Soap Opera Plots

The other evening a friend and I were talking about how, years ago, we were both soap opera junkies. We used to love our favorite soap operas. But now we don't bother watching the soaps anymore. In fact, we stopped watching them years ago. I don't think it's our age. Both of my grandmothers still watched their favorite soaps when they were well into their eighties. No, I think it has to do with the fact that today's soap operas are so poorly written. Soap operas used to be about love and romance. Nowadays they're about demonic possession, a couple going back to the garden of Eden, and UFOs. Great for The X Files, but not what we want to see on Days of Our Lives.

Those of us who are fiction writers or storytellers know that basic plot structure revolves around conflict, and how the characters react to and resolve the conflict. Soap operas always used to have some basic, classic plot lines that always worked and always kept the viewers hooked. They are:


The Romantic Triangle: Boy meets girl. They fall in love. But another girl is also in love with the same boy and she schemes over and over again to break them up, becoming "The Girl We Love to Hate." Such was the Steve, Alice and Rachel triangle on Another World that kept viewers watching for years and is even written up in Wikipedia.

Extra-Marital Affairs and Illegitimate Children: The side effect of the romantic triangle. Back in the good old days on Days of our Lives we were riveted for years wondering when Mickey would find out that Mike was actually his brother Bill's son.

Long-Lost or Unknown Half Siblings: Boy meets girl. It's love at first sight. But one of their mothers is dead-set against their relationship, and she does everything in her power to break them up. Soon the truth comes out. Years ago Mom was the lover of the father of her child's love interest, and they are half brother and sister. Fortunately this always comes out before the romance is consummated. The would-be lovers are broken-hearted. One may leave town, or they may try to learn to love one another as siblings. A good twist is when years later, after they've both found other people, the other mother comes forward as says no, so and so was not the father of her child after all, so they were never actually half-siblings. The fun never stops.

Catastrophic Diseases or Injuries: Hodgkin's Disease was real popular. So were brain tumors. Or any kind of tumor for that matter. Then there was the occasional coma. (Although I think comas were usually brought on by actors being difficult.) Pregnancies were, more often than not, high-risk. Miscarriages were frequent on soaps too and could be caused by the strangest things, such as tripping over a wastepaper basket. And how many times did we see our favorite characters go blind or deaf? But at least in soap opera land everyone always recovered. Only to be struck by another malady a few years later.

Amnesia: A very rare medical condition in the real world, but at one time it was quite popular on soaps. Having someone lose their memory and wander off somewhere, with everyone else thinking they were dead, made for great soap opera watching.

The Big Frame-Up: From time to time a villain has to be killed off, and what better way to do it than to have the favorite leading man or lady framed for a crime they didn't commit. Of course they would eventually be found innocent, but never until after they'd gone to trial, been convicted, and ended up in prison.

Coming Back From the Dead: A favorite character is presumed dead because they were in a plane crash/car crash or other catastrophic accident, but their body is not found. They return years later, but not until their love interest has moved on and found someone else. However this plot can be overdone. Come on, Days of Our Lives. How many times can Stepano DeMira be brought back from the dead?

Well, if any of you are budding romance writers these plot lines will work. Too bad the soap opera writers lost touch with their viewers.

GM