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diff --git a/36837-h/36837-h.htm b/36837-h/36837-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..10ecb1b --- /dev/null +++ b/36837-h/36837-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,10797 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Lure of the Pen, by Flora Klickmann</title> + <style type="text/css"> + + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + text-indent: 1em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + width: 70%; + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: .8em; + color: gray; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .blockquot{margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%;} + .sidenote {width: 20%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em; margin-left: 1em; + float: right; clear: right; margin-top: 1em; font-weight: bold; + font-size: smaller; color: black; background: #eeeeee; border: dashed 1px;} + + .center {text-align: center; text-indent: 0em;} + .ralign {text-align: right; margin-right: 1em;} + .noin {text-indent: 0em;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left; text-indent: 0em;} + .notebox {border: solid 2px; padding: 1em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; background: #CCCCB2;} + + hr.full { width: 100%; + margin-top: 3em; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + height: 4px; + border-width: 4px 0 0 0; /* remove all borders except the top one */ + border-style: solid; + border-color: #000000; + clear: both; } + pre {font-size: 85%;} + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Lure of the Pen, by Flora Klickmann</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: The Lure of the Pen</p> +<p> A book for Would-Be Authors</p> +<p>Author: Flora Klickmann</p> +<p>Release Date: July 24, 2011 [eBook #36837]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LURE OF THE PEN***</p> +<p> </p> +<h3>E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland<br /> + and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (http://www.pgdp.net)</h3> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h1>The Lure of the Pen</h1> + +<h3>A BOOK FOR WOULD-BE AUTHORS</h3> + +<p> </p> +<h5>By</h5> +<h2>FLORA KLICKMANN</h2> + +<h5><i>Editor of</i><br /> +"<i>The Girl's Own Paper and Woman's Magazine</i>"</h5> + +<h5>WHO HAS WRITTEN "THE FLOWER-PATCH AMONG THE HILLS,"<br /> +"BETWEEN THE LARCHWOODS AND THE WEIR,"<br /> +AND OTHER WORKS</h5> + +<p> </p> +<h3>G. P. Putnam's Sons<br /> +<small>New York and London<br /> +1920</small></h3> + + +<hr style="width: 85%;" /> +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1920, by</span><br /> +G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS</p> +<p> </p> + + +<hr style="width: 85%;" /> +<p> </p> +<h4>DEDICATED TO<br /> +<big>MR. JAMES BOWDEN</big><br /> + +<small>WHO HAS FEW EQUALS, EITHER<br /> +AS A PUBLISHER, OR AS A FRIEND</small></h4> +<p> </p> + + +<hr style="width: 85%;" /> +<h2>PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION</h2> + + +<p>In sending out this new book to the American +public, I feel I am addressing a sympathetic +audience, since other volumes that have preceded +it have been most cordially received, and have +added considerably to my long list of friends on +the Western side of the Atlantic.</p> + +<p>At first glance it may seem as though the difference +between the writings of American and +British authors is too marked to allow of a book +on Authorship proving useful to both countries—but +in reality the difference is only superficial, +and is largely confined to methods of newspaper +journalism, or connected with mannerisms and +topical qualities.</p> + +<p>Fundamentally, both nations work on the same +lines and acknowledge the same governing laws +in Literature. American authors, no less than +British, derive their inspirations from European +classics.</p> + +<p>And magazine editors and publishers in both +countries are only too grateful for good work from +either side.</p> + +<p>No one can teach authors how or what to +write; but sometimes it is possible to help the +beginners to an understanding of what it is better +not to write. For the rest I hope the book explains +itself.</p> + +<p class="ralign"><span class="smcap">Flora Klickmann</span></p> +<p class="noin">Fleet Street, London.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 85%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" summary=""> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#PART_ONE">PART ONE</a>: THE MSS. THAT FAIL</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> Why they Fail</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3">3</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> Three Essentials in Training</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_11">11</a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan='2'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#PART_TWO">PART TWO</a>: ON KEEPING YOUR EYES OPEN</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> A Course in Observation</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_17">17</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> The Assessment of Spiritual Values</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_24">24</a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan='2'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#PART_THREE">PART THREE</a>: THE HELP THAT BOOKS CAN GIVE</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> The Bane of "Browsing</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_35">35</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> Reading for Definite Data</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_41">41</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> Reading for Style</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_47">47</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> The Need for Enlarging the Vocabulary</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_58">58</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> The Charm of Musical Language</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_68">68</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> Analysing an Author's Methods</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_78">78</a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan='2'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#PART_FOUR">PART FOUR</a>: POINTS A WRITER OUGHT TO NOTE</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> Practice Precedes Publication</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_97">97</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> The Reader must be Interested</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_116">116</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> Form should be Considered</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_130">130</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> Right Selection is Important</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_139">139</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> When