he difficulty and most of the inutility in writing on
fiction technique reside in the fact that one must treat in isolation
matters which are but elements of a unified artistic synthesis. A story
is a story; its people do not merely exist, they live and act. In the
case of the story of complication of incident, the complication supplies
the story-element of the fiction; in the case of character story, the
evolution or degeneration of character supplies the story-element; while
in the case of the story of atmosphere, the climactic progression of the
particular emotional impression to the point of highest intensity in
itself supplies much of the plot- or story-element of the conception.

Another qualification should be stated. The normal story, written for
its own sake, is emphatic in that it stresses some one of its three
elements. But there is also the thematic story, written to vivify an
abstract proposition or to point a moral. The type lays no special
emphasis on character, incident, or setting, and is written with an eye
to an ulterior purpose beyond the mere sake of the story. It is not a
natural type, and may be disregarded here. Incidentally, it is not a
very successful type, and of course any success it may achieve as a work
of art cannot derive from the truth or weight of the proposition or
moral behind it.

Starting from the proposition that there are three normal story types,
it may be profitable to examine them in detail. I am not yet concerned
with the technical devices whereby character may be drawn, a plot
devised and narrated, or atmosphere created; my sole purpose is to
suggest how the writer may recognize the true character of his idea,
that in developing it he may know exactly what he is trying to do.

The story of character is concerned with the infinitely diverse traits
of our common human nature as manifested by the people of a story. The
single trait or few traits, rather than the totality of each person's
nature, should be sought to be developed, for reasons that a moment's
thought will render apparent. Character can be truly realized only by
showing the person in characteristic actions and, unless the writer
desires to extend his work to a great length, he can formulate no course
of action which will illustrate a complete personality. In all its
aspects, fiction is a matter of selection, and the writer of a story of
character should concentrate his powers of description and exposition
upon the