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News & Events
PLOTTO: THE MASTER CONTEST OF ALL PLOTS, Week 4
“FIRST AID TO TROUBLED WRITERS,” the Boston Globe announced in September 1928—“GRINDS OUT PLOTS WITHOUT ANY FALSE START.”
Calling all writers who are obsessed with plot and obsessives who can write a mean story. We want you!
THE RULES:
Every Wednesday we will post a prompt from William Wallace Cook’s classic how to manual Plotto: The Mater Book of All Plots. Simply use the prompt below to write your own original 500 word story.
In the book, {A}= a male protagonist. {B}= a female protagonist but for our purposes, feel free to write from the point of view of any gender.
Mini-Plottos, 500 words or fewer must be submitted by the following Monday at 5:00pm PST. Send to: theopenbar@tinhouse.com with PLOTTO CONTEST as the subject line. Please include a brief bio.
The Week’s Prompt:
{A}, a pugilist, believes that a friend whom he killed by a chance blow in a practice bout, is present in the ring every time he has battle.
THE RICHES:
Winners will be announced each Wednesday and will receive a hardcover copy of Plotto, online publication on the Tin House Blog and be entered in the Final Master Plot Challenge.
Plotto: The Master Book of All Plots
A classic how-to manual, William Wallace Cook’s Plotto is one writer’s personal method, painstakingly diagrammed for the benefit of others. The theory itself may be simple—“Purpose, opposed by Obstacle, yields Conflict”—but Cook takes his “Plottoist” through hundreds of situations and scenarios, guiding the reader’s hand through a dizzying array of “purposes” and “obstacles.”
Read a posthumous conversation with “the man who deforested Canada” William Wallace Cook here.
(9) Comments
(1) Trackbacks & Pingbacks
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[...] yet, I still write flash fiction sometimes. For example, I enter the Tin House Plotto Contest, weekly five hundred word stories based on writing prompts from the book. I missed entering last [...]
You might have a very great layout for the website, i want it to use on my internet site also .
Wonderful blog! Do you have any tips and hints for aspiring writers? I’m planning to start my own blog soon but I’m a little lost on everything. Would you advise starting with a free platform like WordPress or go for a paid option? There are so many choices out there that I’m completely confused .. Any suggestions? Cheers!
Thanks, I have been recently seeking for information about this subject forever and yours is the greatest I have located so far.
Nathaniel,
One story per contest. Thanks.
Can we submit multiple stories?
Jenn,
Sorry, the email address is theopnebar@tinhouse.com.
For some reason I am unable to send my Plotto Contest entry to openbar@tinhouse.com. Is there another address I can email it to?
Lori,
Yes. We announced it in the previous post.
So do we have a Plotto 3 winner yet?