TheWritersBag.com

Experts say there are only 20 or so master plots – that every story in the world is simply a variation of one of these plots.

I’m not sure that’s right in every case. I’ve read some fairly bizarre stories that seem to be wholly unique. But the principle is true. I think it would be safe to say that most stories derive from one or more of the age-old master plots. The fact is, certain stories show up again and again over the millennia and were around long before mankind ever wrote a word.

If you’re looking for a story to write, you’ll find a treasure trove of plot lines in those weird little stories you heard growing up: fairy tales. Thumb through The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm or The Complete Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales . (Great authors, playwrights and script writers have been finding inspiration and ideas in these stories for a very long time.) If you don’t find dozens of wonderful mythical themes and story lines to play with in the pages of these and other fairy tale tomes, you’d better check the vital signs of your imagination.

One last note: Fairy tales can be downright terrifying. I’m surprised some of them haven’t been labeled “For Adults Only” – especially the ones about mothers selling their children to wicked witches, parents trying to lose their children in the forest because they don’t have enough food to share with them, little girls being accosted by dirty old wolves … and that’s just scratching the surface.

In short, fairy tales are not for pansies.