The challenge is to keep convention but avoid clich

As a rule of thumb do not use coincidence beyond the midpoint of the telling. Rather, put the story more and more into the hands of the characters.

Its primary purpose is to further the immediate conflict. Its secondary purpose is to convey information.

The second circle inscribes personal relationships, unions of intimacy deeper than the social role.

the wise writer redesigns the story to preserve what’s vital.

Dimension means contradiction:

That done, reduce each event to a one- or two-sentence statement of what happens and no more.

In this relationship we feel empathy and identify with the protagonist, whereas in pure Mystery our involvement is limited to sympathy.

Social attitudes change. The cultural antenna of the writer must be alert to these movements or risk writing an antique.