Free 20 Master Plots by Ronald B Tobias

them—and when you try to bring them back into the action it will seem forced and artificial. Pick the number of characters that you feel comfortable with. That number should allow maximum interaction between characters to keep the reader interested, but not so many that you feel like you're in the middle of an endless juggling act.
    Don't even think of adding a fifth major character. If you did, the character dynamic would be twenty. (Sounds like a nineteenth-century Russian novel, doesn't it?)
    Obviously it would be hard if not impossible to keep up with the emotional relationships and interactions with a dynamic of
    twenty. Think of the incredible burden on the writer trying to juggle twenty character interactions simultaneously. Juggling twelve is possible, but it takes great skill: You'd have major characters going in and out of phase constantly, with usually no more than three majors in a scene at any one time, except for big confrontation scenes and the climax.
    Now let's go to the other extreme and look at the original scenario of two major characters with a dynamic of two. We're confined to seeing how Alfred acts in the presence of Beatrice and how Beatrice acts in the presence of Alfred. The situation doesn't offer us the flexibility we need to be comfortable developing their characters. Of course it's been done, and done well, particularly on the stage. But having just two major characters limits what you can do with those characters, and you'll need to be a strong, inventive writer to overcome the handicap.
    This brings us to the Rule of Three. If you pay attention to the structure—whether it's the classic fable or fairy tale or folktale, or a B-movie on television—you'll notice that the number three holds strong sway. Character triangles make the strongest character combination and are the most common in stories. Events also tend to happen in threes. The hero tries three times to overcome an obstacle. He fails the first two times and succeeds the third.
    This isn't a secret numerology thing. There's actually a rather obvious reason for it: balance. If the hero tries to do something the first time and actually does it, there's no tension. If the hero tries to do it twice and succeeds the second time, there is some tension, but not enough to build on. The third time is the charm. Four times and it gets boring.
    The same is true with characters. One person isn't enough to get full interaction. Two is possible, but it doesn't have a wild card to make things interesting. Three is just right. Things can be unpredictable but not too complicated. As a writer, think about the virtues of the number three. Not too simple, not too complicated—just right.
    Which brings us to the classic triangle: three major characters with a dynamic of six. Now you'll have room to move. The romantic comedy Ghost, with Patrick Swayze, Whoopi Goldberg and Demi Moore, gives us a clear model. In the story Swayze and
    Moore's characters are in love; he's killed during a mugging. He becomes a ghost but can't communicate with her.
    Enter Goldberg, a fake psychic, who learns (to her surprise more than anyone's) that she really can communicate with the dead (Swayze). This is more than she can take, and she wants no part of it. But Swayze convinces her she must talk to Moore because she's in danger (from the man who had him killed).
    If the story had been set up that Swayze's character could talk directly to Moore's from the beyond, the story wouldn't have any real tension to it. But since he must talk through a third and thoroughly unlikely person (we find out she's got a record for being a con artist), the plot suddenly takes on greater depth and comic possibilities:
    1. Swayze must convince Goldberg that he's a ghost and is talking to her from the great beyond, then
    2. Goldberg must convince Moore that she really can talk to her dead boyfriend.
    All six character interactions take place in the story:
    • Moore relates directly to