 Action/Adventure: September 15, 2021 Issue [#10942] |
This week: Bingo Card of Plot Points Edited by: Annette  
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| Recently, my noticed that several TV shows use a set of "Bingo Card of Plot Points" as coined by my Second Son. This does not seem to lead to dull storytelling. Instead, it creates a whole new way to experience fiction. |
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Bingo Card of Plot Points
As a writer and hoping to publish my own stories at some point, I have started consuming stories in a different way. Whether in book form or on TV, I can't unsee certain expected story beats. It has come to a point where I will greet a character who walks onto the scene with "There you are." because I knew that his/her character type was an ingredient to a specific type of story.
A while ago, I came across a TV show from France that has three seasons that drew me in. I found three more TV shows with so many similar plot points that my Second Son coined the term "Bingo Card of Plot Points." As we discussed more, we eventually realized that several of those plot points are from David Lynch's "Twin Peaks" series from the 1990s.
With my knowledge and expectations of the plot points in mind, I watched the first three episodes of Twin Peaks. It became a game to call out plot points that I recognized from the French TV shows. For comparison, we then watched the first episode of one of the French shows. It quickly became clear that the French creators had used the whole bingo card from Twin Peaks, but they also added a second card (or a third card) that we haven't been able to track to one specific, iconic show or movie.
Some examples of Bingo Card Plot Points are:
 Local police officer deals with the murder of a teen girl who first went missing and then turns up dead.
Higher ranking law officer or agent comes to town to solve the crime.
There is a thick forest between the town and the next town.
In the modern versions, the towns always have terrible (or no) internet.
Someone is missing a limb or fingers.
Children (or teens or young adults) cause trouble in the forest.
There has to be a bear in the story.
As writers here on Writing.Com, we have all at least seen contests that ask for the use of prompts to create a story or poem. For the most part, the prompt requirement will be a phrase, a keyword, or a sentence.
What would it be like if several writers were each given a set of 25 plot elements that have to be included in a story? Would we all write something similar or would we come up with wildly different stories?
I found the TV shows to all give me that familiar, "Here is another element I recognize" feeling. At the same time, the shows were very different in their stories that weren't set beforehand by the preset plot points. |
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