Planning - Story Types

Here are just some story types which are available to the production industry...

The Romance:

• A character is seen to be emotionally lacking/missing something/someone.
• Something/someone is seen as a potential solution to this problem - the object is desire
• Barriers exist to stop the character reaching a resolution with the obect of desire
• The story is complete when the character is seen to have resolved their emotional problem and unites with the object of desire

An example of a Romance story:

The Unrecognised Virtue

• The character with a virtue becomes part of someone else's world
• The character falls in love with a powerful character in this world
• The character seeks to prove that they are desirable to this powerful character but the power relationship undermines this
• In attempting to solve the problem, the character's virtue is finally seen by the powerful character

This is the story of the prostitute in Pretty Women:

The Fatal Flaw

• The character is seen to have a quality that brings success
• With this success they gain opportunities denied to other characters
• They use opportunities for their own gain
• They recognise the damage they have done to others and set themselves a new challenge
• The quality which brought them success leads to their failure in the face of the new challenge

An example includes Dracula in Dracula, Prine of Darkness

The Quest

• The character is set a task to find someone/something
• The character accepts the challenge
• The character searches for someone/something
• The character finds the someone/something
• The character is rewarded, or not, for their success in the quest

I believe my story relates most closely to 'The Quest'. This is because it involves a man who is being ordered to kill someone, similar to the first bullet point outlined above. This character must "accept" this challenge and succeed in his quest. However, there are difficulties along the way along the way.