Every Story follows the same basic plot Part II: Shattered

See part 1

In any story, there is something that shatters the Shalom, the peace, the ideal state. This too can be implied before the beginning we see. In the movie Gladiator, it came when Rome moved to depend on a Caesar rather than the Senate, and in the story of the main character, Maximus, with the death of the Caesar he pledged loyalty to. In The Matrix, it happened before the opening scenes when the machines took over. In Walk The Line, it happened when Cash's brother died in the accident. In God's story, it happened with the angelic rebellion, and in man's story with the Fall.

The shattering happens in many ways, but generally it involves a wound and loss. A boy becomes orphaned in a way -- either through the actually loss of a parent, or in the practical loss of a parent to alcoholism or other means. A young woman suffers a breakup from a lover. A man loses a friend. We become in someway an orphan, widow(er), or stranger.

See Part III