Today's Sketch

Today's character sketch

A Day in Life

34 Basic Story Plot

I'm working on a new graphic novel, and wanted to organize basic story plots I've seen in a movies and books. Good story combines several basic story plots. I hope this list will help you when you are working on your story.

1. Defeat the Evil (Save the World)

The protagonist must defeat the evil and restore peace in the world.

Ex: Star Wars (Episodes 4-6), Avator; the Last Airbender

2. Get it Back (it can be land, fortune, people, dignity/ respect)

The protagonist must take back what is righteously his/hers.

Ex: The Hobbit, Pirates of the Caribbean; Curse of the Black Pearl

3. Find the Treasure

The protagonist sets out for an adventure to find treasure.

Ex: Goonies, Laputa; Castle in the Sky

4. Search

The protagonist sets out for an adventure to search for object/ person/ place, etc.

Ex: Nurse Betty, Only You (1994 romantic comedy)

5. The Special Entity

Story revolves around extremely special object/ person/ animal, often having several characters with different interests chasing after it.

Ex: The Fifth Element, Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

6. Wrong Place at a wrong time

The protagonist simply happened to be at a wrong place at a wrong time, being accidentally dragged into crime or series of curious events.

Ex: The Big Levowski, Dam and Dammer

7. Helping

The protagonist do what he/she does to help someone

Ex: The Hobbit

8. Duty (job, moral)

The protagonist do what he/she does because it is his/her duty or job.

Ex: Crime drama about cops trying to find serial killer. Cowboy Bebop

9. Hunted

The protagonist is hunted by a crazy person, criminals, law enforcement (wrongly accused), and trying to get away.

Ex: Fugitive, Enemy of the States 

10. Hunter (Cat and Mouse)

The protagonist is trying to find the criminals, missing person, etc.

Ex: Taken, Catch Me If You Can, Silence of the Lambs, Se7en

11. Dragged into crime

An innocent bystander gets caught up in the middle of crime.

Ex: Panic Room, The Contract

12. Get the Love

The protagonist falls in love, and desperately wants to win the love from him/her.

Ex: Amelie, Chungking Express

13. Decompose Yourself

Facing personal crisis, the protagonist re-examine their lives.

Ex: Decomposing Harry, High Fidelty

14. Survival

The protagonist faces an extreme situation where they must fight for their lives.

Ex: Battle Royal, Zombie movies, Alien series

15. Locked Up With Monster

The protagonist is stranded in a remote location with serial killer/ monster. They have to find the way to escape or defeat the threat.

Ex: Alien series, Identity, Sphere

16. Solve Mystery

Who did this? Why did he do that? How to stop it?

Ex: Secret Window, Memento, Sherlock Holmes seris

17. Earn Respect

The protagonist (often seen as a looser) tries to achieve difficult task  to earn respect from peers, friends, and families.

Ex: Pirates: Band of Misfits, Monster's University 

18. Get Money
Facing financial crisis, the protagonist must come up with large amount of money to protect someone or something he\she loves.

Ex: Saving Grace, Run Lola Run

19. Fight the Oppression
The protagonist leads group of resistance against tyranny.

Ex: Brave Heart, Matrix, Robin Hood (1991 movie)

20. Improve and Win!

Most seen in sports movies, the protagonist (often with a great disadvantage) endure series of training to overcome his/her rivals.

Ex: Rocky, Karate Kid, Major League, Never Back Down

21. Sudden Calling

The protagonist is awakened with supernatural powers.

Ex: Spiderman, Heros

22. Coping with Situation
The protagonist must stay in a place against his/her will, and he/she tries to make best of the situation.

Ex: Northern Exposure, Shawshank Redemption

Coping with Situation 2: Getting sick or loosing loved one 
The protagonist or his/her loved one become ill, and he/she must deal with the situation. The protagonist looses loved ones, and he/she must deal with the situation.

23. Escape
The protagonist must get away from captivity.

Ex: The Next Three Days, Prison Break, The Great Escape

24. Mysterious Encounter
The protagonist encounters mysterious entity. Who are they and why are they here?

Ex: E.T, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Abyss 

25. The One

The protagonist is the one, so he/she must get over it and save the day.

Ex: Matrix, Avatar: the Last Airbender, Evangelion

26. Change the Future
Learning about disastrous future outcome, the protagonist tries to change the future in order to save someone he/she loves.

Ex: Butterfly Effect, De ja vu, Back to the Future 2

27. Revenge
The protagonist seeks retaliation against someone for wrong-doings.
Ex: Kill Bill, Blade of the Immortal

28. Grow up
Story about adolescent or maturity
Ex: Beautiful Girls, The Squid and the Whale, Thumb Sucker

29. Happening
Something out of ordinary happens to the protagonist, and he/she must find the way to go back to normal.

Ex: Big, Yes Man, Liar Liar

30. Steal It!
Savvy criminals and con artists gather up their wits and skills to steal from bad guys.

Ex: Oceans series, Leverage, Sneakers

31. Metamorphosis
The protagonist undergoes (accidental or forced) physical changes.

Ex: Kafka's Metamorphosis, District 9, Howl's Moving Castle

32. Why can't we be friends?
Two characters have different values and beliefs, and they struggle to accept each other.
Ex: Brave, Meet the Fockers, Princess Mononoke

33. Lost
The protagonist gets lost in a magical world
Ex: Alice in Wonderland, Spirited Away, The Wizard of Oz

34. Badass
What's more entertaining than watching a badass take care of business?

Ex: Clint Eastwood movies

This is all I can think of for today. Each story-teller understands story structure differently. Please also check out Christopher Booker's 7 basic plots, The 36 Dramatic Situations, 4 conflicts in narrative,  20 basic plots, for more reference. Please feel free to drop me a line if you can think of other basic plot that you are intrigued from. 

Comics: "She's Not Here"

New short story for Bitter Sweets comics series, "She's Not Here" is about a blind date. Click on the image for full screen view.

Lost and Found in Camden: Book Now Available on Amazon.com

"Lost and Found in Camden," collection of eleven stories written by eleven authors about one hot wet August weekend in Camden Lock Market, is now available on amazon.com. It's also available on Netgalley.

I had a wonderful opportunity to contribute to this project as a cover illustrator. I'd like to give many many thanks to all the contributors,  Ann E. Hacker, Anita Bihovsky, Beth Baugh, D-L Nelson, Tamara Efran, Victoria Chanin, Elke Klein, Hillary Theriault, Janice Jakubowitcz, Suzen Ziegahn, Barbara Inglis, for this opportunity.

All royalties from this project will be donated to Deutsche Krebshilfe e.V. (German Cancer Aid) for the member who passed away with cancer.


The stories are interesting and easy to get into, with lots of vivid description of the Camden market. Reading this book sure will make you want to go get lost in its wonders.


Ms. Angie Young has given a very nice review of the book in her blog, The Little Reading Cabin. Please visit her blog here.

Today's 5 min sketching exercise