rd a merchant ship, and a big battle to follow on the latter's
deck. A heavy storm came up just as the two ships came together, and
Mr. Fildew, 120 feet up in the air, holding to a mast that swayed like
a pendulum, was compelled to go through with what was a most difficult
and dangerous piece of work, which, however, resulted in some
exceptionally fine scenes. In these instances, of course, it was a
matter of the director's planning almost everything just as he wanted
to take it; the point we insist upon is that it is better to write
certain difficult scenes more in the form of a suggestion than as if
it were absolutely necessary to take them just as you have visualized
them. Not a few successful writers try to think of two different ways
in which an important part of the story may be "put over." Thus, just
as an off-hand example, you might suggest that the running fight
between the bank robbers and the police may take place in a couple of
automobiles _or_ in an auto and a locomotive. Rest assured that the
director will provide the locomotive instead of the second automobile
if he can procure one.

Watch the pictures on the screen and you will see what effects are
produced; and it follows that if a thing can be done once it can be
done again. But will it be _worth while_ in the case of _your_ story?
This is a point that you must determine before venturing to specify
that particular effect. Do not be carried away by the fact that it
_is_ your work. Weigh the importance of that scene and compare it with
the dramatic value of the scenes which precede and follow it; if the
scene with the unusual and difficult effect is the big scene of an
unusually big and interesting story, write it in. The chances are that
the director will be only too glad to stage it according to your
original idea. But do not ask him to waste his time or the company's
money in producing a scene the expense and bother of obtaining which
is out of all proportion to the importance of the rest of the picture.
And do not forget that the camera, wonderful as it is, cannot and does
not do everything that it seems to do. In other words, do not mistake
an effect produced by trick photography for one that is merely the
result of exceptional care and work on the part of both cameraman and
director.

CHAPTER XIV

HOW TO GATHER IDEAS FOR PLOTS

_1. Watching the Pictures_

Unless you are already a successful fiction writer when you first
determine to