Penguin November 9th, 2008
This page lists 36 plots for RPGs, but they’re just as applicable to film.
- Supplication - Persecutor, Suppliant, a Power in Authority
- Deliverance - Unfortunates, Threatener, Rescuer
- Revenge - Avenger, Criminal
- Vengeance by Family upon Family - Avenging Kinsman, Guilty Kinsman, Relative
- Pursuit - Fugitive from Punishment, Pursuer
- Victim of Cruelty or Misfortune - Unfortunates, Master or Unlucky Person
- Disaster - Vanquished Power, Victorious Power or Messenger
- Revolt - Tyrant, Conspirator(s)
- Daring Enterprise - Bold Leader, Goal, Adversary
- Abduction - Abductor, Abducted, Guardian
- Enigma - Interrogator, Seeker, Problem
- Obtaining - Two or more Opposing Parties, Object, maybe an Arbitrator
- Familial Hatred - Two Family Members who hate each other
- Familial Rivalry - Preferred Kinsman, Rejected Kinsman, Object
- Murderous Adultery - Two Adulterers, the Betrayed
- Madness - Madman, Victim
- Fatal Imprudence - Imprudent person, Victim or lost object
- Involuntary Crimes of Love - Lover, Beloved, Revealer
- Kinsman Kills Unrecognised Kinsman - Killer, Unrecognised Victim, Revealer
- Self Sacrifice for an Ideal - Hero, Ideal, Person or Thing Sacrificed
- Self Sacrifice for Kindred - Hero, Kinsman, Person or Thing Sacrificed
- All Sacrificed for Passion - Lover, Object of Passion, Person or Thing Sacrificed
- Sacrifice of Loved Ones - Hero, Beloved Victim, Need for Sacrifice
- Rivalry Between Superior and Inferior - Superior, Inferior, Object
- Adultery - Deceived Spouse, Two Adulterers
- Crimes of Love - Lover, Beloved, theme of Dissolution
- Discovery of Dishonor of a Loved One - Discoverer, Guilty One
- Obstacles to Love - Two Lovers, Obstacle
- An Enemy Loved - Beloved Enemy, Lover, Hater
- Ambition - An Ambitious Person, Coveted Thing, Adversary
- Conflict with a God - Mortal, Immortal
- Mistaken Jealousy - Jealous One, Object of Jealousy, Supposed Accomplice, Author of Mistake
- Faulty Judgment - Mistaken One, Victim of Mistake, Author of Mistake, Guilty Person
- Remorse - Culprit, Victim, Interrogator
- Recovery of a Lost One - Seeker, One Found
- Loss of Loved Ones - Kinsman Slain, Kinsman Witness, Executioner
Related posts
Tags: Film, Plot, Structure, Writing
Penguin January 19th, 2008
This Savage Art:
All the bullshit about how you can’t trivialize your story by clarifying it into one sentence is just that, bullshit. If you can’t crystallize your story into a line or two you have a problem. Even if it’s just a very surface take on it, it needs to start with some core thesis.
Just like any good term paper or essay, you have to have a thesis statement. One sentence that tells your audience what the paper is about. More importantly, your thesis is for you, the writer. The thesis statement is your compass. With every paragraph you write, ask yourself “Does this advance my thesis?”
The difference with screenwriting is instead of using paragraphs to advance your thesis, you’re using scenes. Instead of arguments and facts, you have characters and situations. Instead of a position you take with your thesis, you have a theme, point of view, message, or whatever else you want to call it.
What’s your story about? The answer is your thesis.
-Penguin
Related posts
Tags: Plot, Scenes
Penguin December 14th, 2007
Over at John August’s blog, he’s posted a great little tip about plot structure and how to make it seem natural:
Screenwriting books make everything seem so tidy, when actual screenwriting is gory and difficult. Plot and structure are really just the answer to a single question: what happens when?
Look at your story from your main characters’ perspectives. What are is they trying to do at each moment in the script? What do they know, and what do they learn?
Then look at it from the audience’s perspective. What do they know, and what do they expect will happen next?
A good plot keeps surprising both the main characters and your audience. Probably the reason your plots feel contrived is that you’re trying to drag your characters through some pre-determined series of structural benchmarks, rather than focusing on what’s interesting and surprising right now in this scene.
It’s a great mini-lesson for all you budding screenwriters out there. Remember, your story has living breathing characters. Don’t drag them through the mud of your story, instead, have them react to them. How do the events and circumstances that you create for them get in the way of what they want? How does it change them? And once you’re happy with it, you’ll make something you’ll be happy with.
-Penguin
Related posts
Tags: Plot, Scenes, Structure
