author

Seymour Cunningham Chunn

1889–1927

Best known for a practical guide to building short-story plots, this early 20th-century American writer also published fiction under the pen name Culpeper Chunn. His work has a hands-on, workshop feel that still speaks to curious readers and aspiring storytellers.

1 Audiobook

Plotting the short story : a practical exposition of germ-plots, what they are and where to find them : the structure and development of the plot; and the relation of the plot to the story

Plotting the short story : a practical exposition of germ-plots, what they are and where to find them : the structure and development of the plot; and the relation of the plot to the story

by Seymour Cunningham Chunn

About the author

Seymour Cunningham Chunn was an American writer born in 1889 and died in 1927. Reliable library and public-domain records identify him as the author of Plotting the Short Story and note that he also wrote under the name Culpeper Chunn.

His best-known surviving book, Plotting the Short Story (originally published in 1922), is a clear, practical manual for writers. It focuses on finding story ideas, shaping them into workable plots, and understanding how plot supports the finished short story, which gives a good sense of his direct and craft-minded approach.

The published record available online is fairly slim, so many personal details about his life remain hard to confirm from the sources reviewed here. Even so, the work that is easy to verify suggests a writer deeply interested in storytelling as a skill that could be studied, practiced, and improved.