Plot Robot
Robot With Mechanical Brain Thinks Up Story Plots (Mar, 1931) Filed under: Robots — @ 9:24 am Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue ) Issue: Mar, 1931
FORMERLY robots were merely mechanical devices that could perform a variety of stunts under the guidance of a human being, but now a robot has made its appearance that thinks, has a soul of a kind, creative imagination, and other qualities necessary for writing a modern stereotyped short story. This robot, the invention of Wycliffe Hill, a Los Angeles scenario writer, is declared to be able to build up millions of plots, no two alike, for magazine stories or movie plays.
Mr. Hill has equipped his robot with an index chart, divided into eight sections, one devoted to each of the eight elements of a story-— background, character, obstacle, problem, predicament, complication, crisis and climax—and with an assortment of variations. The robot selects the material as required from this inexhaustible source and builds plots that could never be imagined by the author without the aid of the mechanical brain. Now if you want to become a successful author simply obtain a robot and put it to work.
https://www.boldventurepress.com/plot-robot-for-plot-genie/
The Plot Robot (TM) for Plot Genie (TM)! Download it here for free! Add to your cart and download!
Yes, the "Plot Robot" is here! Print it out on sturdy paper and get ready to dazzle your "civilian" non-writer friends! Create fiction and instill jealousy among your rivals!
The Plot Robot is free, but must be treated as a free "purchase" to work on this platform. Subsequently, you will find the Bold Venture Press newsletter landing in your email on a weekly basis. The newsletter is a delightful update on all things pulpish from Bold Venture — but unsubscribing is painless. So fear not ... download the robot and plot away.
Besides, whattaya expect for free??
The Plot Master himself, Wycliffe A. Hill, shares the lessons taught to students in expensive seminars!
Contents
INTRODUCING THE PLOT GENIE
With the aid of the Plot Genie, one does not have to wait for a rare flash of inspiration for a story. The Genie will provide a complete plot framework every five minutes, and I can show any author where it could have developed the plot structure of any story he ever wrote.” — Wycliffe A. Hill, “Plot Genie: General Index”
With those brave words, the world was introduced to Plot Genie ...
The origins of the book read like pulp fiction itself. Wycliffe A. Hill had been kicking around Hollywood when one of his motion picture scripts was returned by the great director Cecil B. DeMille. "...Although an interesting narrative," DeMille wrote, "it contains no dramatic plot."
Apparently, Hill vowed to avenge the death (or rejection) of this screenplay and dedicated his life to the pursuit of "this thing called Plot." It's anyone's guess as to what flew in through his window, but he was inspired to created his book containing lists of plot elements, characters, and settings, and invented the cardboard Plot Robot wheel to accompany it.
Some pulp authors dismissed it. Others turned to it for occasional assistance. A few even modified it (and other plot generating devices) to accommodate their particular needs. During the Depression, when newsstands were filled with pulp magazines, and every magazine sported at least one short story, Plot Genie might have seemed like a ray of hope to struggling, unemployed citizens. Purchase a book for five dollars (which was like spending seventy-five in those days), dash off a few lines, and tell the bank to stand by for your deposits.
Plot Genie and its brethren inspired a clever scene in Blonde Inspiration (1941). It was directed by Busby Berkeley, renown for his musical numbers. Here's a link to YouTube page with the scene: Blonde Inspiration: How To Write Successful Fiction: Plotting. To learn more about Plot Genie, and similar devices from the Pulp Era, we recommend "Help For Writing Your Yarns" by Edward J. Wood. You'll find many other interesting articles at ThePulp.net.
DOWNLOAD THE PLOT ROBOT (TM)
The Plot Robot was a cardboard wheel, secreted behind a full-page cardboard illustration of a genie guiding an aspiring writer. Random numbers were visible through a tiny cut-out window in the crystal ball illustration. Each Plot Genie book contains a "formula," with an average of nine steps to plot construction. Jot down your random numbers in each space, then consult the corresponding pages to determine the plot structure of your story.
These cardboard wheels are rare, more so than the Plot Genie books themselves. They were inserted into the published books, not bound against the cover, making them infinitely easier to lose. Apparently the publishers designed one wheel for use with all supplemental volumes. Quantity is king in publishing, even today, and production costs might have been prohibitive for custom wheels. Thus, the Action-Adventure supplemental volume was not accompanied by a Plot Robot featuring a pith-helmeted genie.
Those prohibitive costs frightened the bean-counters at Bold Venture Press. We struck upon the happy idea of creating a Plot Robot in PDF format. Download the two-page document.Once you print it, using some thick paper, all you'll need is a scissors and paper fastener. You can also use an online "Random Number Generator." Bold Venture Press may release a wheel for purchase in the near future. In the meantime, use the Plot Robot download to create your own pulp fiction yarns!
