Transcript of John Astin as Edgar Allan Poe
What makes a good tale? In a word: focus. As you may have read in the pages of Graham's Magazine in May of 1842, I am unwavering on this point. I wrote, "In the whole composition there should be no word written, of which the tendency, direct or indirect, is not to the one preestablished design. And by such means, with such care and skill, a picture is at length painted which leaves in the mind of him who contemplates it with a kindred art, a sense of the fullest satisfaction." I endeavored live by this rule whenever I wrote.
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