{"id":417,"date":"2016-01-03T18:07:46","date_gmt":"2016-01-04T02:07:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\/wordpress\/?p=417"},"modified":"2025-05-18T20:32:25","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T03:32:25","slug":"william-wallace-cooks-plotto-featured-on-bbc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\/wordpress\/william-wallace-cooks-plotto-featured-on-bbc\/","title":{"rendered":"William Wallace Cook’s Plotto Featured on BBC"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"plotto_cover250\"<\/a>Plotto: The Master Book of All Plots,<\/a> and its author, William Wallace Cook, were recently featured on BBC Radio, in a program called “Miles Jupp and the Plot Device.” Listen to it here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Jupp goes into Cook’s tremendously prolific writing life, the difficulty of getting a copy of the original printing of Plotto,<\/em> and the fact that Plotto does not drop a finished plot into your lap, but takes some effort to master. (Cook later wrote a Plotto instruction manual<\/a> to clarify how to use the book, which I’ve posted to this site.)<\/p>\n

Jupp also discusses Plotto’s influence on at least one other writer, Erle Stanley Gardner<\/a>, the creator of Perry Mason<\/a>. Every story introduced a new crime and new characters, which required a new plot.<\/p>\n

How prolific was William Wallace Cook? At one point he worked with one, two, or even three stenographers at the same time, dictating one story to each in rotation, and filling in any gaps by sitting down at his typewriter and working on a different story.<\/p>\n

Is Plotto<\/em> a magic plotting device? I think it is, sort of. It’s not going to write your novel for you, but when I took Linda Hamner’s excellent scriptwriting course, it was clear that any movie has enough twists and turns to cause serious brain-freeze, and a TV series or a novel is even more daunting. Personally, I think Plotto<\/em> is a magic device for subplots, especially if you expect not to cut ’em out and paste ’em down, but to use them as a starting point, or even just to jog your brain into coming up with something better.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Plotto: The Master Book of All Plots, and its author, William Wallace Cook, were recently featured on BBC Radio, in a program called “Miles Jupp and the Plot Device.” Listen to it here. Jupp goes into Cook’s tremendously prolific writing life, the difficulty of getting a copy of the original printing of Plotto, and the … Continue reading “William Wallace Cook’s Plotto Featured on BBC”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-plotto","category-writing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p71zFO-6J","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":537,"url":"https:\/\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\/wordpress\/plotto-avoid-two-huge-mistakes\/","url_meta":{"origin":417,"position":0},"title":"Plotto: Avoid These Three Huge Mistakes","author":"Robert Plamondon","date":"May 21, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"William Wallace Cook's plot-suggestion system, Plotto, is woefully misunderstood, even by some of its biggest fans. Let's take of three\u00a0of the most basic mistakes that will prevent you from getting the most out of this wonderful\u00a0plotting aid for writers and screenwriters. Mistake 1: Taking Plot Hints Literally At first glance,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Plotto"","block_context":{"text":"Plotto","link":"https:\/\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\/wordpress\/category\/plotto\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":419,"url":"https:\/\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\/wordpress\/norton-creek-press\/","url_meta":{"origin":417,"position":1},"title":"Norton Creek Press","author":"Robert Plamondon","date":"January 3, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Classic Reprints and Old-Time Wisdom Note: This site is a combination book catalog and blog. To go straight to the books, use the categories at the top of the links in this post. For the blog, keep scrolling. Most of the best books ever written are out of print and\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":47,"url":"https:\/\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\/wordpress\/through-dungeons-deep\/","url_meta":{"origin":417,"position":2},"title":"Through Dungeons Deep","author":"Robert Plamondon","date":"August 3, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"A Fantasy Gamers' Handbook by Robert Plamondon Reissued by Norton Creek Press. 340 pages. ISBN 9780972177078 Learn how to play D&D and other fantasy role-playing games Learn how to be a Dungeon Master Learn how to design your own fantasy campaigns Tips and tricks for every occasion Great companion for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Books by Robert"","block_context":{"text":"Books by Robert","link":"https:\/\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\/wordpress\/category\/books-by-robert\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"through_dungeons_deep","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/through_dungeons_deep-192x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":860,"url":"https:\/\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\/wordpress\/amelia-b-edwards-egyptology\/","url_meta":{"origin":417,"position":3},"title":"Amelia B. Edwards and Egyptology","author":"Robert Plamondon","date":"November 2, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"A charming blog post, Walk Like an Egyptian, talks about the connection between novelist and travel writer Amelia B. Edwards and the development of modern Egyptology. After Edwards visited Egypt in 1873 and wrote A Thousand Miles up the Nile, she founded the Egypt Exploration Fund, which supported the efforts\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Egypt"","block_context":{"text":"Egypt","link":"https:\/\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\/wordpress\/category\/egypt\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/1000_miles_up_the_nile_sm1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":950,"url":"https:\/\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\/wordpress\/my-magic-items-from-dragon-magazine\/","url_meta":{"origin":417,"position":4},"title":"My Magic Items from Dragon Magazine","author":"Robert Plamondon","date":"June 2, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"When I and the world were young, my professional writing career got its start with a tiny piece in The Dragon, the D&D magazine from TSR Hobbies. This was my writeup of a humorous cursed magic item, The Rod of Singing, appearing in their Bazaar of the Bizarre column. They\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Role-Playing Games"","block_context":{"text":"Role-Playing Games","link":"https:\/\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\/wordpress\/category\/role-playing-games\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Dragon-045-cover.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":929,"url":"https:\/\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\/wordpress\/running-a-dd-game-for-first-time-players-especially-kids\/","url_meta":{"origin":417,"position":5},"title":"Running a D&D Game for First-Time Players, Especially Kids","author":"Robert Plamondon","date":"May 18, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Playing Dungeons & Dragons and similar tabletop role-playing games for the first time is a bewildering but never-to-be-forgotten experience. Whether it's also a good experience is up to you, the Game Master. So how do we stack the odds in the beginner's favor? I have some tricks. Adding a Beginner\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Role-Playing Games"","block_context":{"text":"Role-Playing Games","link":"https:\/\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\/wordpress\/category\/role-playing-games\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/figure-18-1.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/figure-18-1.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/figure-18-1.webp?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=417"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":418,"href":"https:\/\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417\/revisions\/418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}