William Wallace Cook’s story workshop · 1928

A beginning for
your next story.

Find a conflict. Follow its possibilities. Plotto connects a situation to what came before and what might happen next.

1,462conflicts to work with

Love & courtship
Married life
Enterprise & adventure

An old book. A new starting point.

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Your stories

Give each story a title and choose one to continue. Each keeps its own outline, names and settings in this browser.

Set the scene

Leave the choices open, or give the story a direction.

Shape the masterplot
Names & a starting conflict

Character names are saved automatically in this browser for your next visit.

Use a number from 1–1462 and an optional variant letter. This overrides the theme and action filters.

Follow the thread

Your story outline

The collection is loading. Your first outline will appear here.

Find your own starting point

Browse the conflicts

Open the full book

The Plotto method

From a situation to a story.

01

Choose a pattern

A masterplot joins a protagonist, an action, and an outcome. The book offers 15 starting clauses, 62 actions, and 15 outcomes.

02

Follow the links

Every conflict points toward possible lead-ups and carry-ons. The outline follows those links, including suggested sequences, sections, and character changes.

03

Make it your own

Change the setting, motives, and people. These are prompts for your judgment: a carry-on can suggest an ending, or open another complication.

About the original text & this edition

William Wallace Cook published Plotto in 1928. The source includes dated language and prejudiced depictions. Both editions preserve that material; the reversed-role edition exchanges gendered terms and relationships.

The generator selects from the book’s existing suggestions. Character changes and transpositions are applied to the text; instructions to add a character remain visible as writing notes. Every lead-up and carry-on now names existing variants. Editorial repairs of broken printed links are labeled in the outline. The masterplot’s outcome is a direction for your writing, rather than a guarantee that every selected situation already supplies that ending.

Digital text cleaned by Gary Kacmarcik. The reference correction history distinguishes transcription fixes from editorial repairs, with original scan evidence. Read the project notes, full guide, or the original book at the Internet Archive.