within the character, society, or environment that has brought this value into existence. A complex story may contain many forces for change, but generally one cause dominates the others. Therefore, in a Crime Story, neither “Crime doesn’t pay …” (justice triumphs …) nor “Crime pays …” (injustice triumphs …) could stand as a full Controlling Idea because each gives us only half a meaning—the ending value. A story of substance also expresses why its world or protagonist has ended on its specific value.
