Precio
Páginas: 182 (45445 palabras)
Publicado: 6 de julio de 2011
MASTER PLOTS
(And How to Build Them) RONALD B. TOBIAS
WRITER'S DIGEST tOOKS
M
CINCINNATI, OHIO
Dedication To Valerie, As Always
"Sue's Got a Baby" appearing on page 176 is reprinted from Collected Verses of Edgar A. Guest, by Edgar A. Guest, ® 1934. Used with permission of Contemporary Books, Inc.
20 Master Plots (and How to Build Them). Copyright © 1993 by Ronald B. Tobias.Printed and bound in the United States of America. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review. Published by Writer's Digest Books, an imprint of F&W Publications, Inc.,4700 East Galbraith Road, Cincinnati, Ohio, 45236. 1-800-289-0963. First paperback edition 2003. 07 06 05 5 4
library of Congress has catalogued the hardcover edition as follows: Tobias, Ron 20 master plots (and how to build them) / by Ronald B. Tobias.—1st ed. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 0-89879-595-8 (hardcover) ISBN 1-58297-239-7 (pbk.: alk. paper) 1. Plots (Drama, novel, etc.) 2.Fiction—Technique. I. Title. II. Title; Twenty master plots (and how to build them) PN218.T59 1993 808'.02—dc20 93-21785 CIP Edited by Jack Heffron Designed by Sandy Conopeotis
TABLE OF
CONTENTS
Chapter One
INVISIBLE FICTION 1
Chapter Two
THE LOWEST C O M M O N PLOT DENOMINATORS 18 31 38 49 56 59 71 79 86 93 99 Ill 124
Chapter Three
THE STRONG FORCE
Chapter Four
DEEP STRUCTUREChapter Five
TRIANGLES
Chapter Six
TWENTY MASTER PLOTS: PROLOGUE
Chapter Seven
MASTER PLOT # 1 : QUEST
Chapter Eight
MASTER PLOT # 2 : ADVENTURE
Chapter Nine
MASTER PLOT # 3 : PURSUIT
Chapter Ten
MASTER PLOT # 4 : RESCUE
Chapter Eleven
MASTER PLOT # 5 : ESCAPE
Chapter Twelve
MASTER PLOT # 6 : REVENGE
Chapter Thirteen
MASTER PLOT # 7 : THE RIDDLE
Chapter FourteenMASTER PLOT # 8 : RIVALRY
Chapter Fifteen
MASTER PLOT # 9 : UNDERDOG 131 138 146 153 160 168 182 191 201 209
Chapter Sixteen
MASTER PLOT # 1 0 : TEMPTATION
Chapter Seventeen
MASTER PLOT # 1 1 : METAMORPHOSIS
Chapter Eighteen
MASTER PLOT # 1 2 : TRANSFORMATION
Chapter Nineteen
MASTER PLOT # 1 3 : MATURATION
Chapter Twenty
MASTER PLOT # 1 4 : LOVE
Chapter Twenty-One
MASTERPLOT # 1 5 : FORBIDDEN LOVE
Chapter Twenty-Two
MASTER PLOT # 1 6 : SACRIFICE
Chapter Twenty-Three
MASTER PLOT # 1 7 : DISCOVERY
Chapter Twenty-Four
MASTER PLOT # 1 8 : WRETCHED EXCESS
Chapter Twenty-Five
MASTER PLOTS # 1 9 A N D # 2 0 : ASCENSION A N D DESCENSION 218 228
Chapter Twenty-Six
PARTING SHOTS
Index
233
Chapter One
Invisible Fiction
If a writer has torob his mother, he will not hesitate; the "Ode to a Graecian Urn" is worth any number of old ladies.
— William Faulkner
T
he shelves of libraries are stacked with the stories of centuries, but out in the street, the air swarms with newly made fiction. These living stories are so much a part of us that we hardly think about their role in our lives: They are rumor, gossip, jokes, excuses,anecdotes, huge outrageous lies and little white lies—all daily inventions of fiction that create the fabric of life. Stories thrive at the company water cooler, in the lunchroom, at the hairdresser's, in taxis and taverns, in boardrooms and bedrooms. Years of schooling have conditioned us to think about fiction as something either on the page or on the screen, so we overlook the fact that oureveryday lives are steeped in stories: full of energy, inventiveness and conviction. An example of a fiction that was passed along by word of mouth around the English-speaking world is a modern legend known as "The Choking Doberman." Modern legends are stories that pass from person to person as if they were true. ("I swear, it happened to a friend of a friend of mine ") The story is both simple and...
