write. The way others have done the thing never appears in a forceful
light until one sets himself at a task of like nature. Just so in the
study of this text. To find and appreciate the better points of the
short-story, students must write stories of their own, patterned in a
small way on the technique of the masterpieces.

The process of short-story writing follows in a general way the
following program. In the first place the class must have something
interesting and suggestive to write about. Sometimes the class can
suggest a subject; newspapers almost every day give incidents worthy
of story treatment; happenings in the community often give the very
best material for stories; and phases of the literature work may well
be used in the development of students' themes. Change the type of
character and place, reconstruct the plot, or require a different
ending for the story, leaving the plot virtually as it is, and then
assign to the class. Boys and girls should invariably be taught to see
stories in the life about them, in the newspapers and magazines on
their library tables, and in the masterpieces they study in their
class work.

After the idea that the class wishes to develop has been definitely
determined and the material for this development has been gathered and
grouped about the idea, the class should select a viewpoint and
proceed to write. Sometimes the author should tell the story,
sometimes a third person who may be of secondary importance in the
story should be given the rôle of the story-teller, sometimes the
whole may be in dialogue. The class should choose a fitting method.

Young writers should be very careful about the beginning of a story.
An action story should start with a striking incident that catches the