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DEVELOPING THE PLOT 79 If he has been arraigned, but not yet tried, he must go before the committing magistrate and there the case will be dismissed. If he has been tried and sentenced, only a pardon from the Governor or a reopening of the case will suffice. If your hero is about to be executed and you suddenly dis- cover the proof of innocence, you do not drop around to the jail and tell the Warden to wait. The Warden is not a judge and cannot pass on the evidence. You must get a court stay or appeal to the Governor for a reprieve. The Warden is placed in his position to obey the orders of the court. The order of the court is that the man must be put to death. That is all the Warden has to do with the matter. It is not necessary to be a westerner to write western stories, nor to have been in India to write of the East Indies, but it is necessary to know something of the life and habits of the people you write about and to know sufficient to be able to write intelligently. It is not probable that you would have the millionaire banker go to work with a tin dinner pail in his hand or have the ditch digger ride to his work in a taxicab, but you may make some trifling mistake just as ridiculous as this to those who know. The millionaire, for example, who takes five one thousand dollar bills out of his pocket and pays for the automobile he is buying is just as improbable and just as laughable as the millionaire who puts on overalls before he takes his place at his mahogany desk. CHAPTER XII. DEVELOPING THE PLOT Possibilities of the plot — getting the plot on paper— the picture eye—do not be afraid to change — watch for situ- ations — the increasing interest. Having evolved the plot, the next thing to do is to develop the plot into the complete play. You may have a good plot and still fail of success because the development is not as good as the idea. .It is a grave error to suppose that your plot can have 'but a single development. It is capable of change so long as the script remains in your possession. As was pointed out in the