Dear Reader,

Welcome to the second edition of ”Word Magic”, a newsletter from Better Word Partners and its founder—Steve Sampson (i.e., me).

Each week, we share ideas and insights for people seeking to use better words, stories, and arguments to achieve their missions and build a better future for all.

This week: Storytelling basics from a plot pontificator. Plus, don’t miss the Weekly Word, Startling Stat, and One-Question Quiz features below.

Enjoy!

7 Basic Plots and How to Use Them

Once upon a time, a man set out to discover the secret heart of storytelling—a set of basic plots that have helped shape human understanding since the dawn of history. The man’s name was Booker (no kidding), and he spent more than 30 years traversing the world of fiction in search of said sacred plots. He then shared what he had found in a 700-page tome of his own: “The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories.”

The way Booker tells it, the seven basic plots provide the foundations for all storytelling. People are drawn to these fundamental narratives regardless of cultural or historical context because they reflect essential human experiences and psychological truths. They are therefore recombined and recycled, in countless variations, over and over again.

It’s easy to take issue with Booker’s boldest claims. He’s vulnerable to charges of oversimplification and bias, which are baked into his approach. But even if he hasn’t actually identified the seven basic plots that objectively and permanently undergird all human storytelling, Booker does provide a useful heuristic for thinking about a set of core narrative structures that people in the West tend to use over and over again—and that are therefore good to know if you want to communicate effectively with such people.

Booker’s Seven Plots

Summarizing Booker’s summary, the seven basic plots boil down to the following:

1. “Overcoming the Monster” — A plucky protagonist sets out to defeat an antagonistic force (often evil) which threatens the protagonist and/or the protagonist’s homeland. Examples include “Beowulf” and “Star Wars.”

2. “Rags to Riches” — A sympathetic main character starts in a lowly state and, through a combination of their own abilities and a stroke of luck, ends up in a significantly better state. Classic examples are “Cinderella” and “David Copperfield.”

3. “The Quest” — A brave protagonist and their companions set out to acquire an important object or get to a location, facing many obstacles and temptations along the way. “The Lord of the Rings” and “Indiana Jones: The Last Crusade” are notable examples. (So is the intro to this post the way I wrote it.)

4. “Voyage and Return” — A protagonist goes to a strange land and, after overcoming the threats it poses, returns with invaluable experience. Examples include “Alice in Wonderland” and “The Wizard of Oz.”

5. “Comedy” — A sympathetic character or group stumbles through a set of challenges and misadventures that dovetail into a happy ending. Booker specifically refers to a pattern of confusing events with a fortuitous resolution, such as in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” More recent examples like “Bridesmaids” or “Bridget Jones’s Diary” would also fit the bill.

6. “Tragedy” — An otherwise heroic protagonist is undone by a fatal character flaw or major mistake. This unfortunate end evokes pity and (to some degree at least) the realization that “there but for the grace of God go I.” Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” and “Hamlet” are famous examples. “Breaking Bad” fits pretty well as well.

7. “Rebirth” — An event forces the main character to change their ways, often making them a better person. “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens is a classic example, where Scrooge transforms into a kinder person by the end of the story. Same goes for “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas” and “Beauty and the Beast.”

Useful Applications

These seven plots provide a starting point for crafting compelling narratives that engage and persuade audiences, thanks in part to their underlying familiarity. Using them as generative frames, leaders and communicators of all kinds can structure campaigns, speeches, presentations, marketing materials, etc. in ways that immediately resonate. For example …

• You could use the “Overcoming the Monster” plot to frame a business challenge as a battle, with the company’s product or solution as the hero, embarking on an essential adventure.

• You could use “Rags to Riches” to showcase a person or group’s humble beginnings and its journey to success, emphasizing the importance of resilience and hard work.

• You could use “The Quest” to frame your nonprofit organization’s work as a journey with a clear and compelling goal—overcoming some evil—and highlight the challenges faced along the way.

• You could use “Voyage and Return” to describe the process of venturing into new markets or innovation, learning valuable lessons, and returning with insights that transform your organization or team.

• You could use “Comedy” in team building or corporate cultural communications to foster unity and highlight the resolution of misunderstandings or conflicts.

• You could use “Tragedy” to teach lessons learned from past failures or crises, underscoring the importance of foresight and caution.

• You could use “Rebirth” to illustrate transformational change within an organization, such as a turnaround, rebrand, or significant cultural shift, emphasizing renewal and positive change.

Individual people can also use the seven basic plots to narrate their professional journeys in ways that highlight their strengths, resilience, and growth. Perhaps you have overcome your own monster, or completed a perilous quest, or had a misunderstanding happily resolve with a lesson learned for all. In any case, there’s a basic plot for that—and using the plot to tell your tale could be the difference between reciting a dry sequence of events and presenting yourself as a compelling character. It could thus prove pivotal in a job interview, a performance review, a product pitch, or even a personal reflection.

One Final Thought

The plots are also worth considering as you think about the stories you tell yourself—about yourself, your circumstances, and your future possibilities. Perhaps what you have previously perceived as a personal tragedy is an “Overcoming the Monster” story waiting to be rewritten. Perhaps the latest calamity in your life is a comedy just waiting for its happy ending.

Real life isn’t just stories. As a wise man once taught me, our poetic possibilities are continually hemmed in by severe prose. But there’s a reason that stories are ubiquitous in human life, from the time we begin to make sense of the world to our final sentences. They are central to how we understand agency, opposition, and opportunity—not to mention good and evil. How we tell them matters. And learning to tell them better really can be part of the magic that helps to set us free.

Need help telling your own story? Or equipping your team to function as a storytelling machine? Learn more about our storytelling services when you drop me a line today!

One-Question Quiz:
The Total Number of Books in the World

What’s the best estimate for total number of books ever published?

A. 75 million

B. 150 million

C. 300 million

D. 600 million

(Scroll down to find the answer).

Weekly Word: Plot versus Story (versus Narrative)

No one knows the deepest roots of the simple word “plot,” though it’s been around in English for 1,000 years and originally meant a small piece of land—as it still does in some contexts. The idea of a “plot” as a (quintessentially secret) plan may have emerged from an overlap with an old French word, “complot,” that basically meant “a coming together.” In any event, by the 16th century, “plot” had taken on its more storied meaning.

In narrative terms, "plot" can be understood as the blueprint of a tale, a map of its key events and character arcs. It's the skeleton that supports the flesh of description and dialogue. E.M. Forster notably distinguished between "story" (a mere sequence of events) and "plot" (a causally connected series of events). Modern communication theorists go further, distinguishing between narrative, plot, and story as follows:

• A narrative is the underlying structure and content of a story, encompassing the sequence of events, characters, plot, setting, and themes.

• A plot is a (causally connected) series of events without which there isn't much of a story to tell.

• A story is a tale as it's actually told.

To build effective storytelling practices across a group, you need all three of these: 1) repeatable narrative structures that create consistency, 2) plots drawn from real-life experiences, and 3) compelling communications that convert such structures into actual stories that sing.

Startling Stat: More Cheese, Please?

According to a Bloomberg Business story this week, Americans eat 42 pounds of cheese per year—and cheesy people are working to increase that amount.

Anyone else find that number a little hard to swallow?

Answer: B. 150 million - Check it here.