Avoid the hackneyed subject

The Short-story is limited in another way: it must be new and striking, or no one would ever care to read it. The first aim of a magazine article is to instruct; that of the Short-story is to entertain. It may be based on an old theme, but it must be told in a new way. People are easily bored; they do not care to hear the same thing over and over again without variation. “Hackneyed subjects now and then are treated in so original a manner as to bring the whole story above the commonplace level, but that is a performance too unusual for even a genius to dally with often. Editors and public tired long ago of the poor boy whose industry at last brought him the hand of his employer’s daughter; the pale-faced, sweet-eyed young thing whose heroism in stamping out the fire enabled her to pay off the mortgage; the recovery of the missing will; the cruel stepmother; answering a prayer which has been overheard; the strange case of mistaken identity; honesty rewarded; a noble revenge; a child’s influence; and so on to a long-drawn-out end. ” ‘ A Short-story must make one think. A hackneyed subject follows the already deep groove in one’s brain. It cuts no new track. One’s fingers playing the scale of C for the one hundredth time

move up the keyboard without the conscious direction of the mind. If, however, one plays the scale of D major for the first time in contrary motion, one thinks. If a story is to make an impression, it must be new and striking; it must stimulate thought.