The One Basic Plot

by Martin Turner

How one shape found in almost all stories can generate infinite possibilities for the writer.Booker says there are seven, Polti says there are thirty-six. Some say two, and some say twenty. But writer Martin Turner makes the case that there is one basic shape which is found in virtually all stories that are worth hearing, and that one shape can be used by writers to create an infinite variety of new plots.This is a book solidly aimed at writers and story makers. It has three big ideas — the double-reversal, the collision of narratives, and the moment of clarity. For the rest, it tries to avoid as much as possible repeating what is already available in other books. If you are a writer in search of inspiration, or you've been bamboozled into believing that all the good plots have been used already and you're just tinkering, or you're worried that the story you've been labouring on for weeks, months or years is never going to work, then The One Basic Plot gives you the tools to tell the story you want, with any premise and any theme, and the confidence to know that it really can work.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction

69 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 9, 2011