When William Wallace Cook wrote Plotto: A new Method of Plot Suggestion for Writers of Creative Fiction, his introductory chapter made a lot of readers sit up and ask, "Huh?"

So Cook got do work and came up with an instruction booklet in the form of a seven-lesson course on how to use Plotto to help you overcome the thorny task of coming up with plots for short stories and novels.

The 32-page Plotto Instruction Book is impossible to find, and I counted myself very lucky when I discovered that the University of Oregon library in Eugene had a copy. A quick round-trip to the Emerald City later, I'm the proud possessor of xerox copies that I scanned and cleaned up for the benefit of anyone who has a copy of Plotto.

You can get your copy of the instruction booklet here, on my Web site.

If you've bounced off Plotto before (and many have), be sure to work through the entire instruction booklet. It makes quite a difference!