[gmw]

Thanks for the link. A curious site, shame so much of it is movies rather than books. What I think it demonstrates is how widely the same plot may be interpreted by different people.

Take the Chicken Run entry for example. Ginger doesn't get a mention until the "Midpoint". For me, the entire thing hangs off Ginger. Is a story event driven or character driven? Is the story really about escaping the chop, or is it about the desire for "freeeeedooooom" (as I hear Rocky calling)? Your answers may be different to mine, and neither may match that of the author.

It is this variance that highlights the danger of trying to squeeze every story into the same mould. There are many such moulds, and if they are even vaguely story shaped it is generally possible squeeze almost any story into them (the more simplistic the mould the easier the job), you've just to push a bit harder in some places, and cut away the pieces that don't fit.

Aspiring writers may go to such a site to see how stories are constructed, but what they're really seeing is just one of many ways that stories can be deconstructed. Which is still interesting, but not necessarily that helpful.