h a scattering of attention is unfavorable to a
story. To focus the interest upon a few, to have the action centred in
these few, increases the movement and intensity of the narrative. The
writers of short stories in France (perhaps the best story-tellers of
the present), Kipling, Davis, Miss Wilkins, and some others of our
best authors, find few characters all that are necessary, and they
gain in intensity by limiting the number of characters.

For the same reason _the time should be short._ If all the incidents
chosen are crowded into a short period of time, the action must be
more rapid. The reader does not like to know five years have elapsed
between one event and the next, even if the story-teller does not try
to fill up the interim with matters of no consequence to the
narrative. One exception must be made to this rule. In stories whose
purpose is to portray a change of character, a long time is necessary;
for the transformation is not usually the result of a day's
experience, but a gradual process of years. "Silas Marner" and "Baa,
Baa, Black Sheep" demand time to make naturally the great changes
recounted. In general, however, the time should be short.

Simple Plot.

Moreover, _the plot should be simple._ This is not saying that the
plot should be evident. No one is quite satisfied if he knows just how
the story will turn out. There are, however, so many conditions in a
story that the accentuation of one or the subordination of another may
bring about something quite unexpected, yet perfectly natural.
Complicated plots have had their day; simple plots are now in vogue.
They are as natural as life, and quite as unfathomable. In Davis's
"Gallegher" there is nothing complicated; one thing follows another in
a perfectly natural way; yet there are many questions in the reader's
mind as to how the little rascal will turn out, and whether he will
accomplish his mission. Much more cleverness is shown by the
sleight-of-hand trickster, who, unassisted and in the open, with no
accessories, dupes his staring assembly, than by him who, on the
stage, with the aid of mirrors, lights, machines, and a crowd of
assistants, manages to deceive your eyes. A story that by its frank
simplicity takes the reader into its confidence, and brings him to a
conclusion that is so natural that it should have been foreseen from
the beginning, has a good plot. The conclusion of a story must be
natural,--the result of the causes at work in t