The "Basic" Plots in Literature

[Blind Hemingway]

People often say that there are only a certain number of basic plots in all of literature, and that any story is really just a variation on these plots.

Do you agree that there's no such thing as a new idea, but rather a new take on an old dinosaur?

 

[Asmodeus]

No new ideas. Just tweests.

Everything was told long ago, and we're just remembering through genetic ancestry. Stories that don't work are stories we don't remember.


And there's only 8 characters!

And 12 stages!


*garottes a puppy*

 

[Kyandi-bou]

I do agree, but it takes a creative mind to be able to work with those basic ideas and turn the story into something of their own. Then it's still a whole new plot even if it does have a basic outline. Sometimes even the biggest cliches can make something amazing.

 

[Vay]

Its not the idea, its what you do with it. It has been said that originality is simply not naming your sources and I agree. It up to the writer to make a new experience out of old, over worn pieces.

 

[Karsikan the Berzerker]

the funny thing, writing, the human body are kinda similar, the basic framework is difficult to tell apart, but is a person made by their skeleton? or is it the flesh around it, the memories within the brain, or the beat of the heart? none of these can be found on a basic skeleton.