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CHAPTER XLVI 229 "Watch and sec how Jones acts. He has heart disease. You must remember tliis because pretty soon I am going to kill him off that way." If you advertise the action you either anticipate the climax or you lead the spectator to wonder what will be the outcome of this stressed scene. It must either be some part of the plot-action that has a value at the moment, or it may be a bit of by-play that is seemingly put in merely to round out an action. 5. Novice writers are prone to err one way or the other. If the heroine is caught in the woods under a fallen tree and it looks as though a wrecking crew and a derrick would be required, it is un- believable when Andrew comes in and raises the tree. We have had no hint of his enormous strength. We are not prepared for the demonstration. On the other hand if the preparation has been too carefully and too openly made, we are not in the least worried when Gwendolyn is struck down by the monarch of the forest. We just sit still and wait for Andrew to come along. Every few scenes we have seen him putting trolley cars back on the tracks or catching the safe that has fallen from a seventh story window and we know now that he has been .brought into the play for no other reason than to save Gwendolyn. There is no suspense, no surprise. We can see the ending as clearly as the author can. On the other hand if a gymnasium scene showed Andrew putting up the bar bell that the villain could not lift and the villain became angry, we would sup- pose that the scene was written in to provoke the villain and so establish a reason for his enmity. The incident has been forgotten for the moment, and it is not until Andrew comes upon the scene that we remember the incident in the gymnasium and feel sure that he ^can lift the tree. 6. Sometimes the barest hint will suffice. Perhaps once or twice we have seen Frank pick a pin from the floor and put it in the lapel of his coat. Perhaps once someone made fun of the habit. It looks like a bit of character drawing. But when there is a hunt for the heroine and Frank finds the clew in a button from her dress that has dropped in the grass it does not wrench coincidence, for we remember the pins. 7. Preparation for the event might be called motivation of the event as distinguished from the motivation of the action. In Chap- ter XVI it was shown that we cannot accept the action of a man in withdrawing from an elopement at the thought of a crying child unless it was previously shown that a passionate fondness for chil- dren was his one Vulnerable point. In the same way any trait of character can be used to prepare for an event. You cannot show Gertrude as an innocent and unsophisticated girl and then suddenly have her throw Henry over to marry a rich old roue. You must draw her character through the play to prepare us for the change in fiances and finances. All through the play she must be shown as a girl with an ambition for riches and power. She must be sel- fish and a trifle greedy. If her character is properly drawn, that