The Problem of Cell 13 by Jacques Futrelle

The Problem of Cell 13 by Jacques Futrellle is written in such a way that readers keep turning the pages.

Beginnings

Stories start out different ways. Some stories begin immediately with action, and others begin with narration of background information or setting. This story starts out with background information about Van Dusen such as his appearance, what he does for a living, etc.

You want to start your story with a beginning that will grab the reader's attention. When you do, then readers will keep turning the pages to the very end. That's what happened as I first started reading this story, I kept turning the pages. I was eager to find out what was going to happen.

You also want to develop characters in such a way that make the realistic. When characters don't seem realistic or believable, then readers cannot relate to them.

Characters

The main character is Professor Van Dusen. He is known as The Thinking Machine. The other characters are Dr. Charles Ransome and Arthur Fielding.

Professor Van Dusen is a character that believes people need to think about their situations and that if something seems impossible, it may not be. All you have to do is to think about it.

On the other hand, Dr. Charles Ransome and Arthur Fielding believe that certain situations are impossible.

Plot

When you are writing the middle part of the story, you want to make it so that readers will keep turning the pages. If the middle part fails to hold the reader's attention, they will put the book down.

In this story, the author continued to hold my attention. I was really getting into the book and the plot. I wanted to find out what was going to happen.

When Dr. Charles Ransome and Arthur Fielding stopped by to visit Professor Van Dusen, they started discussing situations that seem impossible. Their man discussion was about prison cells. Van Dusen believed that he could escape from a prison cell. However, Dr. Ransome and Arthur Fielding didn't believe that he could escape unless he brought something with him that he needed to use to escape.

The plot continued to build suspense when Van Dusen claimed he didn't need anything but what he had on. At that time, Dr. Ransome and Arthur Fielding asked him if he was willing to be put into a prison cell to try it. He told him that he was. They gave him a week to escape.

As the story continued, more suspenseful the story became. I didn't want to put the story down until I was finished reading. This is what makes a great story.

Endings

The ending of a story is also important. You need to tie the events in the story together and make everything seem realistic.

Throughout the story, Van Dusen continued to try to escape from the prison cell. He made several attempts. The ending will surprise you. Did he escape? If so, how?

A good ending is important. You want the readers to be satisfied with the outcome of the story. When they are, they will recommend the book and will want to read other stories by this author. If they aren't satisfied, they won't want to recommend it or read anymore stories by the author.

Jacques Futrelle did a good job of making the characters, setting, and plot realistic. Even though things seemed impossible, they may not be.