Zen and the Art of Plot
Always Keep Your Readers Wanting More
There is an old adage that there are only so many fundamental stories in the world, and we’re just retelling them in different ways.
In his book The Seven Basic Plots, Christopher Booker describes for us what he sees as the seven essential plots to all stories, and how these are archetypal to all people and cultures. He’s on his game in this book. There are deep-rooted psychological and cultural reasons that we are bound to these seven plots, things which just are fundamental to who and what we are.
For a writer, this can feel a little uncomfortable. “So I’m just telling the same story millions of people have already told?”
The short answer? Yes. Yes, you are.
Thing is, if you zoom back from your characters, your dialog, your setting, your examination of the societal through the metaphor of the individual, what you’re going to find is a basic plot that, yeah, has been done by writers and storytellers since the dawn of narrative.
Don’t feel badly. We all are fenced in by the archetypal story plots. And that’s okay. You aren’t going to get around archetypes. That’s the scaffolding within which we create. To use a term I never use because I don’t play golf: It’s par for the course.
