.
The Most Engaging Story Plot Patterns.
The researchers at the University of Vermont came to another interesting conclusion due to their research and analysis. They determined the most engaging and successful plot patterns, based on the six definitive plot patterns they had established for their process.
The results showed that the most popular plot patterns were:
- Icarus: A rise followed by a fall.
- Oedipus: A fall followed by a rise, followed by another fall.
- Two Man In A Hole plot patterns back-to-back: A fall followed by a rise, leading to another fall followed by a final rise.
Can You Use More Than One Plot In A Story?
“Ask not the elves for advice, because they will tell you both ‘yes’ and ‘no’.”
– J.R.R. Tolkien
Every story should have a unique plot, however, many stories can be categorised under broader plot patterns and a story can incorporate various elements of these patterns as it progresses.
Let’s use The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien as an example, starting with the story summary, or plot, as found on Waterstones website:
Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable, unambitious life, rarely travelling further than the pantry of his hobbit-hole in Bag End.
But his contentment is disturbed when the wizard, Gandalf, and a company of thirteen dwarves arrive on his doorstep one day to whisk him away on an unexpected journey `there and back again’.
They have a plot to raid the treasure hoard of Smaug the Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragon…
Now there’s only one plot, but from that blurb alone you may spot a few of the plot patterns we’ve discussed:
- Voyage And Return: Bilbo journeys there and back again
- Overcoming The Monster: Bilbo must outwit the dragon Smaug
- Rags To Riches: Bilbo gains a share of the treasure, as well as another precious ‘gift’
- The Quest: Bilbo joins the company of Dwarves as a burglar on a quest to reclaim the Arkenstone
Whilst predominantly a voyage and return story, The Hobbit bears the hallmarks of other patterns as it unfolds. In terms of the definitive six, the plot of The Hobbit aligns closely with the Rags To Riches pattern – a steady rise from bad to good fortune, or sadness to happiness – a steady rise from comfort and naivety to courage and wisdom.
Stories Need a Plot to Keep the Audience Engaged.
Without a plot, nothing happens in a story. In fact, without a plot, there isn’t a story at all and your characters have no purpose or reason to exist.
A good plot will keep your audience hooked and engaged from beginning to end and with the many choices of plot patterns to choose from and combine, the possibilities are endless.
Great stories have many components, building blocks that you can’t tell a good story without and even if one of them is missing, your story will fail to capture your audience. Plot Patterns are just one of those ingredients. See my guide – The Essential Elements of Storytelling – to explore the others.
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