About time
This month’s story is cleverly put together, and a good example of how to organise a timeline in a short story, marshalling events and releasing information to the reader in the most effective order. We’re going to look at how The Cactus by O Henry is structured in order to deliver a satisfying set up and pay off. As always, you’ll benefit most from this masterclass if you read the story yourself, and to avoid spoilers it’s best to read the story first: https://writ.rs/thecactus.
We know that time is going to be important in this story because it is highlighted in the very first line. In fact, we are told we are going to get the story of an entire courtship in the time it takes to remove a pair of gloves, and that’s exactly what we get.
The other thing we know is going to be significant is the cactus. After all, it is in the title and it
