How Successful Authors Write Short Stories: Learning the Plot

Most beginners seem to have the idea that thewriting game is a very easy game to play, as easy as ping-pong, forinstance. 

A few of them have acquired a fair education; others, notso fortunate, are equipped with nothing but a gnawing desire towrite, and on first appearances it seems to them that it should proveto be a very simple matter to weave their ideas into readablestories.

Some of them have a vague idea of what a plot is, but theyknow-nothing about BALANCE, INCITING MOTIVES, CRUCIAL SITUATIONS,CLIMAXES, etc., and care less. 

When they read in their favoritemagazine a cameo-like story by some master writer, they do notrealize that the author may have labored for days over that story,rearranging words, eliminating paragraphs and even whole pages fromthe original draft, and reconstructing the plot after he has torn itto pieces half-a-dozen times. 

The words flow so smoothly, thecharacters stand out so clearly, the plot is so simple — how easyit must be! But these writers are soon disillusioned when therejection slips begin to roll in on them with the regularity ofwell-oiled clockwork. 

Not until they have served a longapprenticeship do they learn that authorship is as much of aprofession as surgery is and that, as in all other pursuits, it issimply a matter of the survival of the fittest.

No writer can hope to achieve real success in thewriting field unless he is well-grounded in the fundamentals of plotconstruction, nor can he avoid an atmosphere of SAMENESS in hisstories and give them the stamp of cleverness and originality unlesshe constantly adds to his store of plot material. 

"The plot'sthe thing," and the writer who relies solely upon inspiration tofurnish him with suitable plots for his stories cannot begin tocompete with his more practical brother craftsman who stimulates hisimagination with tid-bits from real life, as it were, and builds thefoundations for his stories with the same care and exactitude that astone mason would employ in building the foundation and framework ofa house.  

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