Palmer plan handbook; photoplay writing, simplified and explained (1919)

22. A weak or unnatural climax may ruin the entire effect of a photoplay. Right from the start the action may be interesting and the suspense intense and com- pelling, yet when the end is reached if a flimsy, illogical and clap-trap termination serves as a climax the audience will inevitably leave the theatre dissatisfied and with a feeling that they have been cheated. Better a stor>' with more or less weak action throughout and a big vital, dramatic climax than a strong story with a weak ending. Neither, of course, is desirable. The ideal toward which all of us must work is the story that arouses interest right at the start and that increases in interest and suspense as it moves along on an ever-rising plane until it reaches the smashing climax and the satisfactory termina- tion with which we "fade out." 23. It is quite as necessary to know when to end a story as it is to decide where to begin it. Many a story has been started and worked out to the point where a satisfactory ending must be reached only to find that the action has drifted into a blind-alley from which there is no exit. "A blind-alley scene, as its name imports, is one from which there is no exit. It is a problem incapable of solution, or rather of which all possible solutions are equally unsatisfactory and undesirable." It is for this reason that it is well to visualize a story in a general way before attempting to set it down on paper. 24. Some writers establish a premise and work it out to its conclusion; others start with the effect and work back to the cause. I fancy that Lois Weber hit upon the surprise climax of "For Husbands Only," before working up the details of the story itself. Hence, this story serves as an example of working either forward or backward. 25. The author might have said, "Let us suppose that an innocent girl is pur- sued by a rake, who desires her for a brief love affair, and a good man who wants to marry her. Let us further suppose that, in order to avenge an insult from the rake, she plans to lead him gradually on and on in order to disappoint him at the finish." In this way the story might have been built gradually step by step and situation by situation until the time for a climax arrived, when the author having placed Toni in a predicament from which there seemed to be no possible escape, might have cast about for the little twist necessary to relieve the situation and lead to the satisfactory termination. On the other hand, the author might have conceived the situation which forms the climax of the story and then said, "Now what shall I do in order to bring these characters up to this situation in an interesting manner?" Whereupon it would have been necessary to go back and visualize a beginning and work toward the definite climax already decided upon. 26. I have found the latter method of working backward from effect to cause to be the most practical, but there need be no set rule in this matter—the object de- sired is a story, as nearly flawless as possible. The means of gaining that end is of in- different importance. Regardless of method or means, proceed slowly, thoughtfully and carefully. Think! Bring your imagination into play, tempered with reason, logic and the knowledge of construction with which you have equipped yourself. Put yourself in the place of your characters as you manipulate them—assume their separate viewpoints as you move them about in the fascinating chess-game of photo- play creation. Try to think, for the moment, as they would think—making, as a re- sult, their every move human and natural. Do not hesitate to change and twist your plot about. S4