is the main incident, and is
approached with the most careful preparation. In real life, odd and
erratic things do occasionally happen; but they are out of place in an
ordinary story, since fiction is a sort of idealization of the average.
Development should be as lifelike as possible, and a weak, trickling
conclusion should be assiduously avoided. The end of a story must be
stronger rather than weaker than the beginning; since it is the end
which contains the denouement or culmination, and which will leave the
strongest impression upon the reader. It would not be amiss for the
novice to write the last paragraph of his story first, once a synopsis
of the plot has been carefully prepared--as it always should be. In this
way he will be able to concentrate his freshest mental vigour upon the
most important part of his narrative; and if any changes be later found
needful, they can easily be made. In no part of a narrative should a
grand or emphatic thought or passage be followed by one of tame or
prosaic quality. This is =anticlimax=, and exposes a writer to much
ridicule. Notice the absurd effect of the following couplet--which was,
however, written by no less a person than Waller:

"Under the tropic is our language spoke,
=And part of Flanders hath receiv'd our yoke=."

Unity, Mass, Coherence

In developing a theme, whether descriptive or narrative, it is necessary
that three structural qualities be present: Unity, Mass, and Coherence.
Unity is that principle whereby every part of a composition must have
some bearing on the central theme. It is the principle which excludes
all extraneous matter, and demands that all threads converge toward the
climax. Classical violations of Unity may be found in the =episodes= of
Homer and other epic poets of antiquity, as well as in the digressions
of Fielding and other celebrated novelists; but no beginner should
venture to emulate such liberties. Unity is the quality we have lately
noted and praised in Poe and Bierce.

Mass is that principle which requires the more important parts of a
composition to occupy correspondingly important places in the whole
composition, the paragraph, and the sentence. It is that law of taste
which insists that emphasis be placed where emphasis is due, and is most
strikingly embodied in the previously mentioned necessity for an
emphatic ending. According to this law, the end of a composition is its
most important part, with the beginning nex