The Plot tells the story of a has-been author and professor called Jacob Finch Bonner. Long ago, he had produced a reasonably successful book. Since then, he has been unable to replicate his success despite trying very hard. At his day job as a professor, one of his students proclaims that he has come up with the plot for a book that will be an "instant bestseller." Bonner doesn't believe him - until he hears the plot. When the student dies, Bonner takes the opportunity to steal the student's plot and write a book. That book becomes an overnight sensation, but Bonner must deal with someone who comes out of the woodwork claiming that the plot idea was not his (or even his dead student's).
According to author Jean Haff Korelitz, the idea for The Plot came to her one day out of the blue and was nearly fully formed. She had long been fascinated with plagiarism and "the murkiness around creative appropriation." She also loved books about writers, so she set out to write a book about plagiarism and writers. That book became The Plot, which she based on her own experiences in the writing world and on some of her previous novels.
Despite being fascinated with plagiarism, Korelitz says that she would "never" steal an excellent idea for a book herself. In order to tell her story, which Korelitz said came out of her "propulsively" she drew upon a number of different stories, including Wonder Boys and About the Author. Even still, Korelitz had to put herself in the shoes of her main character in order to tell a compelling story - just as any good writer has to do to write a good book.
