@Garbonza -- You missed the point completely. Oh, and I'm Jacobs. The point is that there is a limited number of plot/situations available to the writer and all those plots can be listed on the back of a small napkin. So, within that limited framework, we create stories. That list of plots and situations is the old shit. We writers go to the list and make our choices. The art in the writing is using old story lines and making them fresh and, hopefully, different in some delightful way. We take old shit and make it smell good. There was nothing in the post about plagiarizing anything.

I began writing professionally in 1956 and, so far, I haven't found a new plot anywhere along the way. If you happen to find one, let me know.

@evidentialist Missed your point? Well, I didn't miss it. But I don't have a list of acceptable plots either, written on a napkin or not. Last month an anthology published one of my short stories, 1500 words, entitled "George". It's about a footloose philanderer who finally settles down with a middle-aged lady. Despite huge personal differences in temperament they suit each other. George dies one night, and then in the last two lines the reader discovers George is a stray cat who has given love to the woman, and she to him. They filled a great hole in each other's lives. Several of my fellow writers, including one with an estimated IQ of 140-plus, have sworn they never guessed George was a cat. Have you come across that plot before?

@Garbonza -- Many times with many twists, my friend. It's in the telling, not the plot. I refer you to the following article:

[how-to-write-a-book-now.com]

The writer's dilemma is how to make the basic plots and their variations interesting, fresh, and satisfying.

@evidentialist The first four "plots" -- and 9. Rebellion -- listed by Booker seem to be inextricably linked with modern movies about adventures (which bear only a fleeting relation to, and are arguably destructive of, creative writing) -- all five reflecting a take on the American Dream theme? And all five might come under the one genre of success fantasy. A very restricting genre too for the writer, but for its apparently billions of fans providing an endless number of wookies, hobbits, trolls... For the "professional", in New Zealand, this field of business (not writing) is tied up by Mrs Peter Jackson. Doubt if it is much more open in Hollywood... Drama, Comedy and Mystery are genres, not plots. For the creative writer wanting to be creative with a blank page in front of him or her, it is much more fruitful to talk about themes and style/approach. The artist satisfies himself, hoping to reach others; unlike so many today, who canvas their potential readers first.

@Garbonza -- There is a reason why comedy, tragedy, drama, and mystery were included. They are variants of plot as well as genres. The reason for citing films for example is because they were/are so popular that almost everyone has seen them, but the stories for most of them were adapted for the screen from novels and short stories. The plots of the films are the plots of the books modified for visual presentation.

My chosen genre to write in is Hard Science Fiction, but under that umbrella I write drama, mystery, comedy, and tragedy and variants thereof. My short stories cover the entire range with the exception of Romance and Erotica. I also dabble in literary work and nonfiction (science articles, sailing, astronomy, naval architecture, etc.) There are but seven basic plots and nine by extension. That's it.

@evidentialist And this Booker fella isn't too fond of the two by extension? Are they like, the gospels of Mary Magdalene and Judas that don't really fit? I realise it's good to stay within guidelines if you're intent on professionalism/commercialism, but aren't you adhering to his bible a little too religiously? As a heretical amateur (with only 40 years of experience off and on as pro writer, copy editor and proofreader compared to your solid 60 years as a writer) I am duty bound as a dissenter by temperament to ask "Who died and made Booker god?"

@Garbonza -- No one made Booker anything. As for the number of available plots, that is true. Each new work, well thought out works, takes a pick from the small pile. What the writer does with it is the important part. I have no idea where you came up with the idea that Booker was laying down any rules.