TECH: BOOK: Steal This Plot

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original Posting: Thu, 2 Jun 1994 18:35:02 JST

Steal This Plot
Noble, June and William
ISBN 0-8397-7881-3
Paul S. Eriksson, Publisher
1985

Just some notes - the basic thesis of this book is that you can take a plot idea, often from a book, story, or poem. Change the setting, characters, etc. and write a new story.

Part of their presentation is the notion that you add motivation - why is this happening - through one of the following:

1. Vengeance
2. Catastrophe
3. Love and Hate
4. The Chase
5. Grief and Loss
6. Rebellion
7. Betrayal
8. Persecution
9. Self-Sacrifice
10. Survival
11. Rivalry
12. Discovery/Quest
13. Ambition

Further, they recommend "spicing" the plot with one of the following:

1. Deception
2. Material Well-being (plus or minus)
3. Authority
4. Making Amends (GUILT!)
5. Conspiracy
6. Rescue
7. Mistaken Identity
8. Unnatural Affection
9. Criminal Actions (including murder)
10. Suspicion
11. Suicide
12. Searching
13. Honor/Dishonor

So, for example, perhaps you want your character to find the magic keys and save the kingdom (HOKEY!). As motivation, you pick love and hate, deciding to spice the mix with criminal actions (including murder). So your hero(ine) is driven by love (for who?) and/or hate (for who?) into criminal actions, perhaps even murder - culminating in rescue of the kingdom. Perhaps another character is driven by self-sacrifice, spiced with concepts of honor and dishonor, which lead them to oppose and then eventually to support the shady anti-hero(ine) who offers to save the kingdom.

Somehow these "roll-the-dice" plotting methods always make me a bit queasy. Still, it's another method...