plotto

How to Use Plotto

This document provides a general introduction to how to use Plotto.

A, B and C Clauses

In Plotto, each Masterplot consists of an “A”, “B” and “C” clause.

• The A Clause is the Protagonist Clause.
• The B Clause originates and carries on the action.
• The C Clause carries on and terminates the action.

Generally, you will select one of the 15 “A” clauses to define the starting position for the protagonist, for example, “A Person of Ideals”.

Then you select one of the 62 “B” clauses to identify the main action of the story. For example, “Being impelled by an unusual motive to engage in crafty enterprise”.

And finally, one of the 15 “C” clauses is selected to specify the ending, for example, “Emerges from a trying ordeal with sorely garnered wisdom”.

Once this basic A/B/C framework is complete, the “B” clause can now be expanded by identifying the initial B conflict.

Initial B Conflict

Once the B clause has been chosen, a suitable conflict can be found that fits that clause.

Plotto provides an index of conflicts grouped by the “B” clause that can be used as a starting point.

Expanding B Conflicts

Most of the work with Plotto will be spent fleshing out the details of the initial B conflict. Either by working backward (toward the “A” clause) or forward (toward the “C” clause).

Each conflict has a set of before and after suggestions that can be used to expand upon the base conflict. For example, conflict 542 has 2 lead-up suggestions (405 and 420) and 4 carry-on suggestions (377a, 386, 391 and 555a,b):

Sometimes multiple suggestions are joined with a ; to make a compound suggestion, as shown here for 571 which has a compound carry-on suggestion of 572 followed by 402.

The text for some conflicts is divided into sections using one or more *s. Conflict 538 is divided into 3 sections delimited by *, ** and ***.

Links to conflicts may refer to one or more of the sections. Conflict 401 proposes the first section of 538 (from the start up to *) as a lead-up suggestion, and the last 2 sections (between the * and ***) as possible carry-on suggestions.

Lead-up and carry-on suggestions may need to change the actors in the linked conflict to match the actors in the current conflict. For example, in conflict 1039 the carry-on suggestions are 1035 (but change A-2 to A-4) and 1311 (but change A-3 to A4).

The following is a list of modifiers that might be found in the suggestion links:

• ch X to Y change X to Y
• tr X and Y transpose (swap) X and Y
• add X add X
• eliminate X remove X

Multiple modifiers may be applied to the same suggestion using &.

The Characters

To simplify descriptions, Plotto always uses the letter A for the male protagonist and B for the female protagonist.

In addition, various other characters are given abbreviations based on their relationship with A or B, for example:

• A-2, male friend of A
• A-3, male rival or enemy of A
• F-A, father of A
• M-A, mother of A
• B-2, female friend of B
• B-3, female rival or enemy of B
• BR-B, brother of B
• SR-B, sister of B

A full list of these abbreviations can be found in the The Plotto Character Symbols.