Plotto: A New Method of Plot Suggestions for Writers of Creative Fiction

Introduction

William Wallace Cook (1867-1933) was a dime store novelist so prolific he was called “the man who deforested Canada.” In 1910, he turned out more than a book a week, completing a total of 54 dome novels. His volumes ranged from adventure tales, Cast Away at the Pole, to Westerns, His Friend the Enemy, and mysteries, In the Web. And yet, each manuscript had a similar structure and length: 40,000 words, sixteen chapters of five pages each. Cook believed in high-speed composition by set rules: “A writer is neither better nor worse than any other man who happens to be in trade. He is a manufacturer.” Supposedly, Alfred Hitchcock turned to Plotto to hone his plotting skills.

Cook’s Plotto (1928) advertised that it would allow other writers to adopt his efficient and successful writing formula. Depending on a writer’s preferred starting point, Plotto offered three pathways for plot creation: a list of “master plots,” a list of character types, and a list of conflict situations. Wherever the user started, he was presented with plot decisions that would lead to another set of forking paths, in a kind of choose-your-own-adventure of story creation. The book was even printed with half-pages so that the user could flip the middle leaf when choosing a three-part “Masterplot.” Cook told his acolytes that a clear understanding of how narrative works could allow authors to achieve not only success in their writing careers, but also a deeper understanding of the daily elements and actions that lead to love, happiness, and marriage. In Cook’s Plotto, writing well is bound to influence whether one lives well.

“Plotto concerns itself with but one General Purpose in its application to three general goals of endeavor: 1. To Achieve Happiness in Love and Courtship.

1. To Achieve Happiness in Married Life.
2. To Achieve Happiness (Success) in Enterprise.”

Additional Information

Label

Plotto: A New Method of Plot Suggestions for Writers of Creative Fiction

Author

William Wallace Cook

Original Publication Date

1928

Location

RBML

Case

3