A couple of months ago somewhere on the SDMB, someone referred to a book that was about basic plots or themes that supposedly all books conform to… There were something like 26 basic plots… Well at the time I thought the concept was kind of insulting to writers, but I’ve been thinking about it, and would like to find the book. I’ve tried various SDMB searches and haven’t found the thread. Does anyone here know what I’m referring to?
Are you sure you’re not thinking about This column by Cecil: What are the seven basic literary plots?, which had 3 comments posted about it a couple of months ago in this thread? Neither of those mentioned any particular book by name (at least not from what I could find in a cursory read-through), but if you’re looking for some titles to read on the subject, there’s The Seven Basic Plots of Literature by Christopher Booker, 20 Master Plots (And How to Build Them) by Ronald B. Tobias, The Basic Patterns of Plot by Foster Harris, William Foster-Harris, or The Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations by Georges Polti, Lucille Ray.
Thank you so much! It turns out I was thinking of the Polti book. Now to order it…