INTRODUCTIONSHORT STORY
Literature has its roots in one of the most basic human desires — mastering the difficultdemands of their craft. If they write well, they then reap a second delight from witnessing the pleasure their work gives to others. Readers, meanwhile, derive pleasure not only from the“escape” value of reading but also from literature’s power to imitate life. A truly good book can speak of imaginary people so vividly that they seem more alive than people we meet onthe street, and can make us care about its characters as if they were close friends.We are always curious about each other, and usually curious about ourselves as well. Why dowe behave as we do? What are the causes of our actions? Literature is far from having all theanswers, but it does offer hints, suggestions, and flashes of insight. Moreover, it offers themin such a way as to refresh and encourage our own thinking, and so leads us to insights of our own. Readers have many standards for judging a writer. But one enduring standard is thewriter’s power of interpretation — to interpret us, as humans, to ourselves. We prize thosewriters who seem to know people deeply, and to share that knowledge with us openly andhonestly. We speak with disdain of shallow or insincere writers; we demand truth andsincerity even in the most fantastic fiction.Literature, then, exists primarily because it pleases us. And it pleases us by imitating life — or, more precisely, by displaying a vision of life as it is or as the writers think it should be.But how does it contrive its imitation? Its only medium is words; and we know how hard it isto make words say what we want them to. say; .How do writers handle their words so as toget such powerful effects from them? What guidelines help them make the million-and-onechoices that result in a play, a poem, or a story?The first necessities for any work of literature — and therefore the first things that writersmust consider — are plot and character. These may occur to a writer in either order. That is, awriter may first imagine some characters, and then decide what actions, they are to perform;or a writer may envision some action and then decide on the people who must perform it.Every work of literature, however, must have both action and characters. If it lacks either, itcannot please us or hold our interest...In addition to a plot and to characters who act and feel, a work of literature must have unityand coherence. It should make us believe thatits characters really would have performed the actions it says they did, and that the actionscould reasonably have taken place. At its best, the movement of a play, or a story ought to3
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