In Ronald B. Tobias’ book 20 Master Plots and How to Build Them, he gives an interesting outline of twenty different genre plots that the writer can use in telling a story.
The Quest Plot
The protagonist searches for a specific person, place or thing, tangible or intangible, for something that the character hopes will significantly change their life. This search is not for an object (like the Ark in Raiders of the Lost Ark); the object of the quest is wisdom, when the hero returns at the end of the story he or she is wiser and has gone through a meaningful change. The plot will include a motivating incident (inciting incident or catalytic event), which launches the character’s journey. The plot is character driven; it is a plot of the mind. Example: Don Quixote, The Grapes of Wrath, Seven Years in Tibet
The Adventure Plot
Here, the focus from beginning to end is the character making a journey; it is the story of a character going out into the world in search of adventure, new and strange places and events, and fortune. The character doesn’t necessarily go through a meaningful change. It often includes romance and the character is motivated by someone or something. Example: Robinson Crusoe, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea, The Time Machine, Raiders of the Lost ark
The Pursuit Plot
It involves the literary version of hide-and-seek; once character chases another. It is a physical plot where the chase is more important than the characters. There is a real danger of the pursued being caught. The race starts with the motivating incident. Example: Jaws, The French Connection, The Terminator, Alien, Romancing the Stone, Halloween.
The Rescue Plot
The character will go into the world, in search for someone of something, and will chase the antagonist. The plot depends on action; it is a physical plot. It relies strongly on a triangle: the protagonist, the victim and a great antagonist or antagonistic force. The hero wants to rescue the victim from the antagonist (or villain); the antagonist will interfere with the hero’s progress. The victim is usually the weakest of the three characters. Example: The Magnificent Seven, The Golden Child.
The Escape Plot
It is a physical plot; it concentrates its energy on the mechanics of capture and escape. The protagonist is confined against the character’s will and wants to escape. The antagonist has control of the hero during the first and second act of the story; the hero gains control during the resolution of the story. Example: The Prisoner of Zena, Papillon, Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
The Revenge Plot
The dominant motive for this plot is loud and clear: retaliation by the protagonist against the antagonist for real or imagined injury. The first rule of revenge is that the punishment must equal the crime; it is the concept of “getting even”. The hero’s justice is ‘wild’, vigilante justice that usually goes outside the limits of the law. It manipulates the feelings of its audience by avenging the injustices of the world by a man or woman of action who is forced to act by events when the institution that normally deals with these problems prove inadequate. The hero should have moral justification for vengeance, and the vengeance may be equal but may not exceed the offence perpetrated against the hero. Example: Hamlet, Four Brothers,
The Riddle Plot
The core of the riddle should be cleverness and the tension of the riddle should come from the conflict between what happens as opposed to what seems to have happened. This plot often involves conspiracies and mysteries that need to be resolved. The riddle challenges the viewer to solve it before the protagonist does. The answer to the riddle should always be in plain view without being obvious. Example: 2001: A Space Odyssey, Chinatown
The Rivalry Plot
A rival is a person who competes for the same object or goal as another. Two people may have the same goal – whether it is to win the hand of another or to conquer each other’s armies or to win a chess game – and each has its own motivations. The rival is a person who disputes the prominence or superiority of another. The nature of the rivalry should be the struggle for power between the protagonist and the antagonist. Example: the Odd Couple, Mutiny on the Bounty, Ben-Hur.
The Underdog Plot
The protagonist is at a disadvantage and is faced with overwhelming odds. In some ways this plot is predictable, the underdog usually succeeds usually (but not always) overcomes his opposition. Example: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Joan of Arc, Cinderella.
