To excel as a fiction writer, one must grasp fundamental story structures while skillfully concealing their familiarity so that audiences feel they are experiencing something fresh and original.
Many academics argue that there are limited core plots and structures, though opinions on the exact number can differ.
Kurt Vonnegut, celebrated for his satirical novels like Slaughterhouse-Five, Cat’s Cradle, and The Sirens of Titan, was fascinated by the structural patterns of stories.
He succinctly captured his perspective with this thought: “The fundamental idea is that stories have shapes which can be drawn on graph paper and that the shape of a given society’s stories is at least as interesting as the shape of its pots or spearheads.”
In a notable video, Vonnegut illustrates how three classic story types—such as “the protagonist overcomes trouble,” “romantic encounters,” and “Cinderella-like transformations”—can be mapped using two axes. The Y-axis represents the characters’ fortunes, ranging from good to bad, while the X-axis tracks the progression from the beginning to the end of the story.
Vonnegut explains that the key to understanding these stories is determining the protagonist’s initial state and how their fortunes shift throughout the narrative.
He humorously notes, “Somebody gets into trouble, then gets out of it again. People love that story. They never get tired of it.”