The Book Of Plots

The Book of Plots

"I use Loren's plot templates both as a teller and a teacher. He honors the tradition and also keeps it living and growing new directions with a great tool for cobbling tales." Kevin Kling, Storyteller and NPR Commentator. "One of the best tools to break open a story that is stuck and finding new ways to view and interpret your raw material." Nancy Donoval, Storyteller/Coach This is a primer of useful plots for storytellers, writers, and any professional (lawyer, minister, CEO) who needs to craft facts and themes into an engaging whole. If you want to expand your narrative horizons, this will get you started. Using variations of "Jack and the Beanstalk" and original stories from the author's repertoire, it examines the construction and limitations of ten narrative forms, including revelation, meta-narration, and parallel plots. Developed and tested in workshops over the course of a decade, this text contains helpful formulas for each plot form and useful exercises for making stories. About the Author Loren Niemi has spent more than a quarter century as a professional storyteller creating, performing, and teaching stories in urban and rural settings. Storytelling is also at the core of his working as a community organizer, public policy consultant, and trainer to articulate dreams and engage individuals in the political process. Loren is the co-author with Elizabeth Ellis of Inviting the Wolf In: Thinking About Difficult Stories (August House Publishers). He teaches Storytelling in the Communications Department of Metropolitan State University and provides corporate and organizational communications consulting and storytelling workshops around the country.