I heard somewhere that in all of literature there are only two stories: someone comes to town; someone leaves town.
A book critic aptly named Christopher Booker posits seven different plots:
- Overcoming the Monster
- Rags to Riches
- The Quest
- Voyage and Return
- Rebirth
- Comedy
- Tragedy
The New York Times reviewer trashed Booker’s book, but still it’s an interesting idea. I’m trying to think of novels that don’t fit into any of these categories. Any thoughts? What’s your favorite category? If I had to choose one, it would probably be rags to riches.
P.S. I apologize for using the word “posit.” I don’t know what came over me.
6 Comments
The Quest!
golly. I’m tryting to understand what he might mean by ‘rebirth’ as a catergory…..and where do non-tragic love stories fit in? I’m currently thinking that most of the novels I like have elements from a lot of the categories in, but hard to pin them down to one…
Good questions, Crit. I went back to the original article to check on rebirth. The reviewer said that “inner journeys (from naïveté to wisdom, psychological paralysis to emotional liberation) form the armature of Rebirth tales like ‘Snow White’ and ‘A Christmas Carol.’” Hmmmm.
Maybe non-tragic love stories fit under comedy???
I think these are very fuzzy categories. I mean, isn’t rags to riches a type of rebirth? And don’t most quests usually involve a voyage and return, not to mention overcoming monsters?
I’m inclined to go back to the original coming-to-town or leaving-town theory. It has an elegant simplicity that the seven plots theory lacks. Can you tell I wasn’t an English major?
I’m with you on that - i like things simple more than complex….and that was the conclusion I’d come to about ‘re-birth’, that the character is somehow radically different at the end. I do prefer the ‘two stories’ theory much more! Now, how do we classify songs, if we’re reducing things so radically!
I had meant to respond to mrsd’s post, too. Mrsd, for some reason I was surprised you didn’t say rebirth. I guess in my mind I connect you with Anne of Green Gables, which I think you’ve mentioned a couple times here. And Anne is definitely a rebirth…unless she’s a Someone Comes To Town!
Songs–that’s a hard one. I’ve never even been able to come up with criteria for what makes a song good. Every time I do, I immediately think of a bunch of exceptions. The only category I can think of for music is What I Like and What I Don’t Like. I have to think about this some more.
Unless it’s a song that tells a story, in which case it’s Someone Comes To Town, or — heh heh!
Hmm, that statement has always bothered me a bit, as well as the line “there’s nothing you can write than hasn’t been written” (or something to that effect) by the Beatles. I can’t figure out whether that’s a comfort or a defeat. As a fledging writer it sounds an awful lot like a defeat to me.
But my favorite of those plots would have to be comedy. The world is always in need of some comic relief. And of the coming and going, ’someone leaves town’ is my favorite.
Really interesting post!
Cheers,
Willow