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CHAPTER LXII 309 were writi-ig the business of a new play. Put in the leaders and the lettp-is just as clearly as you can remember them. Now write the 5yynopsis and cast of characters. You have a complete script frcjm which you may make a careful analysis of the development. 25. Recall as clearly as possible the points that made the deepest impression on you when you first saw it. Think of how this scene thrilled you with fear, of how that one brought a smile to your face and that other put a lump in your throat. The reason for all these emotions is down on that paper in black and white if you have done your work well. The secret of the sob is clear, the reason for the smile is made plain. You have a clear insight into the mechanics of creating emotion. 26. But there is one thing that may not appear as clearly on the paper. You do not clearly see the punch, the reason why you liked that play so much better than the others you saw at the same time. You should find the visible punch if you will look for it, ,but you will, in time, find something else. What that is no one can tell you. You cannot tell yourself what it is. It has never been put into words and it never will be, but if you are ever going to make a story writer you will find that something in this study of the stor> that enables you to write plays with charm. 27. It cannot be analyzed and it cannot be described, but it is an ability tp sense the story; to look past the action, past the technique, past the plot and past the punch itself and see the soul of the story. To some people it is never given to gain this sense, to some it comes only after long, arduous labor. Some are born with it, some have it partly developed and need but a little work to bring it out, but no matter how it comes, that instinctive sensing of the story is what makes the real author; is what marks the difference between the play- writer and the person who merely performs the mechanical labor of writing a play. 28. But perhaps even before this comes to you you will be readv to go on to the next step. Instead of merely studying the work of others, study to improve their work. You have the script before you. Mentally redevelop it. See if you cannot better the situations by changing the relation of the scenes or by discarding certain of the scenes and using others in their place. There never was a story produced that could not be improved upon. Study to see how you may improve the work on the plays you have seen, for this will bring, a keener insight into the development of the plot than the mere study of the plotting of another. 29. Study, too, to improve the leaders. Improving does not neces- sarily mean the cutting down the number of words. You may add a couple of words and get an easy, fluent leader instead of a harsh, disjointed one. Do the same with the letters. See if you cannot, make them sound more like real letters. Note where a paragraph from a letter might have been used with better effect than one pur-