Which Skeleton?

Plot skeletons seem to be very popular as planning tools these days. There are all sorts of plot skeleton models out there – I counted nine different variations on Campbell’s “The Hero’s Journey” before I gave up (I have Opinions about Campbell in regard to writing); the three-, four-, and five-act structures that come out of plays; beats and plot-points; and many variations on the classic and straightforward Aristotelian “beginning, middle, end.”

All these methods are, I think, trying to codify...