Plotline Synthesizer

They say that Shakespeare wrote all the good plots. Even if this is an exaggeration it illustrates a good point - there are only a limited number of fundamental plot twists that can be used. It should be possible to strip a book, film or any other narrative of it's background, location, style and reduce the plotline to it's basic elements (rather like what I think the film world calls a 'treatment', although that will have a little more detail than what I propose). You should then have a comprehensible plotline which would not really resemble the narrative at all, just a timeline of relationships and actions between characters. eg Romeo and Juliet: A -attracted- B. A(familysocial group) -war- B(family/social group). C *supporter of idea* (A attracted to B). Message A to C to B. Message B to C to A. I forget exactly what happens between Romeo Juliet and the Nurse, but you get the idea.

Now develop a symbology for all possible relationships and actions (characters can stay as letters). A¢ŸB = love. A¢Ÿ>B¢Ÿ>C = love triangle. A¥öB = A hates B. A¬¨B = A kills B. This would get complex after a while, but no more so than any programming language.

Any story can then be expressed as symbol based plotline. New plotlines could then be generated by analysing, combining and randomising old ones. Obviously the style, characters and backdrop to the story are just as (if not more) important, and completely reliant on the creative skill of the author, director or whoever, but it might be an interesting method of story development.