These days there's a lot of crazy. In all debates in the courts of public ideas, be they political, spiritual, moral, or cultural, the ideas most in the fringe seem to dominate.
In preparation for NaNoWriMo, I've been reading a lot about plot and story. 20 Master Plots and How To Build Them is an excellent resource, (as is Story by Robert McKee). Every plot must focus on drama, on the tension of an unresolved problem, an unreasonable antagonist, a goal worth dying for, overwhelming passions, major strengths, massive weaknesses. Unmovable objects vs irresistible forces.
Writers are encouraged to bring the tension to a tipping point; to make it seem like there is no way out, to stack the odds to the point where your protagonist is sure to lose (even if she wins in the end).
No matter the plot, there must be drama, or your reader will yawn and put the book down.
Frustrating conflict is great for stories. But it's not so great for real life. In real life, be it personal or political, drama leads to sadness, tears, hardships, and destruction. On the grander scale, it can lead to lost jobs, hunger, crime, injustice, and even death and war. In real life, it reaches a point where it is no longer entertainment, though it may seem so to viewers who watch it from afar.
All plots can be placed in two categories: Physical or mental, force or fraud, tragedy or comedy, outward action or inward movement. Whatever you call it, all plots emphasize one of these, while the other takes a backseat or doesn't exist at all. The action story will focus on physical resolution to tension. The murder mystery or romantic comedy will solve it via the mind or character development.
Back to real life. In the past, power was often won by force. There was no such thing as the Bill of Rights to protect people, so whoever could suppress the people at the point of the sword, or who ever could kill the king, won the day. Force is still very much a powerful tool, but in stable democratic nations, it is likely to backfire. And so today those who seek power must resort to mental strategies.
