Short-Stories | Page 4

whole gamut from pleasing tenderness in _A Child's Dream of a Star_
to unutterable horror in The Fall of the House of Usher.
The short-story is stripped of all the incongruities that led Fielding,
Scott, and Dickens far afield. All its parts harmonize in the simplest

manner to give unity and "totality" of impression through strict unity of
form. It is a concentrated piece of life snatched from the ordinary and
uneventful round of living and steeped in fancy until it becomes the
acme of literary art.

COMPOSITION OF THE SHORT-STORY
Any student who wishes to express himself correctly and pleasingly,
and desires a keener sense for the appreciation of literary work must
write. The way others have done the thing never appears in a forceful
light until one sets himself at a task of like nature. Just so in the study
of this text. To find and appreciate the better points of the short-story,
students must write stories of their own, patterned in a small way on the
technique of the masterpieces.
The process of short-story writing follows in a general way the
following program. In the first place the class must have something
interesting and suggestive to write about. Sometimes the class can
suggest a subject; newspapers almost every day give incidents worthy
of story treatment; happenings in the community often give the very
best material for stories; and phases of the literature work may well be
used in the development of students' themes. Change the type of
character and place, reconstruct the plot, or require a different ending
for the story, leaving the plot virtually as it is, and then assign to the
class. Boys and girls should invariably be taught to see stories in the
life about them, in the newspapers and magazines on their library tables,
and in the masterpieces they study in their class work.
After the idea that the class wishes to develop has been definitely
determined and the material for this development has been gathered
and grouped about the idea, the class should select a viewpoint and
proceed to write. Sometimes the author should tell the story, sometimes
a third person who may be of secondary importance in the story should
be given the rôle of the story-teller, sometimes the whole may be in
dialogue. The class should choose a fitting method.
Young writers should be very careful about the beginning of a story.
An action story should start with a striking incident that catches the
reader's attention at once and forecasts subsequent happenings. In every
case this first incident must have in it the essence of the end of the story
and should be perfectly logical to the reader after he has finished the

reading. A story in which the setting is emphasized can well begin,
with a description and contain a number of descriptions and expositions,
distributed with a sense of propriety throughout the theme. A good
method to use in the opening of a character story is that of conversation.
An excellent example of a sharp use of this device is Mrs. Freeman's
_Revolt of Mother_, where the first paragraph is a single spoken word.
Every incident included in the story should be tested for its value in the
development of the theme. An incident that does not amplify certain
phases of the story has no right to be included, and great care should be
used in an effort to incorporate just the material necessary for the
proper evolution of the thought. The problem is not so much what can
be secured to be included in the story, but rather, after making a
thorough collection of the material, what of all these points should be
cast out.
The ending must be a natural outgrowth of the development found in
the body of the composition. Even in a story with a surprise ending, of
which we are tempted to say that we have had no preparation for such a
turn in the story, there must be hints--the subtler the better--that point
unerringly and always toward the end. The end is presupposed in the
beginning and the changing of one means the altering of the other.
Young writers have trouble in stopping at the right place. They should
learn, as soon as possible, that to drag on after the logical ending has
been reached spoils the best of stories. It is just as bad to stop before
arriving at the true end. In other words there is only one place for the
ending of a story, and in no case can it be shifted without ruining the
idea that has obtained throughout the theme.
There are certain steps in the development of story-writing that should
be followed if the best results are to be obtained. The first assignment
should require only the