Framework

As I mentioned earlier, I'm mining Blake Snyder's screenwriting book "Save The Cat" for some J tools.

Snyder says there are 10 types of movies. Most are self-explanatory:

Monster in the House -- Jaws, Tremors, Alien, The Exorcist, Fatal Attraction, etc.

Golden Fleece -- Quest movies, like Star Wars, The Wizard of Oz, Back to the Future.

Out of the Bottle -- "Wish" and "What if?" stories, like Liar, Liar, Bruce Almighty, Flubber, etc.

Dude With a Problem -- Titanic, Die Hard, Schindler's List.

Rites of Passage -- Change of life stories, like Ordinary People and Days of Wine and Roses.

Buddy Love -- Dumb & Dumber, Rain Man.

Whydunit -- Not whodunit, but why? Chinatown, China Syndrome, JFK, and The Insider.

The Fool Triumphant -- Being There, Forest Gump, Dave, The Jerk.

Institutionalized -- Stories about groups and families, like M*A*S*H, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, American Beauty, The Godfather.

Superhero -- Not just the obvious like Superman, but also Dracula, Frankestein, Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind.

Others have suggested there are seven types or more.

I like these lists because I like thinking of stories in simple context, confined to a set of ancient rules. There's something liberating about working inside that structure.

Most memorable stories that come to mind fit easily into these categories. Just thinking of a few:

Monster in the House -- Mrs. Kelly's Monster.

Golden Fleece -- Inara Verzemnieks' The Sorrow and the Sparrow, Enrique's Journey, etc.

Dude With a Problem -- Frank Sinatra Has A Cold.

Rites of Passage -- 13: Life At The Edge of Everything.

Does every good story fit into one of these frames? Should it?