rom the sketch, which may concern itself with only
one of these elements, without involving the other two. The sketch most
often deals with character or setting divested of the element of action;
but in the short-story something has to happen. In this regard, the
short-story is related more closely to the novel than to the sketch. But
although in the novel any two, or all three, of the narrative elements
may be so intimately interrelated that no one of them stands out clearly
from the others, it is almost always customary in the short-story to
cast a marked preponderance of emphasis on one of the elements, to the
subversion of the other two. Short-stories, therefore, may be divided
into three classes, according as the effect which they purpose to
produce is primarily an effect of action, or of character, or of setting.
"The Masque of the Red Death" produces an effect of setting, "The
Tell-Tale Heart" an effect of character, and "The Cask of Amontillado" an
effect of action. For the sake of economy it is incumbent on the
author to suggest at the outset which of the three sorts of narrative
effect the story is intended to produce. The way in which Poe
accomplished this in the three stories just mentioned may be seen at once
upon examination of the opening paragraph of each. Having selected his
effect the author of a short-story should confine his attention to
producing that, and that alone. He should stop at the very moment when his
preestablished design has been attained; and never during the progress
of his composition should he turn aside for the sake of a lesser effect
not absolutely inherent in his single narrative purpose. Stevenson
insisted on this focus of attention in a passage of a personal letter
addressed to Sir Sidney Colvin:--

"Make another end to it? Ah, yes, but that's not the way I write; the
whole tale is implied; I never use an effect when I can help it,
unless it prepares the effects that are to follow; that's what a story
consists in. To make another end, that is to make the beginning all
wrong. The _denouement_ of a long story is nothing, it is just 'a full
close,' which you may approach and accomplish as you please--it is a
coda, not an essential member in the rhythm; but the body and end of a
short-story is bone of the bone and blood of the blood of the
beginning."

=2. "Greatest Economy of Means"; and 3. "Utmost Emphasis."=--The
phrase "single narrative effect," with all its implications, should