Kurt Vonnegut Jr argued that all good stories follow the same mechanics. Literature is full of patterns though. That's why we also have the 3 act structure, a

Kurt Vonnegut Jr argued that all good stories follow the same mechanics. Literature is full of patterns though. That's why we also have the 3 act structure, and the highest pattern of all, the Heros journey (check out Bruce Campbell). A good pattern is the 3 whys of character development: who is this guy? What does he want? Why do I give a shit? Also, not all writers hate abstractions. Check out Umberto Eco.