Dilemmas & costs
Leave It to Jeeves (in My Man Jeeves) · P. G. WodehouseWhat if the insult describes a different audience?
A failed commission can suggest a new use for the work, provided the character has the skills and contacts to pursue it.
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Showing 24 results
Dilemmas & costs
The Lady, or the Tiger? · Frank R. StocktonShe knows which door will save him. It will also give him to her rival.
Make a trusted helper's decision difficult by giving them both the needed information and a personal reason to fear using it.
Organizations
The Lady, or the Tiger? · Frank R. StocktonTwo identical doors cannot tell the court who is guilty
Build a public ceremony that looks impartial while failing to answer the question it claims to settle.
Relationships
The Last Leaf · O. HenryAn ordinary object can hide somebody's difficult work
Make a later discovery change how readers understand an object they have already spent time looking at.
Character & identity
The Last Leaf · O. HenryShe counts the leaves instead of planning tomorrow
Give an inward change an observable shape: something the character watches should affect a small action they have been refusing.
Character & identity
Luck · Mark TwainThe famous general's old tutor gives a very different account of his success
Write comedy about a celebrated success that one witness insists was accidental, while giving the apparent mistakes specific causes and consequences.
Character & identity
The Lumber Room · Saki (H. H. Munro)The boy makes his aunt guard the wrong door
Let a closely watched character gain room to act by encouraging the watcher to expect the wrong kind of disobedience.
Relationships
The Magic Shop · H. G. WellsA child enjoys the magic shop while his father becomes afraid
Write an uncanny fantasy scene in which wonder and fear arise from different needs within the same relationship.
Dilemmas & costs
The Metamorphosis · Franz Kafka; translated by David WyllieHe wants to join the music. Who will see him approach?
Let a character's attempt to join the family create a practical problem the family cannot ignore.
Character & identity
The Metamorphosis · Franz Kafka; translated by David WyllieHe wakes in an impossible body and worries about missing the train
Make a fantastic opening feel immediate by letting an ordinary obligation continue on schedule.
Relationships
The Metamorphosis · Franz Kafka; translated by David WyllieAn empty room is easier to crawl in. It no longer feels like his room.
Make an act of care solve a physical problem while threatening something the recipient wants to keep.
Mysteries & clues
The Mezzotint · M. R. JamesAn ordinary print looks different each time someone examines it
Make an impossible object convincing in a horror mystery by showing how careful observers check one another's accounts.
Relationships
Misery · Anton ChekhovHe can find passengers. He cannot find someone who will stay and listen.
Dramatize grief and loneliness through repeated attempts at conversation, with a different obstacle each time and a small, credible change at the end.
Organizations
The Nose · Nikolai GogolHis missing nose is walking around in a senior official's uniform
Write absurd comedy in which familiar concerns about rank and respectability make an impossible event harder to deal with.
Mysteries & clues
The Open Window · SakiThe visitor hears an explanation before he sees the evidence
Let an apparently helpful story influence how a newcomer reads the next ordinary event.
Character & identity
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge · Ambrose BierceHe wants to prove he belongs. Someone offers him a mission.
Make a dangerous invitation persuasive by connecting it to the role the character already wishes to play.
Mysteries & clues
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge · Ambrose BierceThe watch grows louder. The seconds seem farther apart.
Prepare readers to question a viewpoint's sense of time before a later scene asks them to reconsider what they experienced.
Relationships
Pact · WildbowShe can warn him from a mirror. He has to carry it.
Give uneasy allies practical reasons to stay together even while they doubt each other's account.
Organizations
Pact · WildbowEveryone argues over the inheritance. One potential heir is frightened.
Make a desirable inheritance carry responsibilities or enemies that the competing characters understand unequally.
Character & identity
The Piece of String · Guy de MaupassantHe picked up a piece of string. The town thinks he took a wallet.
Show why a truthful explanation fails to repair a reputation, and why the accused person keeps trying anyway.
Character & identity
Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog) · Jerome K. JeromeHe volunteers to hang one picture and puts the whole household to work
Build a comedy scene in which someone's claim to be helpful creates more work for everyone else.
Relationships
Pride and Prejudice · Jane AustenHe thinks his proposal proves devotion. She hears contempt.
Make an offer fail because the speaker's account of their sacrifice insults the person they hope to win.
Relationships
Pride and Prejudice · Jane AustenShe turns his insult into a funny story she keeps retelling
Let a character's way of recovering from embarrassment influence how they interpret later encounters.
Character & identity
Pride and Prejudice · Jane AustenThe letter challenges her story. She checks it against her memories.
Make a change of mind take work, especially when being wrong threatens the character's pride in their own judgment.