What if there were a tool for this very problem, so you could navigate these uncharted waters as quickly as possible? A tool that starts with what you have (a situation, perhaps, or a group of characters) and sets you on the road to new possibilities? Plotto does all this. Created by a master of organized creativity, William Wallace Cook (one of the most prolific writers in history), Plotto has been prized by professional authors and screenwriters since its publication in 1928, and is still in demand today, with copies of the original edition selling for up to $400. Its companion piece, the Plotto Instruction Booklet, is almost unobtainable.
Plotto's value lies as much in what is isn't as in what it is. Plotto isn't a random plot generator, and never gives you something you can cut out and paste down (sometimes it looks like you could, but ... don't). Instead, it deliberately serves up situations or conflicts that seem rather lifeless at first glance, because they are. They still need to be animated by the spark of your own creativity, while putting the process into a more manageable framework.
This Norton Creek Edition is an exact reproduction of Cook s work. To keep the book down to a manageable size (300 pages of small type) while retaining its powerful features, Cook uses a telegraphic format that takes some getting used to, so working through the Plotto Instruction Booklet (also available from Norton Creek Press) is essential.
Because Plotto was written in the Twenties, its situations can seem old-fashioned and its terminology politically incorrect, but these problems are more apparent than real. Cook himself wrote both westerns and early classics of science fiction, so you see how replacing stagecoach with star ship or dance hall girl with male stripper are within the reach of anyone using the Plotto system. In fact, this kind of substitution is how the book is intended to be used, and is the key to its flexibility and enduring popularity.