(And How to Build Them) RONALD B. TOBIAS
WRITER'S DIGEST tOOKS
M
CINCINNATI, OHIO
Dedication To Valerie, As Always
"Sue's Got a Baby" appearing on page 176 is reprinted from Collected Verses of Edgar A. Guest, by Edgar A. Guest, ® 1934. Used with permission of Contemporary Books, Inc.
20 Master Plots (and How to Build Them). Copyright © 1993 by Ronald B. Tobias.Printed and bound in the United States of America. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review. Published by Writer's Digest Books, an imprint of F&W Publications, Inc.,4700 East Galbraith Road, Cincinnati, Ohio, 45236. 1-800-289-0963. First paperback edition 2003. 07 06 05 5 4
library of Congress has catalogued the hardcover edition as follows: Tobias, Ron 20 master plots (and how to build them) / by Ronald B. Tobias.—1st ed. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 0-89879-595-8 (hardcover) ISBN 1-58297-239-7 (pbk.: alk. paper) 1. Plots (Drama, novel, etc.) 2.Fiction—Technique. I. Title. II. Title; Twenty master plots (and how to build them) PN218.T59 1993 808'.02—dc20 93-21785 CIP Edited by Jack Heffron Designed by Sandy Conopeotis
TABLE OF
CONTENTS
Chapter One
INVISIBLE FICTION 1
Chapter Two
THE LOWEST C O M M O N PLOT DENOMINATORS 18 31 38 49 56 59 71 79 86 93 99 Ill 124
Chapter Three
THE STRONG FORCE
Chapter Four
DEEP STRUCTUREChapter Five
TRIANGLES
Chapter Six
TWENTY MASTER PLOTS: PROLOGUE
Chapter Seven
MASTER PLOT # 1 : QUEST
Chapter Eight
MASTER PLOT # 2 : ADVENTURE
Chapter Nine
MASTER PLOT # 3 : PURSUIT
Chapter Ten
MASTER PLOT # 4 : RESCUE
Chapter Eleven
MASTER PLOT # 5 : ESCAPE
Chapter Twelve
MASTER PLOT # 6 : REVENGE
Chapter Thirteen
MASTER PLOT # 7 : THE RIDDLE
Chapter FourteenMASTER PLOT # 8 : RIVALRY
Chapter Fifteen
MASTER PLOT # 9 : UNDERDOG 131 138 146 153 160 168 182 191 201 209
Chapter Sixteen
MASTER PLOT # 1 0 : TEMPTATION
Chapter Seventeen
MASTER PLOT # 1 1 : METAMORPHOSIS
Chapter Eighteen
MASTER PLOT # 1 2 : TRANSFORMATION
Chapter Nineteen
MASTER PLOT # 1 3 : MATURATION
Chapter Twenty
MASTER PLOT # 1 4 : LOVE
Chapter Twenty-One
MASTERPLOT # 1 5 : FORBIDDEN LOVE
Chapter Twenty-Two
MASTER PLOT # 1 6 : SACRIFICE
Chapter Twenty-Three
MASTER PLOT # 1 7 : DISCOVERY
Chapter Twenty-Four
MASTER PLOT # 1 8 : WRETCHED EXCESS
Chapter Twenty-Five
MASTER PLOTS # 1 9 A N D # 2 0 : ASCENSION A N D DESCENSION 218 228
Chapter Twenty-Six
PARTING SHOTS
Index
233
Chapter One
Invisible Fiction
If a writer has torob his mother, he will not hesitate; the "Ode to a Graecian Urn" is worth any number of old ladies.
— William Faulkner
T
he shelves of libraries are stacked with the stories of centuries, but out in the street, the air swarms with newly made fiction. These living stories are so much a part of us that we hardly think about their role in our lives: They are rumor, gossip, jokes, excuses,anecdotes, huge outrageous lies and little white lies—all daily inventions of fiction that create the fabric of life. Stories thrive at the company water cooler, in the lunchroom, at the hairdresser's, in taxis and taverns, in boardrooms and bedrooms. Years of schooling have conditioned us to think about fiction as something either on the page or on the screen, so we overlook the fact that oureveryday lives are steeped in stories: full of energy, inventiveness and conviction. An example of a fiction that was passed along by word of mouth around the English-speaking world is a modern legend known as "The Choking Doberman." Modern legends are stories that pass from person to person as if they were true. ("I swear, it happened to a friend of a friend of mine ") The story is both simple and...
Leer documento completo
Regístrate para leer el documento completo.