Basic Plots: Quest

Posted on Aug 13, 2018 by caroleparkes

I didn’t really believe in the idea of only having a limited number of story plots, seven in this case, but my thriller, ‘YOUR LAST BREATH’, certainly falls into the quest category.

My main character is trying to achieve his goal of becoming an author. He wants to write suspenseful crime thrillers, but every time he tries to write about the horrific murder scenes necessary for his plot, his mind goes blank. A chance meeting with old flame, Valerie, changes all that. She wants to commit suicide. Fearing she’ll end up in hell if she does it and not in heaven where she imagines her beloved husband has recently gone, she pleads with our would-be writer to help her.

Reluctantly, he agrees, but after a harsh exchange of words with her, the deed is accomplished. He accidentally breathes in the dying woman’s last breath, and on returning home discovers his writer’s block has disappeared. Now he can write his murder scenes with a clarity previously unknown to him.

Unfortunately, his new-found ability doesn’t last long and in a few days he’s back to struggling. Was it a fluke? Did actually committing the crime give him the ability to write about those gruesome scenes? There was only one way to find out…

The seven basic plots are given in detail below by STACI TROILO

Story Empire

Ciao, SEers. Today we’re going to discuss our fifth of the Seven Basic Plots as defined by Christopher Booker. If you’ve missed the others, you can find them here: Rebirth, Tragedy, Comedy, and Voyage and Return.

Today’s post covers the basic plot type: Quest.

The Quest is a familiar plot type. It shows our hero (and friends) taking a journey to a far-off place in order to achieve an object or a goal. There must be many dangers along the way (it wouldn’t be much of a quest if the goal was easy to attain), but ultimately, victory is achieved.

The Quest, unlike the Voyage and Return, always ends with the hero achieving his goal, even if it takes the scope of several books or movies to do so. (It’s worth noting that achieving a goal DOES NOT necessarily equate to a happy, or…

View original post 508 more words

About caroleparkes

My husband calls me a butterfly because I flit from one hobby to another. Apart from being a wife for 52 years, a mother of three sons, and a grandmother, I'm also an author, genealogist, amateur artist, a lover of most needlecrafts, and occasional poet. Of the above, my most enduring interest has been writing and I hope to be doing it well into old age.
This entry was posted in Author, Uncategorized, writing. Bookmark the permalink.

2 Responses to Basic Plots: Quest

  1. Staci Troilo says:
    Aug 13, 2018 at 5:25 pm

    Thanks, Carole. 🙂

    Like

    Reply

I'd love to hear your views.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.