20 Master Plots (And How to Build Them)

Hardcover, 236 pages

English language

Published 1993 by Writer's Digest Books.

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(2 reviews)

1 edition

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Trying to consolidate and categorize the entirety of human fiction into a handful of neatly-defined archetypes has been attempted multiple times, but that doesn't mean it's an easy task. Rudyard Kipling thought there were sixty-nine. Carlos Gozzi thought there were thirty-six. Aristotle argued there were only two. Why does this book land on twenty? Well, why not?

The "Master Plots" as they're laid out are logical and defended in a fair manner with lots of examples, both from literature and screenplays and movies. I was well past the halfway point when I noticed that all of the examples being given seemed oddly dated and nothing past the 80's was being referenced, and it was only then that I clocked that this was published in 1993. I think that goes a long way into explaining why a lot of the suggestions and guidelines provided here felt strangely conservative to me.

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Subjects

  • Plots (Drama, novel, etc.)
  • Fiction -- Technique.