THE ICE PICK

20 Master Plots (and How to Build Them), by Ronald Tobias. Cincinnati, Writer’s Digest Books. ISBN 0-89879-595-8. $16.95.

Whenever you mention you’re writing a story, the first thing people usually ask is "What’s your story about?" Simplistically speaking, the answer you give (if you tell them) is the plot. But if an editor asked you, could you state the basic idea for your story in fifty words or less? Explain what the central aim of your story is? Tell your protagonist’s goal? Motivation? Opposition?

When you get an idea for a story, do you know where to begin? Or how to maintain the momentum of the narrative? Plot is a dynamic process. It permeates and drives your story. It "isn’t an accessory that conveniently organizes your material according to some ritualistic magic. You don’t just plug in a plot like a household appliance and expect it to do its job. Plot is organic. It takes hold of the writer and the work from the beginning."

This book is not simply a list of the twenty top plots of all time. It shows you how to create your plot and apply it to the subject matter you choose so that your story is developed evenly and effectively.

In most stories we find that without tension there is no plot, and tension is created through opposition to the protagonist. This may be an external enemy or an internal character flaw. The tension generally increases as the climax of the story approaches, each roadblock the character faces becoming increasingly difficult, raising the stakes or escalating the complications, and eventually changing the protagonist’s character for better . . . or worse.

There are action plots and mental plots, morality plays and stories where there is no clear right or wrong, and there are triangles and duos where character relationships are paramount, but Tobias has chosen the twenty commonest plots. Then for each of them, from the quintessential "Quest" to the "Ascension" (Horatio Alger-type plots)and "Descension" (lo, how the mighty are fallen-type plots), Tobias defines and explains the plot, tells its advantages and dangers, explains how it can work for you, and gives a checklist of things to keep in mind when trying to write a story using that plot. He is straightforward about the pitfalls and gives lots of practical hints and pointers.

For example, in the checklist for the plot he calls "Wretched Excess," he warns, "Develop your character so that his decline evokes sympathy. Don’t present him as a raving lunatic. . . . Don’t hide anything that will keep your reader from being empathetic. . . . It’s hard to be sympathetic with a person who’s a rapist or a serial murderer. . . . At the crisis point of your story, move your character either toward complete destruction or redemption. Don’t leave him swinging in the wind, because your reader will definitely not be satisfied."

Having given all of these hard and fast plotting rules, Tobias goes on to say, "On the one hand, don’t force your story to fit, and on the other hand, don’t get so loose that nothing fits. Plot is the form your idea will take; give it shape and substance as you write. Whatever you do, however, don’t be a slave to the plot. . . . Make it work for you."

The index is very good and covers both the works he has drawn examples from, as well as his own text.

This is not an easy book--although the text is clear, and the tone is light. It requires attention and thought. But the advice is excellent and well worth your time to investigate it.

{Published in GPIC, the Oklahoma Science Fiction Writers Newsletter, Jan. 1999. Reprinted in SF & Fantasy Workshop Newsletter, May 2000.}