What’s the theme of your story?

Your book needs a theme. A theme is closely aligned to your plot and often the words are used interchangably. I see them as different however. A theme is more of a feeling your book has, a message, or a arc your character will undergo. Your plot is the step by step way in which you are going to tell story. Of course they are closely aligned. But building a plot takes a more practical method of working out how your character is going to move from A to B. 

​The list below is from 20 Master Plots & How to Build Them (Ronald Tobias 1993). See if you can identify your plot in one of these.  It may give you focus. It may give clarity to a story goal you are battling to lock down.

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Tobias' 20 Basic Plots (or book themes)

1. Quest

The hero searches for something, someone, or somewhere. In reality, they may be searching for themselves, with the outer journey mirrored internally. They may be joined by a companion, who takes care of minor detail and whose limitations contrast with the hero's greater qualities.

2. Adventure

The protagonist goes on an adventure, much like a quest, but with less of a focus on the end goal or the personal development of hero. In the adventure, there is more action for action's sake.

3. Pursuit

In this plot, the focus is on chase, with one person chasing another (and perhaps with multiple and alternating chase). The pursued person may be often cornered and somehow escape, so that the pursuit can continue. Depending on the story, the pursued person may be caught or may escape. This is a classic for crime or thrillers.

4. Rescue

In the rescue, somebody is captured, whom the hero must release or save them. A triangle may form between the protagonist, the antagonist and the victim. There may be a grand duel between the protagonist and antagonist, after which the victim is freed.

5. Escape

In a kind of reversal of the rescue, a person must escape, perhaps with little help from others. In this,

there may well be elements of capture and unjust imprisonment. There may also be a pursuit after the escape.

6. Revenge

In the revenge plot, a wronged person seeks retribution against the person or organisation, which has betrayed or otherwise harmed them or loved ones, physically or emotionally. This plot depends on moral outrage. The hero may be breaking the law, but the reader feels it’s justified.

7. The Riddle

The riddle plot entertains the audience and challenges them to find the solution before the hero, who steadily and carefully uncovers clues and the final solution. The story often has terrible consequences if the riddle is not solved in time.

8. Rivalry

In rivalry, two people or groups are set as competitors that may be light-hearted or as bitter enemies. Rivals often face a zero-sum game, in which there can only be one winner, for example where they compete for a scarce resource or the love of another person.

9. Underdog

The underdog plot is similar to rivalry, but where one person (usually the hero) has less advantage and might normally be expected to lose. The underdog usually wins through greater tenacity and determination (and perhaps with the help of friendly others).

10. Temptation

In the temptation plot, a person is tempted by something that, if taken, would somehow diminish them, often morally. Their battle is thus internal, fighting against their inner voices that tell them to succumb.

11. Metamorphosis

In this fantastic plot, the protagonist is physically transformed, perhaps into beast or perhaps into some spiritual or alien form. The story may then continue with the changed person struggling to be released or to use their new form for some particular purpose. Eventually, the hero is released, perhaps through some great act of love.

12. Transformation

The transformation plot leads to change of a person in some way, often driven by unexpected circumstance or event. After setbacks, the person learns and usually becomes something better.

13. Maturation / Coming of Age

The maturation plot is a special form of transformation, in which a person grows up. These are popular movie plots.

14. Love

We all know this one. The story is one of lovers finding one another, perhaps through a background of danger and woe. Along the way, they become separated in some way, but eventually come together in a final reunion. Boy meets girl. Loses her. Finds her again. Most often the lead is female in a romance. 

15. Forbidden Love

The story of forbidden love happens when lovers are breaking some social rules, such as in an adulterous relationship or worse. The story may thus turn around their inner conflicts and the effects of others discovering their tryst.

16. Sacrifice

In sacrifice the lead is someone gives much more than most people would give. The person may not start with the intent of personal sacrifice and may thus be an unintentional hero, thus emphasising the heroic nature of the choice and act.

17. Discovery

The discovery plot is strongly focused on the character of the hero who discovers something great or terrible and must make a difficult choice. The importance of the discovery might not be known at first and the process of revelation is important to the story.

18. Wretched Excess

In stories of wretched excess, the protagonist goes beyond normally accepted behavior as the world looks on, horrified, perhaps in realisation that the veneer of civilization is indeed thin. (James Bond, Bourne Identity)

19. Ascension

In the ascension plot, the protagonist starts in the virtual gutter, as a sinner of some kind. The plot then shows their ascension to becoming a better person, often in response to stress that would defeat a normal person. Thus they achieve deserved heroic status.

20. Descension

In the opposite to ascension, a person of initially high standing descends to the gutter and moral turpitude, perhaps sympathetically as they are unable to handle stress and perhaps just giving in to baser vices. (The Game, Michael Doug Ronald B. Tobias, 20 Master Plots, and how to build them, Cincinnati: Writer's Digest Books, 1999

Some writers say that there are really only two plots:

1) A hero goes on a journey

2) A stranger comes to town