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CHAPTER XLIII 217 then dropping back to explain. In photoplay it is not always easy to plan this delayed explanation to follow a striking scene and still main- tain the interest. The device will serve at times, but as William Lord Wright has pointed out, the striking first scene is a promise to the spectator that must be kept. If you promise a big play, through a tremendous opening scene, you must keep your promise by pitching your play in that key, though it is permissible to drop back for ex- planation. If you sound too strong a note in the opening it is not generally possible to hold to the key. 10. Having begun your story the tendency of the action should be to increase as the story advances. In a properly devised plot, the addition of each new factor should make for greater strengtli in the play as a whole. Each addition to the story, ,by increasing the sus- pense, should gain greater interest. The capture of Jim by the In- dians and his rescue from the- stake may be interesting in itself. If the Chief's daughter falls in love with him and seeks to effect either his release or his escape, then the entire story gains in interest. If the Medicine Man of the tribe loves the daughter of the Chief and seeks to get Jim out of the way, then still more interest is aroused through the presentation of additional factors of struggle. If the escape is ef- fected without great effort, then the story falls because there is no ob- stacle of real consequence and because, on this account, there is no very great suspense. There can be no interest in opposition if this is merelv technical. It must be played up through suspense. If Jim escapes and is recaptured, then there is greater interest than if the girl merely sought to effect his escape. Our hopes are raised by the es- cape and dashed by the recapture. The practical evidence of the girl's interest now makes the Medicine ISIan more than ever determined to get so formidable a rival out of the way. If the cowboys come to his rescue, then there is more suspense. If the girl seeks to delay the set- ting fire to the pyre this helps the suspense, though it is clear tliat she is not acting in concert with the rescue party. It will be noted that all of these factors have a direct and distinct bearing upon Jim and his chances of life. Even the love of the Medicine Man for the girl bears on the direct and not on a subplot. 11. The diagram of a plot action should show a series of increas- ingly important crises separated by a momentary dropping back for an approach to the next crisis as explained in Chapter XIV. The smashes should not come too close together or they will lose much of their effect. In the prize ring the successful pugilist does not rush in and try to obtain an immediate knockout unless his opponent is woefully inferior in strength and skill. He plays a waiting game. He plants a telling blow and retreats, then he plants another and again waits. He does not try to land three or four at once. He lets his opponent barely recover from the first blow before he administers the second in order that he may receive the full effect of the second smash. If he is still dazed from the effect of the first blow, the second lacks much of the, moral and some of the physical effect. But as the fight nears its end