Evil and Maturity vs. Death scale that most of the scenes move on. For more on this, check out our respective guides on inciting incidents and climaxes. These ideas are not new, and I also have to acknowledge a huge debt to the story theorists who have gone before me, especially Blake Snyder, author of Save the Cat ; Robert McKee, author of Story ; and Shawn Coyne, author of Story Grid.
A MacGuffin is an object, place, or sometimes person of great importance to the characters of the story, and the thing that drives the plot. For example, the ring in Lord of the Rings , the horcruxes in Harry Potter, or the ark of the covenant in Indiana Jones.
Most adventure plot types revolve around a MacGuffin, and the inciting incident involves introducing the MacGuffin and its importance.
Main Event: Final showdown with the bad guys while trying to get the MacGuffin. The thriller plot type is closely related to the Action and Mystery plot types. Both begin with some kind of crime, contain investigative elements, and climax with the hero at the mercy of the villain. However, what makes it unique is there is always a horror element, a sense that this is somehow worse, more monstrous, than your average crime.
However, with thriller, the crime has a horror feel to it, the crime being particularly monstrous, brutal, etc. Main Event: Hero at the Mercy of the Villain. In the climactic scene, the main character is caught by the antagonist and at their mercy, showing their temporary dominance. Depending on the story arc, the protagonist may reverse their situation or succumb to the antagonist.
Value : Life vs. Fate Worse than Death in the sense of a restoration of Justice. Main Event: The Confession. The antagonist confesses to the crime and justice, the power of life over death, is restored. Main Event: Proof of Love. After some kind of separation, the protagonist must overcome obstacles to prove their love to the other. The core value of the performance story type is esteem, which is all about looking good in front of your community, usually after accomplishing a great feat or winning a widely recognized competition.
Performance stories—whether the performance medium is sports, music, art, or some other avenue—all contain an inciting incident where the characters enter a major tournament, performance, or competition. This competition is usually an actual event e.
Main Event: The Big Tournament. After preparing for the big event by overcoming smaller obstacles throughout the story, the protagonist faces their challenger in the final competition.
Main Event: The Revelation. In a moment of crisis, the protagonist has a major worldview revelation, leading them to see the world in a new, more sophisticated way. The value of good vs. Instead, the evil is within the character, and they must choose whether to do the good, self-sacrificial thing or the selfish, evil thing. Main Event: Judgement Day. Facing the consequences of their actions, the main character must either embrace their consequences and change or continue to attempt to escape them and face damnation.
Often this approach works best with either longer works, epics that combine many arcs into one story, or shorter works, like short stories, which may not contain all the elements of longer, more established plot types. However, combining or rearranging plot types is considered advanced. Consider before you attempt to come up with your own completely unique plot type, especially if you are a new writer, as you risk the story not working or getting lost in the plot and failing to finish.
Remember: working with an established plot type requires just as much creativity and flair for coming up with dramatic situations as invention your own. While most popular stories will fit within the ten plot types above, you could also get more specific by exploring subtypes. Subtypes are more specific plots with unique conventions, tropes, and characters.
Examples of subtypes include revenge plots, a subtype of action plots; heist plots, a subplot of adventure stories; or obsession love stories. Most stories that work will fall somewhere into the above plot types, and all stories that work will fall into the six value scales. Even as it has become a behemoth, its brand purpose of disrupting norms has proved remarkably durable.
It also can exploit the vulnerability inherent in the story to make a formidable brand seem open, friendly and approachable. Think Oprah. Johnnie Walker has used this narrative to amplify its brand of resilience and ambition.
Quest narratives abound, with their central metaphor being that the journey is worth more than the destination. This can be particularly useful for a young brand that is still developing and is in the process of building the origin story of its brand, or defining its why in the mind of the consumer.
TOMS, the shoe manufacturer that gives a pair of shoes to a needy child for every pair of its shoes purchased, emphasizes the quest narrative through its advertising. When brands are returning to prior ways of doing business, they are participating in a Voyage and Return narrative.
This can be useful for rebranding purposes, or working to restore a brand in crisis. Bud Light used this trope during a Superbowl spot in , with an ad that played with the return of a friend in a zombie-riddled world. Many brands effectively use humour to entertain and engage their customers. Well played, Old Spice. Tragedy is mostly off-brand. However, emotional connection is always valuable, and for some organizations, their major function.
But here are a few examples of stories in popular film and TV culture, told through performance, music, and animation.
Cult-classic fantasy film The Neverending Story is about a story that goes on as long as time exists. It unfolds in real time as the reader is reading it, who in this case is a boy named Bastian. So long as he keeps reading, the story will continue. The song quickly reviews the story of his past, which serves as an intro to what the show is about. Rowling tries to make the wizarding world seem as real as possible, and adding background is a big part of that.
Stories are a major part of every aspect of our lives, from what we read to what we do to what we talk and think about. Stories have always been and will always be at the core of not only literature, but life! The fresh prince of Bel Air theme song [short version]. List of Terms Action. Ad Hominem. Alter Ego. APA Citation. Comic Relief. Deus ex machina. Double Entendre. Dramatic irony. Extended Metaphor. Fairy Tale. Figures of Speech. Literary Device. Pathetic Fallacy.
Plot Twist. Point of View.
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