Short Story Writing | Page 8

interest the reader. Naturally, however, since the scenes and
persons described must be new to the reader, such a story is also
educating and broadening in its influence. Its plot may seem trivial
when analyzed, but it is selected with a view more to naturalness than
to strength or complexity. Here we should list nearly all of our modern
so-called "society stories," and "stories of manners." Any of Richard
Harding Davis' short stories will serve as an excellent illustration, and
most of the stories in current periodicals belong in the same category.
VII. THE STORY OF INGENUITY is one of the most modern forms
of the short story, and, if I may be pardoned the prolixity, one of the
most ingenious. It might be called the "fairy tale of the grown-up," for
its interest depends entirely upon its appeal to the love for the
marvelous which no human being ever outgrows. It requires fertility of
invention, vividness of imagination, and a plausible and convincing
style. Yet it is an easy sort of story to do successfully, since ingenuity
will atone for many technical faults; but it usually lacks serious interest
and is short lived. Poe was the originator and great exemplar of the
Story of Ingenuity, and all of his tales possess this cleverness in some
degree.
(a) The Story of Wonder has little plot. It is generally the vivid
description of some amazing discovery (Poe's "Some Words with a
Mummy," Hale's "The Spider's Eye"), impossible invention (Adee's
"The Life Magnet," Mitchell's "The Ablest Man in the World"),
astounding adventure (Stockton's "Wreck of the Thomas Hyde,"
Stevenson's "House with Green Blinds"), or a vivid description of what
might be (Benjamin's "The End of New York," Poe's "The Domain of
Arnheim"). It demands unusual imaginative power.
(b) The Detective Story requires the most complex plot of any type of

short story, for its interest depends solely upon the solution of the
mystery presented in that plot. It arouses in the human mind much the
same interest as an algebraic problem, which it greatly resembles. Poe
wrote the first, and probably the best, one in "The Murders in the Rue
Morgue;" his "The Mystery of Marie Roget" and "The Gold Bug" are
other excellent examples. Doyle, in his "Sherlock Holmes" stories, is a
worthy successor of Poe.
VIII. THE HUMOROUS STORY almost belongs in the category of
Stories of Ingenuity, so largely does it depend upon the element of the
unusual; but for that fact it should have been listed earlier, because it
has little care for plot. Indeed, these stories are the freest of all in their
disregard for conventions; with them it is "anything to raise a laugh,"
and the end is supposed to justify the means. In general they are of
transient interest and crude workmanship, little fitted to be called
classics; but Mark Twain, at least, has shown us that humor and art are
not incompatible.
(a) The simplest form is the Nonsense Story, as it may be justly called.
Usually it has the merest thread of plot, but contains odd or grotesque
characters whose witty conversation furnishes all the amusement
necessary. If the characters do act they have an unfortunate tendency to
indulge in horse play. The work of John Kendrick Bangs well
illustrates this type of story. His books, "The House Boat on the Styx"
and "The Pursuit of the House Boat," are really only collections of
short stories, for each chapter can be considered as a whole.
(b) The Burlesque has a plot, but usually one which is absurdly
impossible, or which is treated in a burlesque style. The amusement is
derived chiefly from the contrast between the matter and the method of
its presentation. Most of Stockton's stories are of this type: notably his
"The Lady, or the Tiger?" Mark Twain, too, usually writes in this vein,
as in "The Jumping Frog" and "The Stolen White Elephant."
IX. THE DRAMATIC STORY is the highest type of the short story. It
requires a definite but simple plot, which enables the characters to act
out their parts. In its perfect form it is the "bit of real life" which it is
the aim of the short story to present. It is the story shorn of all needless

verbiage, and told as nearly as possible in the words and actions of the
characters themselves; and it possesses a strong climax. Therefore it
demands the most careful and skillful workmanship, from its
conception to its final polishing. It is the most modern type of the short
story.
(a) The short story has Dramatic Form when the author's necessary
comments correspond to the stage directions of the drama. Such a story
is, in fact, a miniature drama, and is often capable of being acted just as
it stands. It has a