Poe: 5 Essentials for the Betterment of a Story

Edgar Allan Poe penned immortal poems, such as “The Raven” and “Annabel Lee,” and unforgettable tales of psychological horror, such as “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Masque of Red Death,” The Cask of Amontillado,” and “The Fall of the House of Usher.” He was also a prominent literary critic and essayist, as well as the inventor of the detective story.

In a recently-found treatise, he set down the following advice for bettering a story: *

1. Employ an unreliable narrator, preferably one who doesn’t know he is insane and has no recollection of such events as digging into a grave to rip out the teeth of his recently departed lover.
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