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CHAPTER XXIII HOW TO GET A PLOT IN previous chapters in this part you have been told what a plot is and what it should not be. If you have mastered these facts you are ready now to take up the actual process of plotting;, for you must not alone know what a plot is, but you must be able to originate plots before you can write in action. 2. In the first place let it be understood that the author does not and can not trust to inspiration alone. He does not wait until genius burns. He touches a match to it and fans the flame until it is glowing brightly. He learns to regard writing as an employment as well as a recreation. He knows that to succeed he must gain the habit of plot- ting and that the way to do this is to write plots until plot writing becomes a habit and not a Mystery. 3. Almost any person can think of one good idea for a play if he or she thinks hard enough. Some can think of a dozen before what may be termed their natural supply of ideas is exhausted. But one plot or one dozen plots will not advance one very far along the road to success. It may even be that the sale of some of these will unfit a student for further work, giving him a feeling of overconfidence. It has often been said, and with entire truth, that the worst luck that possibly could befall the beginner is the sale of one or two plays just at the start. The work seems to be too easy. The aspirant devotes no further time to study and when sales cease decides that editors are stealing the plays and stops writing, disgusted. Solid, lasting success is not built upon the chance sale of one or two plays. It is based upon a close study of photoplay writing followed by careful and in- telligent marketing. 4. Do not wait for inspiration. Study the art of plotting as a business and remember that the more you plot the more easy will plotting become until, with full development, the plot almost auto- matically forms once the suggestion is gained. So expert do some writers become that a mere suggestion received will cause the entire plot to suggest itself in complete form. Take comfort in the thought that the labor of the start will bring a lasting ease that will more than repay the hard work. 5. To the beginner the simplest plan probably will be to sit down and 4-eason a plot out. You think of a man and a woman. What J happens to them? Who are they? Are they married or unmarried?/ Perhaps you decide that they are husband and wife. What then?" What is there in their married life that makes it more interesting than the married lives of other men and women ? Perhaps you answer this very unoriginally by saying that they are unhap.py. '\'ery well, ; but why? There must be some reason. Does he drink? Is he in-j constant? Is he brutal? Perhaps you decide that he drinks. What 73