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PUTTING IN THE PUNCH 87 The punch should suggest itself to the author simultaneously with the plot itself, because the plot is not good unless it has the punch.. But lacking the punch we can add it afterward or having too weak a punch, we can intensify it through development. Let us take the triangle again. Two men love the same girl and their efforts to win her forms the story. In the simplest form Frank Jones and Paul Smith love Mary Brown and are rivals for her hand. Frank finds the greater favor and wins her hand in marriage. There is a story there, but it lacks the punch because it tells only the commonplace and usual. It almost wholly lacks dramatic situation. But the punch can be added after the story has been devised and the punch can be built up to almost any de- gree required. Suppose that Frank and Paul are brothers. This at once brings a dramatic element into the story. Frank is staid and steady go- ing; Paul is wayward and inclined to dissipation, but like most black sheep, is his mother's idol. Paul declares that unless he can marry Mary he will go straight to the devil. Frank does not par- ticularly care for that, for his brother has long since tested for- bearance to the breaking point, but their mother is an invalid and Frank knows that Paul's lapse will break her heart. He gives up his suit and leaves the field clear to Paul. The story now has a punch, because it has become dramatic through the element of Frank's renunciation, but the story is by no means as strong as it may be made. Disregard the relationship and once more they are Jones and Smith. This time it is Frank who is reckless and Paul, who is the steady one. Frank sees that Paul has the inside track and plans to trick him. He knows that Paul's father is short in his cash at the bank in which all three are employed. It is but a temporary shortage, a matter that amounts to little more than an unauthorized loan, but it is technically a criminal act and ex- posure would mean the old man's ruin and disgrace and that, in its turn would probably lead to his death. Frank tells Paul of his father's situation and warns him that unless he abandons all claims to Mary's hand he will inform the bank directors of the facts. To save his father, Paul assents. The old man, knowing nothing of the situation, adds to Paul's anguish by urging him to press his suit more ardently. Here we have a more dramatic situation. The first plot offers but one premise, that (a) Frank and Paul desire to marry Mary. The last development offers these facts: