Project Gutenberg's Short Story Writing, by Charles Raymond Barrett

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Title: Short Story Writing
A Practical Treatise on the Art of The Short Story

Author: Charles Raymond Barrett

Release Date: February 6, 2007 [EBook #20526]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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SHORT STORY WRITING

A Practical Treatise on the Art of the Short Story

By Charles Raymond Barrett, Ph. B.

[Illustration]

(_FOURTH THOUSAND_)

New York: The Baker and Taylor Co.
33-37 E. 17th Street, Union Square North

Copyrighted, 1898, by Charles Raymond Barrett
Copyrighted, 1900, by Charles Raymond Barrett

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

I
THE SHORT STORY

II
SHORT STORIES CLASSIFIED

III
THE PLOT

IV
TITLES GOOD AND BAD

V
THE USE OF FACTS

VI
THE CHARACTERS

VII
METHODS OF NARRATION

VIII
THE BEGINNING

IX
THE STORY PROPER

X
CLIMAX AND CONCLUSION

XI
THE STYLE

XII
THE LABOR OF AUTHORSHIP

XIII
THE QUEST OF A MARKET

APPENDIX
"THE AMBITIOUS GUEST"

PREFACE

This book is an attempt to put into definite form the principles
observed by the masters of the short story in the practice of their art.
It is the result of a careful study of their work, of some indifferent
attempts to imitate them, and of the critical examination of several
thousands of short stories written by amateurs. It is designed to be of
practical assistance to the novice in short story writing, from the
moment the tale is dimly conceived until it is completed and ready for
the editor's judgment.

The rules and principles here presented embody not what I conceive to be
right, but what the great masters of the short story have thought to be
right, and what they have proved to be at least successful. I speak only
as a delver into the secrets of other men; and if I se