Maximum number of possible plots?

[billhafan]

Tongue in cheek, As I feel Sci-fi/fantasy must surely offer a wider scope than listed, but Georges Polti stated in "The Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations" that there are only 36 possible plots to any story (though to me, a few of these can be grouped).

Many are told there are only 4:

1. Man v. Man
2. Man v. Himself
3. Man v. Nature
4. Man v. Supernatural

And there are variations on this to seven or twenty.

How many variations do you think there are?

 

[Venusian Broon]

Tough one,

I'd say the set of plot variations is somewhere near infinity, plus or minus 53. Or ten in total if it's a leap day.

But I think the set of schemes for categorising or ordering plots has a higher infinite cardinal number than the actual number of plots...

 

[Dozmonic]

It's irrelevant really. All stories are one plot:
1) stuff happens

If, however, you're writing and struggling to come up with ideas of how to advance a story, or what to use as subplots, then these sorts of ideas are worth looking at.

 

[Venusian Broon]

It's irrelevant really. All stories are one plot:
1) stuff happens

If, however, you're writing and struggling to come up with ideas of how to advance a story, or what to use as subplots, then these sorts of ideas are worth looking at.

I disagree with your categorising of plotting, I've read quite a few books where really nothing happens. So that'd be two basic plot designs.

 

[Dozmonic]

They just followed my plot badly

 

[skynes]

Every book seems to have a different idea on how many plots there are.

One book I read says if you boil every plot down to basics, you wind up with two:

1. Plots that focus on action and what's happening around the character.
2. Plots that focus upon the character and how he feels/thinks/reacts to the things that are happening.

He called them plots of the body and plots of the mind.

I guess most good books are a hybrid of the two, but the story will still be skewed, even slightly, toward one or the other.

 

[Gabe.]

There is only one type of plot. One where a conflict occurs. All plots are just specific types of conflict. There is no plot without conflict.

 

[Grinnel]

Many are told there are only 4:

1. Man v. Man
2. Man v. Himself
3. Man v. Nature
4. Man v. Supernatural

What is this "man" thing? Why is it so important to plot?

It seems that this "man" is your limitation here. Take it out and you have either no plot or infinitely more choice. I prefer more.

 

[billhafan]

It's always read to me that man v man can be read as individual v individual, or even nation v nation or zargs v zargs - just the lowest denominator that would cover matters.

Here's the interesting list that Georges Polti came up with - he was obviously trying to cover things with more specifics in mind, and it is said to be based on analysis of ancient greek texts and contemporary ones of his day - he knocked around in the 19th century:

1. Supplication, 2. Deliverance 3. Crime Pursued by Vengeance
4. Vengeance Taken for Kindred Upon Kindred 5. Pursuit 6. Disaster
7. Falling Prey to Cruelty or Misfortune 8. Revolt 9. Daring Enterprise 10. Abduction 11. The Enigma 12. Obtaining 13. Enmity of Kinsmen

14. Rivalry of Kinsmen 15. Murderous Adultery 16. Madness 17. Fatal Imprudence 18. Involuntary Crimes of Love 19. Slaying of a Kinsman Unrecognised 20. Self-Sacrifice for an Ideal 21. Self-Sacrifice for Kindred 22. All Sacrificed for Passion 23. Necessity of Sacrificing Loved Ones 24. Rivalry of Superior and Inferior 25. Adultery 26. Crimes of Love 27. Discovery of the Dishonour of a Loved One

28. Obstacles to Love 29. An Enemy Loved 30. Ambition 31. Conflict With a God 32. Mistaken Jealousy 33. Erroneous Judgement 34. Remorse 35. Recovery of a Lost One 36. Loss of Loved Ones


What do you make of his list? Missing a few, or not?

 

[TheDustyZebra]

4. Vengeance Taken for Kindred Upon Kindred

I can dispense with this one -- speaking from experience, we're* really not ambitious enough for all that vengeance. We mostly just stew in our own juices, smile, and say "fantastic" a lot.


*To make sense of this, one needs to be acquainted with my maiden name. Or any of my brothers would do as well, I suppose.

 

[Gumboot]

All a plot is, is a connected sequence of events. Given the specific events of every single story are different, every single story ever written has a different plot, and the variety of plots is infinite.

I think it's understandable for laymen to use incorrect terminology, but this is meant to be a writing group. Plot, story and theme mean distinctly different things.

If, for example, we take the first post, the list of four things are types of dramatic conflict, not plots. Good stories centre around conflict, and often themes are explored via that conflict, but that is not plot.

 

[Ursa major]

It depends on the size of the cemetery, I believe.

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