Plotting the Short Story

How Successful Authors Write Short Stories: Learning the Plot

Most beginners seem to have the idea that the


writing game is a very easy game to play, as easy as ping-pong, for


instance. 

A few of them have acquired a fair education; others, not


so fortunate, are equipped with nothing but a gnawing desire to


write, and on first appearances it seems to them that it should prove


to be a very simple matter to weave their ideas into readable


stories.

Some of them have a vague idea of what a plot is, but they


know-nothing about BALANCE, INCITING MOTIVES, CRUCIAL SITUATIONS,


CLIMAXES, etc., and care less. 

When they read in their favorite


magazine a cameo-like story by some master writer, they do not


realize that the author may have labored for days over that story,


rearranging words, eliminating paragraphs and even whole pages from


the original draft, and reconstructing the plot after he has torn it


to pieces half-a-dozen times. 

The words flow so smoothly, the


characters stand out so clearly, the plot is so simple — how easy


it must be! But these writers are soon disillusioned when the


rejection slips begin to roll in on them with the regularity of


well-oiled clockwork. 

Not until they have served a long


apprenticeship do they learn that authorship is as much of a


profession as surgery is and that, as in all other pursuits, it is


simply a matter of the survival of the fittest.

No writer can hope to achieve real success in the


writing field unless he is well-grounded in the fundamentals of plot


construction, nor can he avoid an atmosphere of SAMENESS in his


stories and give them the stamp of cleverness and originality unless


he constantly adds to his store of plot material. 

"The plot's


the thing," and the writer who relies solely upon inspiration to


furnish him with suitable plots for his stories cannot begin to


compete with his more practical brother craftsman who stimulates his


imagination with tid-bits from real life, as it were, and builds the


foundations for his stories with the same care and exactitude that a


stone mason would employ in building the foundation and framework of


a house.  

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