Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-06-13
BY HARRY o. HOYT
Head Of the Metro Scenario sto6

| Tr is difficult to make the average be-
Il ginner understand that the punch in a
story is not always violence that at least
the suspense ought not TO end in violence on
every occasion.
The beginner concelves OF tremendous
armies in conflict and misses the mother at
home waiting for news from the front. lie
sees the engines of two oncoming passenger
| trains about to meet and overlooks the
| switchman in his tower, who realizes too
| late that there is going to be collision.
The fire at sea Is to the beginner a spec
tacle OF numerous boats being launched in
a hurry with maddencd crowds trying to
escape, while the drama with the strongest
appeal is being enacted In the boiler rooms
| below. where heroes toll to keep the boat
going long enough to beach II or to run the
wireless engine long enough to summon
help
In everyday life we have dramas with
out the melodramatic touch, yet they are
human. vital, living dramas They carry
conviction in every detail In some quiet
garden, radiant with the dawn of n May
morning. may be enacted n scene that would
be stronger than the most desperate gun
play in n Western mining camp.
The characters may be people you and
know, instead of those we read about. The
contrast between the peaceful garden and
the tensencss OF situation enacted there
of itself makes II stronger.
lOu uon nave 10 look tar a0el0. lne
big situations In life are right before us
and not in some other country We in
Philadelphia are too prone to write mining
camp stories. perhaps. They appeal to our
imagination and can see many impos-
sible situations that would develop to orig
inal clmaXes. On the other hand. the
writer's In mining camps (and there are
many) who are best qualified to write about
their own locale. often pick New York.
which perhaps they have never seem as the
location for their drama
The subject we know best is always TN.
interesting to us, but we should not take
the personal viewpoint. Is It new to some
one else? You know your subject better
than some one else why not write about II?
Another method of handling suspense Is
TO resort to the old stage device of breaking
tense dramatic moments with comedy
scenes ana situations. OF course, IL must
not be supposed that 1t is proper to write
comedy scene In the middle of some dra.
matte situation. 1t would be highly i'm
proper and ineffective to cut" to some piece
of comedy when the emotions of the au.
dlence are wrought up by increased sus-
pense and you have your characters in n
big scene so called. on the other hand
IL is on occasion quite the thing to do
Just where to draw the line is a difficult
matter. 1t is something that must be felt
but which cannot be explained
In writing these lessons am endeavoring
to help those who have that indefinable
/
have this you will appreciate exactly what
is meant.
If you have a certain amount of sus-
pense created early in your story it some.
times becomes difficulty to keep it up. The
drama must be developed carefully, and
in order to do it is often necessary to
drop the suspense for the time being.
If comedy situation is developed 1t
helps in many ways. The effect is psyche.
logical. 1t does not impair the strength of
the suspense and when you return to the
theme in which you have developed the
suspense it is often heightened by the
comedy that has broken 1t.
This holds true particularly in melo.
drama. We often see play that has sus-
pense and the punch but somehow lacks
the force, the final touch necessary to make
"a strong drama. 1t arouses the audiences
interest, but fails to convince at the end.
Sometimes an analysis will disclose that
the play is too gloomy and morose. It
hasn't enough light in It, 1t needs contrast.
II needs the comedy relief. If comedy
touches had been used the drama would
have been the stronger. The brighter the
sunlight the heavier the shadow.
The comedy element Is the sunlight. 1t
sets off the drama and ntensifes the sus-
pense and the punch,