theme plot. Then, with that constantly before him, he creates his characters to fit the exposition he desires to give that theme. This man was a minister before he took up fiction writing. As a clergyman it was customary for him to write his thesis or theme upon which he based his sermons. As a writer of fiction he finds it advisable to follow the same plan, though in the latter case he makes the actions and the speeches of his fictitious characters portray the things he formerly spoke. And no one, so far as I know, has ever found this author's stories "preachy." But they have appealed to more fiction readers than those of any other living author, perhaps, because they are human, and because they do and say some definite thing.
Each human life in itself is an illustration of the necessity of theme. Consider those around you, and those characters of whom you have read in history. Are not those who have enjoyed the greatest success, who have accomplished most, the ones who had a theme, a definite purpose, upon which they based their activities? Edison had a theme, and so did the Wright Brothers, Marconi, Robert Fulton, Galileo and other notables of the past and present.
The theme of my life is to produce the best photoplay stories that I am able to create. I give my best efforts always with that basic theme for my life's work in mind.
Even the miserable miser has a theme—the accretion of gold. Unfortunately, in his case, his theme is an unhappy one, a theme to be avoided by those who would live wholesome lives. But it illustrates, just as do the other examples, the generality of theme in everyday life.
From this very fact it may be adduced that themes for photoplays are not difficult to find. They exist all around us. They jump before our very eyes each time we walk about the streets, visit a friend, attend a theatre, or read a newspaper. The morning paper contains the themes for
