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The 7 story archetypes are:

  • Overcoming the Monster
  • Rags to Riches
  • The Quest
  • Voyage and Return
  • Comedy
  • Tragedy
  • Rebirth

Are there archetypes for political intrigues? If not what are the building blocks of a political intrigue and what might be the archetypes for these blocks? I am trying to figure out if we can deconstruct political intrigues into a sort of unit and then enumerate all of the possible building blocks we can use to craft a good political intrigue. I am thinking if there are archetypes to stories, there must be archetypes to political intrigues.

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    You might want to add that those archetypes are according to Christopher Booker's book "The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories". (I can't really recommend the last part of the book, but the rest was interesting to read.)
    – user54131
    Jan 26, 2022 at 6:51
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    Don't those archetypes apply just as well to political fiction as to any other fiction? Pick up the daily newspaper, easy to find reports of political goings-on to fill any of those buckets. Or have I misunderstood your question - are you trying to construct a political intrigue IRL?
    – High Performance Mark
    Jan 26, 2022 at 6:52
  • I'm sure you could formulate your own list of elements of intrigues (lying about rivals, betrayal of co-conspirators, forming alliances, helping those in power, acting as a friend with intention of later betrayal, sabotage, idleness, etc). These are at a lower level than the classic plots. I'm not clear if you expect to find a pre-existing list, or you're planning to do it yourself - I don't know any lists but you could certainly try it.
    – Stuart F
    Jan 26, 2022 at 11:09

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Archetypes ≠ Literary Genres

Can we then phrase any of the archetypes to fit in the political intrigue genre? Yes, as a matter of fact, you can use all the archetypes to write your literary genre, and political intrigue stories are not an exception.

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