Short story writing

by Charles Raymond Barrett

44. There were circumstances which led some to suppose that a stranger had been received into the cottage on this awful night, and had shared the catastrophe of all its inmates; others denied that there were sufficient grounds for such a conjecture. Woe for the high-souled youth with his dream of earthly immortality! His name and person utterly unknown, his history, his way of life, his plans, a mystery never to be solved, his death and his existence equally a doubt,—whose was the agony of that death moment?

THE END

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INDEX

• Action: implied by plot, [45];
• • of characters, [102];
  • advanced by speech, [107];
  • advanced by preliminary climax, [177].
• Adjectives, [197].
• Adverbs, [198].
• Allegory, [29].
• "Ambitious Guest, The:" as paradigm, [46];
• • observes unities, [48], [150]-[152], [154];
  • "elemental" or "true" plot of, [58];
  • "theme" of, [58];
  • "skeleton" or "working plot" of, [59]-[61];
  • facts in, [90]-[93];
  • characters in, [97];
  • compression of dialogue in, [115];
  • beginning of, [134], [146];
  • scene of, [144];
  • suspense in, [162];
  • preparation for climax in, [167]-[169];
  • climax of, [172], [183];
  • conclusion of, [183];
  • text of, [234]-[249].
• Author, intrusion of, [120]-[122].

• Balance, [160].
• Beginning: crucial test, [132], [146] [148];
• • length of, [132];
  • introduces foundation facts, [132]-[138];
  • dilatory, [138]-[140];
  • prefatory, [141];
  • locates scene, [143], [145];
  • best method of, [146].
• Best twelve American short stories, [24].
• "Bookish" conversation, [109].
• Burlesque, [39].

• Chapters, [149].
• Characters: names of as titles, [72], [76];
• • necessity of, [94];
  • based on fact, [94];
  • composites, [95];
  • descriptions of, [96], [98]-[102];
  • characteristics of, [97], [102];
  • appearance of, [97];
  • active, [102];
  • few, [103];
  • interest in [104];
  • names of, [105];
  • speech of, [106]-[116];
  • models, [118].
• Character Sketch, [32].
• Character Study: defined, [32];
• • Dialect Story related to, [33];
  • plot of, [48].
• Classification of Short Stories: use of, [26];
• • Tale, [27];
  • True Story, [27];
  • Imaginative Tale, [27];
  • Moral Story, [28];
  • Fable, [28];
  • Story with a Moral, [29];
  • Allegory, [29];
  • Weird Story, [30];
  • Ghost Story, [30];
  • Fantastic Tale, [31];
  • Study in Horror, [31];
  • Character Study, [32];
  • Character Sketch, [32];
  • Dialect Story, [33];
  • Parable of the Times, [35];
  • Instructive Story, [35];
  • Story of To-day, [36];
  • Story of Ingenuity, [36];
  • Story of Wonder, [37];
  • Detective Story, [37];
  • Humorous Story, [38];
  • Nonsense Story, [38];
  • Burlesque, [39];
  • Dramatic Story, [39]-[41].
• Climax: how estimated, [161];
• • preparation for, [161]-[170], [177]-[179];
  • logical and inevitable, [165];
  • anticipated, [166], [169];
  • too obvious, [166];
  • in "Ambitious Guest," [167]-[169];
  • in stories of premonition, [169];
  • as a test, [171];
  • defined, [171];
  • length of, [172];
  • proper, [172];
  • position of, [173];
  • ends suspense, [174];
  • not tragic, [175]-[177];
  • preliminary, [177]-[179];
  • "false" or "technical," [179]-[182];
  • coincident with conclusion, [183].
• Collections of short stories, [41]-[44].
• Commonplaces: in title, [71];
• • not literary, [86];
  • in dialogue, [110], [112]-[114];
  • in style, [191]-[195].
• Conclusion: defined, [171];
• • length of, [182];
  • coincident with climax, [183];
  • padded, [184];
  • conventional, [185]-[188].
• Conversation: [see Dialogue].
• Crane, Stephen, style of, [200].
• Criticism, [222], [231].
• Curiosity, [161].

• Denouement: see [Climax and Conclusion].
• Description of characters, [96], [98]-[102];
• • of scene [143], [145].
• Detective Story: defined, [37];
• • plot of, [48].
• Dialect, [117].
• Dialect Story: defined, [33];
• as literature, [116].
• Dialogue: advances action, [106];
• • modern use of, [107];
  • natural and interesting, [108];
  • "bookish," [109];
  • commonplace, [110], [112]-[114];
  • attempted humor in, [111];
  • unimportant, [115];
  • in Dialect Story, [116]-[118];
  • introduces foundation facts, [134].
• Diary, narration by, [125].
• Dickens, Charles: search for types, [78];
• • intensified characters, [96];
  • names of characters, [105].
• Didacticism: inartistic, [157];
• • veiled, [158].
• Double titles: sensational, [72]-[74];
• • too long, [75].
• Drama: tendency toward, [107];
• • influence of, [175].
• Dramatic Story: defined, [39];
• • in Form, [40];
  • in Effect, [40].