Plot Genie Bundle
The Plot Genie bundle by Wycliffe A. Hill. 1 The Plot Genie Index — the original and definitive Plot Genie! 2 Plot Genie: Romance 3 Plot Genie: Action-Adventure 4 Plot Genie: Detective-Mystery 5 Plot Genie: Comedy 6 Plot Genie: Plot Scientific 7 Plot Genie: Short-Short Stories
Plot Index
https://www.boldventurepress.com/plot-genie-index/
THIS is the fabled tome that inspired Gillian Conoley's novel The Plot Genie. You've heard the tall tales -- Now it's time to write your own tall tales!
The book lists hundreds of locales, characters, dramatic situations, and plot twists. When used in conjunction with the Plot Robot (TM), a cardboard spinner wheel imprinted with "random" numbers, the author promised it would generate enough ideas to keep an author busy for years.
The Plot Genie was out-of-print for decades, and commanded high prices on the rare book market. Now you can own it for a fraction of the cost of an original. Don't worry -- If Wycliffe A. Hill's claims are reliable, you'll immediately make back the cost by writing best-selling fiction!
Plot Romance
When director Cecil B. DeMille criticized his screenplay, Hill dedicated himself to the relentless pursuit of “this thing called ‘Plot.’” In subsequent years, he developed and refined his Plot Robot™ before unveiling The Plot Genie™ to an eager writing public. After developing The Plot Genie Index™, Hill turned his attention to that most popular genre — romance! This exciting supplement targeted the creation of romantic stories without melodrama.
This volume features all the essential elements, as defined by Hill, for writing romantic yarns -- The Lover, The Beloved-Locale, The Rival, The Love Obstacle, The Supporting Character, Traits of Supporting Character, Effort to Win, Threatened Defeat, and How Love is Lost or Won.
If writing romance makes you swoon, you’ll fall in love with Plot Genie: Romance™!
2 Plot Action! Adventure!
Action! Adventure! Those words quicken the pulses of pulp fiction fans! But could writers tasked with filling those magazines provide the suspense that readers craved? Like a hero swooping to the rescue, The Plot Genie: Action-Adventure supplement rescues readers (and writers) from dull story-telling!
In this second Plot Genie supplement, Hill presents nine basic "plot requisites" to crafting action-adventure stories: Protagonist; Adventure; Obstacle; Colorful Action; Further Complication; "Opponent Plots to"; Position of Jeopardy; Daring Effort; and Spectacular Climax.
Grab a pith helmet and .45 automatic — embark on your next writing adventure!
3 Plot Detective-Mystery
https://www.boldventurepress.com/plot-genie-detective-mystery/
SKU: 978-1511696258
Authors undertake a difficult task when they attempt to create a compelling mystery that “plays fair” with readers. The Plot Genie: Detective-Mystery supplement can aide you, like a loyal sidekick and raconteur!
In this volume, Wycliffe A. Hill presents nine sections, each with various sub-sections — Type of crime, victim, perpetrator, clues and red herrings, motives — to create a layered and complex puzzle to challenge readers. With this special supplement to the Plot Genie, creating a baffling and exciting mystery/detective yarn is an elementary task!
4 Plot Comedy
It takes a smart person to play the fool — and an even smarter person to build the story of the fool! But Comedy challenges more authors than any other genre. What may seem hilarious to an author, in the solitude of their study, might be unfunny and offensive to audiences.
After developing The Plot Genie™, inventor and author Wycliffe Hill undertook the serious task of writing comedy. His ingeneous Plot Robot offered to guide authors in the proper direction, and send readers into hysterics.
For those brave enough to undertake comedy writing, The Plot Genie: Comedy edition promises to ease the burden -- but be warned, that this Plot Genie edition is one of the most complicated. For starters, it's a massive 320 pages -- TWICE the size of other Plot Genie editions. Hill breaks the book into three sections, with various lists and situations, and some rather involved analysis of the science and psychology of laughter. Some modern readers may actually find the lists offensive and or insulting, but be forewarned and try to read the material in the spirit in which it was presented.
5 Plot Scientific
Plot Scientific was the original text for a special and personally conducted course in story plotting by the author, Wycliffe A. Hill. Assignments at each chapter’s conclusion have been designed especially to develop the observation, power of analysis and creative imagination of the writer. If you are a serious student of plot construction, and aspire to reach the next level in your writing, your most valuable tool may be Plot Scientific, paired with one of the many Plot Genie books.
Plot Short Short Stories
The “Short-Short Story” was popularized in magazines of the era like Collier’s, which squeezed short stories to a single page. Designed for light entertainment and fast reading, this form of story-telling is becoming more popular as reader’s attention spans are divided between an ever-increasing information overload.
Use this Plot Genie supplement to tell the basics—brisk plots, fast characterizations, an economy of words. Get in, get out—that’s the modern way, and satisfying readers is the Plot Genie way!
- This Plot Genie supplemental formula is unique since it includes fiction -- actual "short-short stories" from magazines like Collier's and Liberty, as examples of the form.