The Temptation Plot
To be tempted is to be induced or persuaded to do something that is unwise, wrong or immoral. The story of temptation started in the Garden of Eden; it is the story of the frailty of human nature. The plot examines the motives, needs and impulses of human character. The plot depends largely on morality and the effect of giving in to temptation; by the end of the story, the character should have moved from a lower moral plane (in which the character gives in to temptation) to a higher moral plane as a result of learning sometimes harsh lessons of giving in to temptation. The protagonist will often rationalise decisions to yield to temptation and may go through a period of denial after yielding to the temptation. The plot often ends with atonement, reconciliation and forgiveness. Example: Bedazzled.
The Metamorphosis Plot
The plot is about change; it’s as much physical as it is emotional. The metamorphosis is usually the result of a curse and the cure for the curse is generally love (parent for a child, people for each other, the love of God). The metamorph is usually the protagonist, and the plot usually shows thr process of transformation. It is a character driven plot, we care more about the nature of the protagonist than his actions. The audience learn reasons for the curse and its root cause. Example: The Wolfman, Dracula, Beauty and the Beast
The Transformation Plot
The plot deals with the process of change in the protagonist as the character journeys through one of the many stages of life. The plot isolates a portion of the protagonist’s life that represents the period of change, moving from one significant character state to another. One of the tests of character plots in general is the change the main character makes in his or her personality as a result of the action. The person is usually a different person at the end of the story than at the start of it. The plot examines the process of life and its effect on people. Example: Ordinary People, Pygmalion (My Fair Lady)
The Maturation Plot
The plot is about growing up; there are lessons to learn, and those lessons may be difficult, but at the end the character becomes (or will become) a better person for it. Whereas the transformation plot focuses on adults who are in the process of changing, the maturation plot focuses on children who are in the process of becoming adults. In this ‘coming-of-age-story’ the protagonist is usually a sympathetic young person whose goals are either confused or not yet quite formed. Example: The Killers, Great Expectations, Huckleberry Finn, Stand by Me
The Love Plot
The lovers are usually ill-suited in some way, they may come from different social classes or they may be physical unequal (blindness or handicapped). Love stories don’t need to have happy endings. Emotion is an important element in writing about love; a full range of feelings should be developed (fear’ loathing, attraction, disappointment, consummation, rejection, etc). The lovers should be taken through the full ordeal of love and should be tested (individually and collectively) and finally deserve the love they seek. Examples: The African Queen, Love Story, La Boheme, La Traviata, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
The Forbidden Love Plot
In this plot the love affair violates some social taboo, such as race, incest, adultery, and homosexual love. It is love that goes against the conventions of society; there is usually either an explicit or implicit force exerted against the lovers. The lovers ignore social conventions and pursue their hearts, usually with disastrous results. Example: Guess who’s coming to dinner; Lolita, Harold and Maude, L.I.E
The Sacrifice Plot
In this plot characters sacrifice themselves for an ideal. They subscribe to the belief that the needs of many outweigh the needs of the individual. The sacrifice should come at a great personal cost; the protagonist plays for high stakes, either physical or mental. The protagonist should undergo a major transformation during the course of the story, moving from a lower moral state to a higher one. Example: Norma Rae, High Noon.
The Discovery Plot
This plot dedicates itself to the pursuit of learning about the self rather than uncovering an assassination conspiracy or figuring out a mystery. It is a character driven plot, about people and their quest to understand who they are. Example: Portrait of a Lady
The Wretched Excess Plot
The plot deals with the psychological decline of a character. The decline is usually based on a character flaw. Characters are pushed to the extremes. The battleground can be alcoholism, greed, ambition, war, or any number of difficulties. Example: Requiem for a Dream, Leaving Las Vegas, Wall Street
Ascension And Descension Plot
These two plots occupy different positions in the same cycle of success and failure; the one deals with the rise of the protagonist, and the other deals with the fall of the protagonist. It is character driven, where a strong protagonist carries the entire story from beginning to end. Apocalypse Now is about a man’s journey into the blackness that is central to the heart and soul. , The Elephant Man is about the rise and fall of John Merrick. At the heart of the story is a moral dilemma; this dilemma tests the character of the protagonist/ antagonist, and it is the foundation for the catalyst of change in the character.