[Darcie.Donnelly]

Do you know any Short Story Plots?

[joypulv]

You are flying a small plane and your engine sputters and dies. You are over a very rural area, all trees, but see a clearing up ahead. You prepare to land, and then see people on the ground. What do you do?

[Wondergirl]

Joy gave you an intriguing idea (#2 on the list below) for a story that would be fun to write. Meanwhile, I surfed around on the Internet and found this list --

The Basic Plots

Each short plot description starts with the title of the plot pattern. After a hyphen the main characters to be found in the plot are given, separated by commas.

1. Supplication - Persecutor, Suppliant, a Power in Authority
2. Deliverance - Unfortunates, Threatener, Rescuer
3. Revenge - Avenger, Criminal
4. Vengeance by Family upon Family - Avenging Kinsman, Guilty Kinsman, Relative
5. Pursuit - Fugitive from Punishment, Pursuer
6. Victim of Cruelty or Misfortune - Unfortunates, Master or Unlucky Person
7. Disaster - Vanquished Power, Victorious Power or Messenger
8. Revolt - Tyrant, Conspirator(s)
9. Daring Enterprise - Bold Leader, Goal, Adversary
10. Abduction - Abductor, Abducted, Guardian
11. Enigma - Interrogator, Seeker, Problem
12. Obtaining - Two or more Opposing Parties, Object, maybe an Arbitrator
13. Familial Hatred - Two Family Members who hate each other
14. Familial Rivalry - Preferred Kinsman, Rejected Kinsman, Object
15. Murderous Adultery - Two Adulterers, the Betrayed
16. Madness - Madman, Victim
17. Fatal Imprudence - Imprudent person, Victim or lost object
18. Involuntary Crimes of Love - Lover, Beloved, Revealer
19. Kinsman Kills Unrecognised Kinsman - Killer, Unrecognised Victim, Revealer
20. Self Sacrifice for an Ideal - Hero, Ideal, Person or Thing Sacrificed
21. Self Sacrifice for Kindred - Hero, Kinsman, Person or Thing Sacrificed
22. All Sacrificed for Passion - Lover, Object of Passion, Person or Thing Sacrificed
23. Sacrifice of Loved Ones - Hero, Beloved Victim, Need for Sacrifice
24. Rivalry Between Superior and Inferior - Superior, Inferior, Object
25. Adultery - Deceived Spouse, Two Adulterers
26. Crimes of Love - Lover, Beloved, theme of Dissolution
27. Discovery of Dishonor of a Loved One - Discoverer, Guilty One
28. Obstacles to Love - Two Lovers, Obstacle
29. An Enemy Loved - Beloved Enemy, Lover, Hater
30. Ambition - An Ambitious Person, Coveted Thing, Adversary
31. Conflict with a God - Mortal, Immortal
32. Mistaken Jealousy - Jealous One, Object of Jealousy, Supposed Accomplice, Author of Mistake
33. Faulty Judgment - Mistaken One, Victim of Mistake, Author of Mistake, Guilty Person
34. Remorse - Culprit, Victim, Interrogator
35. Recovery of a Lost One - Seeker, One Found
36. Loss of Loved Ones - Kinsman Slain, Kinsman Witness, Executioner

The 36 Plots

[joypulv]

LOL, I especially like Fatal Imprudence. I wonder what we could come up with for a plot?

Writing a short story is much harder than writing a novel. It's almost as hard as poetry and in some ways harder. The reason for writing it has to be clear in a few pages. How do you write one that relates to you, to live around you?

Let's say your life revolves around best friends, friends, and then members of the opposite sex. You are a 15 year old girl. Your best friend is the prettiest girl in school. All of a sudden her father gets accused of a crime at the company he works at and he is fired. He says he's innocent. Her mother leaves him. Her boyfriend breaks up with her. She can't eat or sleep or do anything. You comfort her, and then one day she starts going around saying that another girl is having sex with her ex boyfriend. She makes up all sorts of stories, horrible ones. You try to get her to stop. She won't. Then her neighbor's cat is found dead on their doorstep. You knew your friend had been saying she wanted to kill someone, anyone. What do you do? How do you end this short story? If you dump her as a friend, what happens and what's the point? Or if you do nothing? What if you stand on a table in the middle of the cafeteria, set fire to a paper dove, and tell the whole room that she needs help? Do SOMETHING, something that has an ending that will affect people, whether it's anger or sympathy, hatred or love. There has to be a reason for people to read it that they don't get out of their own everyday interpretation of life. A connection to a feeling they know of but need to attach to something.