20 Master Plots: And How to Build Them

Plots, the 'How To' Primer

Plots, the 'how to' primer This is a book for the person who seriously wants to become a paid author. Ronald Tobias took on an incredibly, almost impossible task of distilling down an innumerable number of plots into a manageable twenty. As I came to the end of '20 Master Plots: and how to build them', I realized that Mr. Tobias, as a professional published writer, by taking the tremendous effort to write this book, clearly demonstrated sincere empathy for those new to the business. The challenge facing his left-brain readers, with the logical, linear and sequential cant given our dominate neurons, is that we could be trapped into reading good 'How-To' writing books like this, until old-age Parkinson's or Alzheimer's makes it physically impossible to begin our first effort. This 232 paged, large-font trade paperback, prepares us with five fast-moving explanatory chapters. We then plow into the twenty master plots: beginning with 'Quest' and ending with 'Ascension & Descension', leaving your reviewer-writer pondering if he will ever get a book published. As an actor, I am conditioned to reading plays and scripts and making what we call 'discoveries'. In '20 Master Plots', as I was dragging my eyes over the pages on 'Pursuit', my hi-liters remained in their hip-holsters, and I wondered if I would ever finish the stinking chapter. And later, eagerly reading, then re-reading, 'Master Plot #17: Discovery', where I used fluorescent yellows, pinks and blues to soak the pages, I understood that I would most likely not pound out a book rooted in the 'Pursuit' plot and more likely would become a best-selling author based on the aptly named 'Discovery' plot. Grin . And, likewise, if you should chose to read '20 Master Plots' you will endure slow and boring chapters and delight in fast and fun pages. If you are the type of beginning writer who seeks guidance in the area of plots, this book is certainly all you need.

2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

WORTH STUDYING

20 MASTER PLOTS (And How to Build Them), by Ronald B. Tobias, provides an interesting analysis of plot, in general, and then a chapter-by-chapter countdown of twenty specific master-plot scenarios. Whether you believe there are really only one or two basic plots upon which all stories are built, or whether you believe there are an infinite number of plots, 20 MASTER PLOTS is worth studying.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Great help for understanding plot basics.

This breaks the most commonn plots down into basic parts and offers some great examples on how each plot works for several major works.

Plots, the 'how to' primer

This is a book for the person who seriously wants to become a paid author. Ronald Tobias took on an incredibly, almost impossible task of distilling down an innumerable number of plots into a manageable twenty. As I came to the end of '20 Master Plots: and how to build them', I realized that Mr. Tobias, as a professional published writer, by taking the tremendous effort to write this book, clearly demonstrated sincere empathy for those new to the business. The challenge facing his left-brain readers, with the logical, linear and sequential cant given our dominate neurons, is that we could be trapped into reading good 'How-To' writing books like this, until old-age Parkinson's or Alzheimer's makes it physically impossible to begin our first effort. This 232 paged, large-font trade paperback, prepares us with five fast-moving explanatory chapters. We then plow into the twenty master plots: beginning with 'Quest' and ending with 'Ascension & Descension', leaving your reviewer-writer pondering if he will ever get a book published. As an actor, I am conditioned to reading plays and scripts and making what we call 'discoveries'. In '20 Master Plots', as I was dragging my eyes over the pages on 'Pursuit', my hi-liters remained in their hip-holsters, and I wondered if I would ever finish the stinking chapter. And later, eagerly reading, then re-reading, 'Master Plot #17: Discovery', where I used fluorescent yellows, pinks and blues to soak the pages, I understood that I would most likely not pound out a book rooted in the 'Pursuit' plot and more likely would become a best-selling author based on the aptly named 'Discovery' plot. Grin . And, likewise, if you should chose to read '20 Master Plots' you will endure slow and boring chapters and delight in fast and fun pages. If you are the type of beginning writer who seeks guidance in the area of plots, this book is certainly all you need.

Absolutely necesary for scriptwriters

Ever heard that all the stories are already told? Here they are. If you have a good story, you'll surely find its basic structure and the way to improve it here.

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