>> the three basic plots are
>>        1) Man versus Man
>>        2) Man versus Machine
>>        3) Man versus Nature
>
>If that list is complete then there really is only one plot:
>
>        1) Man
>
>You can get any number of 'basic' categories you want if you just 'blur'
>the right way. These categories can be used to categorize plots or to
>point out differences between them.
>As a statement of fact 'There are ...' they are worthless.
>
>                                                Holger.
What's more, these are plots, there are examples of conflicts. True,
conflict is basic to maintaining interest in any story. (One of the
difficulties faced by writers who tried to work for STAR TREK - THE NEXT
GENERATION is that Gene Roddenberry insisted that the main characters all
got along and could not have conflicts with each other, only outsiders.
This may help explain why the first year or two of the series was so dull).
To my way of thinking, plots are distinguised from stories by being about
how or what causes some character to change his/her mind/world view. As
Frank Herbert once defined it for me, -"A story is the queen died; the king
died. That tells you what happened. A plot is the queen died; the king died
of grief."-