Plotto: The Master Book of All PlotsA classic how-to manual, William Wallace Cook’s Plotto is one writer’s personal method, painstakingly diagrammed for the benefit of others. The theory itself may be simple — "Purpose opposed by Obstacle yields Conflict" — but Cook takes his "Plottoist" through hundreds of situations and scenarios, guiding the reader’s hand as a dizzying array of purposes and obstacles come to a head. Cook’s method is broken down into three stages: First, the master plot. This four-page chart distills the most basic plot points into a three-line sentence. Next, the conflict situation. Each master plot leads the reader to a list of circumstances, distributed among 20 different conflict groups (these range from “Love’s Beginning” to “Personal Limitations” to “Transgression”). There are over 2,000 unique conflict situations in the book, and each is cross-referenced with designs for how the situation might have started, or where it might go. Finally, there are character combinations — Cook offers an extensive index of protagonists, each cross-referenced with various supporting players — themselves tied to various conflict situations, for what appears to be an inexhaustible reservoir of suggestions and inspiration. |
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Common terms and phrases
A’s friend A’s wife arrested B’s father B’s husband BECOMING INVOLVED BR-B carry Character Symbols Classification by Character Clause commits a transgression compelled Conflict suggestions craftily crafty enterprise crime criminal crook danger dead death designing woman desperate discovers divorce elopes engaged escape evil experience F-B and M-B FALLING INTO MISFORTUNE falls in love fear fictitious finds foreign ethnicity fugitive from justice happiness ideals innocent killed knows lead-up Lesson loses Love and Courtship LOVE’S MISADVENTURES LOVE’S REJECTION lover marriage marries B-3 masquerade ball Masterplot meets MISTAKEN JUDGMENT murdered object of mystery obligation PERSONAL LIMITATIONS plot Plotto pretends protagonist proves Purposes and Obstacles rescues revealed rival in love rival or enemy secret enterprise secretly secure seeks to save SIMULATION SR-A stolen story strange stranger stratagem suicide supposed sweetheart takes thinks undertaking unknown unusual motive wealthy William Wallace woman he loves writing