The Commonest Plot.
It was at one of the delightful meetings of the Boston Authors Club. The purpose of this meeting was the reading of manuscripts, followed by kindly and helpful criticism; and one of the members of the club had just read a remarkably strong tale, which had received the usual friendly overhauling.
At the close of the discussion I was moved to say that, though the story was admirably told and was well worth telling, it fell under a category avoided by all editors that handle many manuscripts; namely, it was a self-denial story.
The commonest of plots, among the stories sent in to my editorial desk, depicts a hero (or heroine) who wants something very much, and is on the point of getting it after long waiting, and right at the moment of receiving it meets someone who needs it more, and thereupon heroically hands it over to that person.
Perhaps this is not the most common plot submitted to secular editors, but I am sure it is the commonest in the office of religious periodicals. Indeed, one editor of my acquaintance once printed a circular for her contributors outlining plots that they were not to use, they are so worn-out; and this self-denial plot stood at the head of the list.
To be sure, most of us print two or three self-denial stories every year. I am sure I do, for some are so good that I cannot send them back; but I confess I do it with a silent protest every time. "Give us a change," I groan.
It is not that the action depicted is not most praiseworthy. Indeed, as the chairman of that meeting (a Roman Catholic editor, by the way) remarked, "Self-denial is the theme of the Greatest Story of all." It is not that I do not want folks to give up for others. I do want them to, and I want to do it more myself.
My protest is against the one-sided view of religion that is indicated by the predominance of this plot. The implication is that, if there is any great good for which you have been longing all your life, as soon as you come up within reach of it religion will make it your duty to hand it over to someone else. Now I want someone to write a lot of stories showing that religion, while it means self-denial, means also self-realization, the satisfying of innocent desires, the fullness of joy that Christ said He came to bring. Who will write such stories,-at least a few of them?