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232 VALUES AND EMPHASIS cause for dislike. No opportunity should be lost for increasing this dislike through adroit by-play, though too much emphasis must not be given any action. You must not appear to be coaxing the specta- tor to dislike the villain; you must make it appear that his character is so unpleasant that no person of decent sentiment can possibly like him. 5. A nice sense of values is necessary to the author who would be successful. He must know what is worth while and what is over- emphasized. He must make full use of his opportunities, but not lose through overplaying. To a large extent audiences have been trained to certain conventions, most of which are based on general usage. They are taught to expect certain effects from certain causes. Two men engage in a fist fight in which one comes off victorious. Nothing comes of it. The author has merely introduced the fight to show that his hero is a man of physical courage and prowess. This done, he goes on with the story and forgets the incident. The spectator will not. He has been taught that an action of such prominence must have a result in proportion to the importance of the happening. In other words, the fight must lead to something to pay for that footage. Does the beaten man lend his aid to the villain, does he attempt an independent revenge, or what does result from the fight? All through the play the spectator will ,be watching for the development that he has been taught to expect from a scene given such emphasis. If there is nothing gained from the fight the play in that one point, at least, will seem incomplete, and it is but reasonable to suppose that an author with so poor a sense of values will offend in other respects as well. 6. This is in line with the pronouncement already made that no action may be introduced that does not have a direct and positive bearing upon the plot. You have an action.' It has a certain value to the plot. If this value is not made apparent you can give it greater emphasis and so build it up, but you must not give emphasis in ex- cess of its actual value. You build up the scene in Belding's office because this is the key to the entire story, but if your plot had to deal with another matter and Belding merely prescribed for the headache the scene would have no value at all unless the fact that Howard was in Belding's office or that he had a headache might be connected with other plot factors. To emphasize an action is to give an implied promise that this action will yield a result in pro- portion to its prominence. If you do not keep this promise there will be resentment. 7. Nothing may be done without motive. A man takes a gun and discharges it. You are interested. When you see that he aimed at nothing you are no longer interested ,but irritated. He is wasting his time and yours. He might at least have shot at a paper or set up a tin can; then you. could have seen whether he hit or missed the tar- get. Each action must have an aim and a result or it is without in- terest. You can have minor action to show minor causes and if