Why the M.I.C.E. QUOTIENT?
Plot Structure - How many basic plots are there?
Aristotle- 2 basic plots: Tragedies (Bad things happen to good people) and Comedies (Good things happen to good people).
Shakespeare- 7 basic plots: the Love story, the Revenge Story, Murder Mystery, the History, the Tall Tale, Coming of Age, and Hail & Farewell.
Joseph Campbell - 1 basic plot: The Journey of the Hero.
Robert Heinlein - 3 basic plots: Boy Meets Girl; Boy Looses Girl; Boy Makes Girl.
Notes:
All stories contain four elements that determine structure: Milieu, Idea, Character, and Event. While each is present in the story, one generally dominates the others.
Which one dominates? The one that the author cares about most. This is why we often consider the process of discovering the structure of a story a process of self-discovery: What is your story about? Who is the central or viewpoint character? Where is your story set? What is the purpose of your story? Once you have considered each of those questions, then you can ask, Which aspect of the story matters most to you? That is the aspect that will give you your story's structure.
Let's take each element in turn and look at the structure that would be required if that is the dominant element in the story.