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CHAPTER XXXIII 143 through the skillful handling of incident. This does not contradict the previous statement that all action must have a direct bearing up- on the plot. It confirms it, for this by-play is as much related to the plot as is the main action. The fabric of the plot may be likened to the piece of linen which is to be decorated by the needleworker. It increases in value in precise ratio to the value of the needlework. The result may be a thing of beauty or merely some spoiled linen. 20. The introduction of this accessory narrative or by-play may not be artificial. It must be made to appear as a natural and required part of the action, for charm will immediately leave the play that is forced, labored and unnatural. The deliberate introduction of a per- son or action for no other reason than to increase the momentary dramatic effect is bungling and inexcusable. You have a cast of char- acters and a set of reasons governing their actions. Make these char- acters and these reasons give you your dramatic effect without ref- erence to other persons and happenings, or you are not yet competent to write a play in action. These characters in the regular cast are known to us and liked or disliked according to their deserts. The more compact your cast; the more closely your action is centered upon a few persons, the greater opportunity do you have for winning favor or disfavor for them. Employ this opportunity to the full. Center all the interest on the handful of major people you employ and do not.confuse your story and the spectator by bringing in people who appear only on one action or sequence of scenes and are not heard of again. If you do this you will leave your spectators wondering what happened to this person or that. 21. This course will also avoid a great deal of unnecessary explana- tion. It is natural for Lucy to be in her own yard. You do not have to explain her presence there. If it were some other girl, you would have to tell what she was doing in John's yard or before it. This would probably take the usual form of "she happened to be passing," which is not acceptable. It will be natural for Lucy to see John get his gun. It will be natural for her to follow him after she has made her unintentional confession. John following Henry and Lucy fol- lowing John, each with a clear and well-defined purpose, is under- standable. If John, Henry, Lucy and Mary should come together from the four points of the compass at the exact moment when their appearances will make for the strongest dramatic effect, the mechanism of your action will be too clearly apparent. It might have been more striking, at the moment, to have used in your scene some other girl; another victim of Henry's perfidy. It would have shown him in a still less enviable light, but at the cost of stopping to explain and the fur- ther cost of giving the long arm of coincidence another wrench. If you overwork coincidence, you will never get writer's cramp indorsing checks. People cannot merely happen to be where they are most wanted at the moment by a troubled author. They must be there be- cause it is the most natural and logical place for them to be. 22. There must be a reason for the presence of every character in