THE plot

[sunrisetellin.livejournal.com]

So after a comment posted by booksrgood4u I decided to post this as a discussion...
I once had a book, which has since been lost in my pile of books, that said that all stories fall into one of these basic plots (themes)
After pondering over what plot(s?) the QT might fall into I googled the basic plot lines and found this as a result...


7 plots

1. [wo]man vs. nature
2. [wo]man vs. [wo]man
3. [wo]man vs. the environment
4. [wo]man vs. machines/technology
5. [wo]man vs. the supernatural
6. [wo]man vs. self
7. [wo]man vs. god/religion

20 plots

1. Quest
2. Adventure
3. Pursuit
4. Rescue
5. Escape
6. Revenge
7. The Riddle
8. Rivalry
9. Underdog
10. Temptation
11. Metamorphosis
12. Transformation
13. Maturation
14. Love
15. Forbidden Love
16. Sacrifice
17. Discovery
18. Wretched Excess
19. Ascension
20. Descension.

36 plots...

1. Supplication (in which the Supplicant must beg something from Power in authority)
2. Deliverance
3. Crime Pursued by Vengeance
4. Vengeance taken for kindred upon kindred
5. Pursuit
6. Disaster
7. Falling Prey to Cruelty of Misfortune
8. Revolt
9. Daring Enterprise
10. Abduction
11. The Enigma (temptation or a riddle)
12. Obtaining
13. Enmity of Kinsmen
14. Rivalry of Kinsmen
15. Murderous Adultery
16. Madness
17. Fatal Imprudence
18. Involuntary Crimes of Love (example: discovery that one has married one’s mother, sister, etc.)
19. Slaying of a Kinsman Unrecognized
20. Self-Sacrificing for an Ideal
21. Self-Sacrifice for Kindred
22. All Sacrificed for Passion
23. Necessity of Sacrificing Loved Ones
24. Rivalry of Superior and Inferior
25. Adultery
26. Crimes of Love
27. Discovery of the Dishonor of a Loved One
28. Obstacles to Love
29. An Enemy Loved
30. Ambition
31. Conflict with a God
32. Mistaken Jealousy
33. Erroneous Judgement
34. Remorse
35. Recovery of a Lost One
36. Loss of Loved Ones.

So yeah! I think QT might fall into a number of these, including Obstacles of love, Self sacrificing for an ideal, Transformation, Love... and of course! Erroneous Judgement ;) haha

Comments

[freenarnian.livejournal.com]

An Enemy Loved. ^_^

[drashizu.livejournal.com]

Conflict with a God, in a sort of secondary, metaphorical way... I'm thinking the end of the 2nd book especially here. But also the third book's underlying themes, too.

[agh-4.livejournal.com]

Ooh, this is really interesting!
The Thief -- Obtaining? Adventure? Quest?

And I think the whole series fits into Ascension, for Sophos as well as Gen.

[styromgalleries.livejournal.com]

There could almost be an element of Wo/Man vs. Nature. I say that because of the impending volcanic eruption. We don't know when it will occur, but it's going to be good for Eddis to have friends and allies who can help. This is definitely not the main conflict, of course.

[styromgalleries.livejournal.com]

And that comes up more than once.

Gen and Attolia, of course.

But Eddis and Sophos/Sounis are also enemies in a political sense (at least before CoK).

There is also love of another kind that develops between Gen and Costis. Costis definitely saw Gen as an enemy.

[thnidu.livejournal.com]

FWIW, Heinlein saw only three: Man Makes Himself, The Clever Little Tailor, and Boy Meets Girl, IIRC.

[kaeyko.livejournal.com]

Say... for those 7 plots, isn't person vs. society missing? Also, person vs. nature is pretty much the same as person vs. environment, unless there's a subtle nuance I'm missing.

[bluestalking.livejournal.com]

Haha, in the first book I think one of the most major conflicts is Man vs. Dirt.

[bluestalking.livejournal.com]

Yes, I think it's fair to say that's still what it means.

[genndme.livejournal.com]

TT= 'Quest'(for the stone), 'Sacrifice'(on Gen's part over and over again), 'Discovery' (on the part of the magus and Sophos), 'Daring Enterprise'(on all of them), 'Obtaining'(that one only belongs to Gen), 'Self-sacrificing for an Ideal'(not only Gen, but Pol do that one), and 'Ambition'(Gen, magus, Sounis, Ambiadies).

QT= 'Falling Prey to Cruely of Misfortune'(Gen? Irene?), 'Remorse'(on Irene's part), 'All Sacrificed for Passion'(possibly, if so, Gen), 'Maturation'(definently Gen), 'Wo/Man vs Self'(both Gen and Irene), 'Wo/Man vs god/religion'(again, Gen and Irene), and possibly 'Forbidden Love'(since Irene doesn't think it's possible) and 'Loss of Loved One(s)'(cuz Irene thought she'd "lost" Gen when she lopped off his hand).

I'll have to think about the others later, I've got to go now.

[booksrgood4u.livejournal.com]

I think that being stranded in the wilderness would qualify as Man Vs. Nature, whereas say, Costis facing the pity and sometimes anger of the other guards because of his dfense of Gen would be something like Man vs. Environment. Just my take on it!

[booksrgood4u.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you posted this! I found myself going down the list saying, "This one, and this one, and that one, and the other one, and, and, and.....etc" I see alot of these plots as supporting elements to other plots...i.e. Rivalry of Kinsmen. We know that Gen is always at odds with his cousins, and that contributed to his future personality.

Oooh, I just noticed 'Recovery of a Lost One' that is a great way to describe Gen marrying Irene...

[1221bookworm.livejournal.com]

You took the words right out of my mouth, books :( (or right out from under my fingers, anyway :)

[1221bookworm.livejournal.com]

The Enigma (from the 36 plots) kinda describes Gen, Sophos, and Ambiades in TT. Each of them are more than they are really letting on. No where in TT do they say about Sophos as "the heir" he's just "too nice to be a duke," and "that's what his father thinks, too." Gen, of course, is obvious, and Ambiades in his general backbiting manner.

[freenarnian.livejournal.com]

We also know that it's a beauty and the beast story (MWT said so).

[kaeyko.livejournal.com]

A fair explanation, methinks. ^_^

(It's what happens when the last time I even heard those terms was in secondary school... in university, nobody explicitly uses the terms very much because it's like beginning your essay with "The introduction of this essay is about...")

For me, "person vs. society" always implied the social environment and cultural expectations that someone would have to work against. "Person vs. nature" would be like trying to survive in the winter or something like that.

[filkferengi]

What's the difference between metamorphosis and transformation?

Poet Rainer Maria Rilke opined that art isn't art unless it trans-figures, -forms, -mogrifies [the German verb is flexible]. mwt's art is certainly still doing numbers on us!