Elements of the Short Story is a Modernist's approach to the short story rather than an avant garde or post-modernist's view. One of the primary aspects of Modernism was the belief in cause and effect. The modernist believes that behavior is caused and that we can discover and present the motivations behind behavior, in rich, sensory detail. A modernist short story is built on two cause-and-effect sequences: from the opening conflict or problem to the climax, and from the climax to the close and clincher. The Modernist, like his/her predecessors for 2,500 years, believes that these cause-and-effect sequences can be meaningful and that a story can present a theme that has philosophical and/or psychological meaning. The book sets out to delineate the building blocks, the elements of the short story. The components of experience are always character, scene, and incident, whether you're in fantasy-land, distant stars, or right here at home. The book details many fundamental aspects of character and character- ization; plot and plotting, including scenario; basic style; pacing; the writer's authority; point-of-view; credibility. It analyzes and illustrates typical strategies in building the rising action, building the climax; building the close and its clincher. A short story is not a stunted novel, nor is a novel an overgrown short story. Elements of the Short Story takes the position that the short story is an art form in its own right, with the potential for considerable aesthetic achievement.