20 Master Plots: And How to Build Them by Ronald Tobias
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Book Reviews of 20 Master Plots: And How to Build Them
Book Review: Not a bad option but not a great one either
Summary: 2 Stars
This book intrigued me when I saw it on the shelf at Barnes and Noble. I picked it up and have just recently started reading through it.
At first it looks like a book that will give a solid basis for building a plot by finding the patterns each plot has. The reality is that this book shows how to give SOME basis to building your plot. Where the author isn't taking up paragraphs to say what could be said in a sentence (and usually what he is saying is painfully obvious) he has a clear bias against certain genres. He doesn't come out and say "commercial fiction is contrived, formulaic garbage and you're an idiot if you buy it - just read literally fiction instead, it's so much more refreshing!" but if you read the other reviews for this book you'll see that I'm not the only one who feels that he was trying to convey that message.
Is it worth the money? That depends. Spending $10, $20, even $40 on a book that only has one concept that makes you think, puts what you know in a different perspective, or in any other way changes how you look at what you write is more than worth the money. Whether or not this book has that concept is up to the individual to decide.
You could do a lot worse than "20 Master Plots And How to Build Them" but there are many better books too. And most of those don't talk down to you for enjoying a piece of fiction that's backed by a large label or producing studio.
Edit August 5 2008 Instead of this, I would recommend the "Write Great Fiction" series and "Novelist's Boot Camp."
Book Review: Not a technical eye-opener.
Summary: 2 Stars
This books starts well, and if you are interested in pursuing plot type #1, Quests, and haven't dissected a plot since high school then I think this is highly recommended. Things start with a very technical approach, giving a useful breakdown of plot's parts and the main types of plot. In his approach to Quests Tobias even uses one or two of the terms that loom so large in his initial over-view. Unfortunately things swiftly digress and it is not long before the reader is left to establish his own technical descriptions; Tobias meanwhile falls into the traps of most fiction 'how to' books, generalization and ambiguity, for example suggesting sagely over several paragraphs (in Maturation) that anyone interested in writing about adolescents should try to think like one, but offering very little concrete technical guidance to work with.
Anyone expecting a book which examines difficult plotting in depth (Tobias works mostly with fairy tales, which, although paradigmatic, are rarely comperable in their structural intricacies to novel-length fiction) and hoping to witness either a detailed dissection of exemplary plots by great writers or else a highly technical, step-by-step dissection of architypical "master" plots would be better off buying the Cliff Notes to the works of Conrad, because they will not find such revealing stuff here.
Book Review: Left out the plot "The Crusader"
Summary: 2 Stars
From an analytical standpoint, this is a decent synopsis. You don't have to read an entire chapter to get the drift of the type. Don't expect a semester class on plot structure, that's not promised, so it's not a problem that it's not delivered. You can set it on your reference shelf.
My biggest gripe with this book is that throughout it Tobias seems to be crusading for pronoun equality. He takes turns using 'she' and 'he' so much that it jars me out of the text. I don't get it. I'm sure many of you don't notice, so whatever. To me it's a stupid mistake, and an easy way to lose readers. You could simply restructure the sentence for no pronoun at all if you were such a guilt-ridden apologist that you lost sleep over it. I suppose I shouldn't gripe -- but what the hell, I am. Worse, he overlooks the natural polarity of some bonefide English words: Hero is male, Heroine is female. Why distract from writing about what is important here (plots)?
Yeah, yeah, I know, nobody cares. Execept me and my $10.
Book Review: Basic, formulaic
Summary: 2 Stars
Bottom line, this book was dull. These twenty plots are a better subject for an essay or paper than an entire book. That the author has to say about each of the twenty plots could be summed up in three lines: The protagonists goal, the relationships between two or three main characters, and the hook. He makes a few good points about plots of the mind and plots of the body, but ultimately it is mostly a space-filler. Shiny package, enticing structure, and while not terrible, this book is short on content.Book Review: Big on promises, short on delivery
Summary: 1 Stars
I'm afraid this book has very little to recommend it. Not only is it out of touch with classical and contemporary literature on its subject of choice, all the master structures described aren't really plot structures either, but rather smaller narrative "motifs". And where are all the illustrative, helpful examples from literature and film to flesh out the descriptions? Probably in some other book.
For a well-researched, expansive, and empirically grounded take on basic plot structures, I recommend Christopher Booker's "The Seven Basic Plots".