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PUTTING IN THE PUNCH 85 CHAPTER XIII. PUTTING IN THE PUNCH What the punch is—the three sorts of dramatic punch— raising the commonplace to the dramatic—relation of punch to plot—the comedy punch. It may be that someone will presently find a more expressive term than "punch" for that quality of the story that lifts it from the commonplace, but it is to be questioned. The word is simple, terse and highly descriptive. It is almost self-explanatory to the trained "writer, and yet the question most frequently asked by the beginner is "What is the punch ?" Punch possesses a variety of synonyms. It is heart interest, grip, suspense and a dozen other things rolled into one. Like the small boy's definition of salt, it is what makes the story bad when it is left out. The story without the punch is like a motor boat without the motor, the gun without powder or shot. It looks all right at first glance but the kick is lacking. Punch is that element of the story which gives it interest. It is dramatic situation, but it is more than that and it is because the word means so much that it is not easy to define. If a man on the street should walk up to another and knock him down, the situation would not be without interest. If the person assaulted was the President of the United States and the man striking the blow the defeated candidate at the last election, the interest would be very greatly increased. The first assault might occupy two or three lines in the police court news of the local pa- pers, but the fact that it was the President and his late rival who engaged in the row, would put the punch into the story and the facts would be telegraphed and cabled around the world. The American papers would give columns to the story, the San Fran- cisco papers as well as those of New York and Boston, but the fact that Henry Hastings had had a fight with Samuel Belting would not attract much attention beyond their immediate circles of friends.