nting an entire story. The reader must
supplement what is said here by independent analytical reading. The only
fortunate thing about the situation is that the matters which can be
adequately illustrated by brief quotations--such as vividness in
narrating--are chiefly matters of execution and least subject to
profitable objective study.

[D] This story is a particularly instructive instance of how much the
secondary events are within the writer's control, and also of how much
depends on their just selection and ordering. The twin plot themes of
the book are the struggle of man with man and the struggle of man with
nature; they are developed almost entirely without aid from the
superficially main events of the story, Maud's coming aboard the
schooner and what follows. That is precisely the artistic defect of the
work.

[E] The three fundamental plot themes are man's struggle with nature,
man's struggle with man, and man's struggle with himself. The human
element is inherently a part of any plot.

[F] It would be difficult to overstate how much of its appeal such a
story as Fannie Hurst's "T. B.," reprinted in "The Best Short Stories of
1915," owes to its author's careful development of the personality of
Sara Juke. Yet the story is not strictly a character story. In less
competent hands the bare story would have been nothing; as it is, it is
a fiction of real worth and significance.

CHAPTER VI

EXECUTIVE TECHNIQUE OF NARRATION

Mode of Narration--First Person Narration--Variation--
Advantages--Disadvantages--Plausibility--Third Person
Narration--Advantages--Avoidance of Artificiality--
Consideration of Length--Maintenance and Shifting of Viewpoint
--Attitude of Author--Style--Product of Technique--
Congruity of Manner--Story of Action--Fantasy--Story of
Character.

After conceiving and elaborating his story, the writer must approach the
task of expression. The two preliminary matters to be settled are the
mode of narration and the manner or style for which the story calls.
Though preliminary, they are most properly treated as part of executive
technique.

MODE OF NARRATION

The question of how the story may be told most easily and effectively is
much more delicate than merely to choose between narration in the first
or third person, for numerous variations in these two basic methods are
open to adoption. Each method or viewpoint has its advantages and
disadvantages, an