There are only 6 story types in the world…

There may be hundreds of thousands of books written, but they can all be reduced to one of just six possible story types:

• Rags to riches – where a lead character triumphs over early diversity; e.g. Oliver Twist
• Riches to rags – where a once lucky lead character then falls on hard times; e.g. King Lear
• Man in a hole – where a protagonist finds himself in a difficult spot before getting out of it; e.g. Moby Dick
• Icarus – where characters rise before a spectacular fall
• Cinderella – where the character’s fortunes rise, fall, then rise again
• Oedipus – when the character falls, rises, then falls

-Source: Daily Telegraph 26 Nov-16

At least that’s according to a recent study by the University of Vermont, who electronically analysed over 1,700 books and discovered these six common themes.

The research was inspired by Kurt Vonnegut (author of Slaughterhouse 5), who originally proposed the similarity of emotional story lines in a Masters thesis which was subsequently rejected by the University of Chicago. Strange how these things come around again, eh?

Obviously it takes a lot more than a 2-line plot précis to create a great work of fiction, but it’s worth remembering that every story has to begin somewhere, and this seems as good a place as any!