Who said there are only seven stories

Overcoming the Monster : The hero learns of a great evil and goes on a journey to destroy it. Star Wars qualifies. Any movie with Nazis in it. Some of the Rocky movies. Is it obvious I am a guy? Rags to Riches : A sad-sack beginning that leads to a happily ever after. Disney princess movies. Harry Potter. Most every rom-com. The Quest : Everybody loves a quest where the hero goes on a journey to find something, which can be a Lost Ark literal of figurative , a body Stand By Me , or even something unknown and unseen, which is known in Hollywood as a MacGuffin.

Sometimes the hero brings his entourage, too. A lot of epics are Quest stories. Like The Goonies. Some of my favorite biblical stories are quests, like Abram and The Wise Men. Voyage and Return : Like The Wizard of Oz , where Dorothy goes to a weird place with weird rules but ultimately returns home better off.

Comedies get their own category, too. They eventually figure it out, though. Note: you can make anything into a comedy. For example, Monty Python is a funny Quest movie, but the category here refers to a specific kind of plot, not just anything with humor. Tragedies are like riches to rags, where the villian gets it in the end. MacBeth and King Lear are classic examples. Or most slasher pictures if you go for that sort of thing. Which makes me wonder, are there any slasher movies where the bad guy cleans up and catches a ray of sun at the end?

You can also mix and match types, for example a lot of Quest movies throw in a monster to overcome. The original Rocky is a rags to riches quest movie. Star Wars is a rags to riches quest where the hero overcomes the monster on a voyage and return while the Villain experiences rebirth at the end. Oh, and throw in some Jar Jar for the comedy.

Update : For tips on incorporating these ideas into storytelling in your organization or church, click here. I think the protagonist is assumed in each of the newer categories. For example, the 90s popcorn movie Twister loved Helen Hunt in that movie would be man vs. What about the Bourne movies? Quest or Overcoming the Monster or Voyage and Return? Or all 3?! Bourne movies rock. Both are interesting typologies. The second list was the one I ran across a lot during that research.

Very Jungian. Well, relationship movies would be considered man vs. I thought it would be nice to note the difference. In theory, all movies should fit somewhere in this list.

Quest Quest stories are about a hero heading out on journey to achieve something great. While they face dangers along the way they succeed in achieving their goal. Voyage and Return Voyage and Return stories involve characters journeying to strange lands where they overcome threats or learn important lessons before returning home and sharing their adventures with friends and family. Rags to Riches Rags to Riches stories have a poor and unhappy hero facing incredible challenges.

They gain something, lose it, and then gain it back after overcoming great odds. The body beautiful. Red tape, white lies. Speculative science.

This sceptred isle. Root of all evil. Ethical conundrums. This sporting life. Stage and screen. Birds and the bees. Is it true, and what might these seven stories be? Jim McNeil, Sheffield, S.

I'M NOT sure about plots for stories, but plots for plays is something my father, the Irish playwright Denis Johnston, had a lot to say about. Originally he thought there were seven, but then he realised there are in fact eight: 1. Cinderella - or unrecognised virtue at last recognised.

It's the same story as the Tortoise and the Hare. Cinderella doesn't have to be a girl, nor does it even have to be a love story. What is essential is that the Good is despised, but is recognised in the end, something that we all want to believe. Achilles - the Fatal Flaw that is the groundwork for practically all classical tragedy, although it can be made comedy too, as in the old standard Aldwych farce.

Faust - the Debt that Must be Paid, the fate that catches up with all of us sooner or later. And in a completely different mood, what else is The Cherry Orchard? Tristan - that standard triangular plot of two women and one man, or two men and one woman. The Constant Nymph or almost any French farce.

Circe - the Spider and the Fly. The Barretts of Wimpole Street if you want to change the sex.