Writing Articles</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_144">144</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> Suggestions for Style</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_156">156</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> The Ubiquitous Fragment</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_166">166</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> Concerning Local Colour</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_172">172</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> Creating Atmosphere</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_178">178</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> The Method of Presenting a Story</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_188">188</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> Fallacies in Fiction</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_197">197</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> Some Rules for Story-Writing</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_217">217</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> About the Climax</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_225">225</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> The Use of "Curtains"</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_229">229</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> On Making Verse</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_234">234</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> The Function of the Blue Pencil</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_252">252</a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan='2'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#PART_FIVE">PART FIVE</a>: AUTHOR, PUBLISHER, AND PUBLIC</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> When Offering Goods for Sale</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_261">261</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> The Responsibility</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_286">286</a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan='2'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#INDEX">INDEX</a></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_297">297</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 85%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> +<h3><a name="PART_ONE" id="PART_ONE"></a>PART ONE</h3> + +<h3>THE MSS. THAT FAIL</h3> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span></p> +<p class="blockquot">In the Business of Making Literature, the only Quality +that presents itself in Abundance is entirely untrained +Mediocrity.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 85%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p> +<h1>The Lure of the Pen</h1> + + +<h2>Why They Fail</h2> + +<p>In the course of a year I read somewhere about +nine thousand stories, articles and poems. +These are exclusive of those read by others +in my office.</p> + +<p>Of these nine thousand I purchase about six +hundred per annum. The remainder are usually +declined for one of three reasons; either,</p> + +<p>They are not suited to the policy and the requirements +of the publishing house, or the periodicals, +for which I am purchasing. Or,</p> + +<p>They tread ground we have already covered. +Or,</p> + +<p>They have no marketable value.</p> + +<p>The larger proportion of the rejected MSS. +come under the last heading. They are of the +"homing" order, warranted to return to their +starting point.</p> + +<p>The number that I buy does not indicate the +number that I require. In normal times I could<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> +use at any rate double the number that I purchase. +I never have an overstock of the right thing. I +never have more than I can publish of certain-to-sell +matter. No publisher or editor ever has.</p> + +<p>In the business of Making Literature (and +throughout these chapters I use the word literature +in its widest sense) genius is rare. Nearly-genius +is almost as rare. The only quality that presents +itself in abundance is entirely untrained mediocrity.</p> + +<p>It may be thought that this applies equally to +all departments of the world's work; but it is not +so. While genius is scarce wherever one looks, I +know of only one other vocation where the candidates +expect good pay at the very start without +any sort of training, any experience, any specialised +knowledge, or any idea of the simplest requirement +of the business from which they hope +to draw an income—the other vocation being +domestic service.</p> + +<p>For example: Though thousands of paintings +and sketches are offered me in the course of the +year, I cannot recall one instance of an artist announcing +that this is his, or her, first attempt at +drawing; all the work submitted, even the feeblest, +shows previous practice or training of some sort, +be it ever so elementary. Yet it is no uncommon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> +thing to receive with a MS. a letter explaining, +"This is the first time I have ever tried to write +anything."</p> + +<p>Then again, no one expects to be engaged to +play a violin solo at a concert, when she has had +no training, merely because she craves a public +appearance and applause. Yet many a girl and +woman writes to an editor: "This is my first +attempt at a poem. I do so hope you will publish +it, as I should so like to see myself in print."</p> + +<p>And no one would expect to get a good salary +as a dressmaker by announcing that, though she +has not the most elementary knowledge of the +business, she feels convinced that she could make a +dress. Yet over and over again people have asked +me to give them a chance, explaining that, though +they were quite inexperienced, they felt they had +it in them to write.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, despite this prevailing idea that +we all possess heaven-sent genius, which is ready +to sprout and blossom straight away with no preparatory +work—an idea which gains added weight +from the fact that there are no great schools for +the student who desires to enter the literary profession, +as there are for students of art and music—some +training is imperative; and if the would-be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> +writer is to go far, the training must be rigorous +and very comprehensive.</p> + +<p>But unlike most other businesses and professions, +the novice must train himself; he can look +for very little help from others.</p> + +<p>The art student gains information and experience +by working with others in a studio; it gives +him some common ground for comparisons; where +all are sketching from the same model, he is able +to see work that is better, and work that is worse, +than his own; and probably he is able to grasp +wherein the difference lies.</p> + +<p>The music student who is one of several to +remain in the room while each in turn has a +pianoforte lesson, hears the remarks of the professor +(possibly a prominent man in his own profession) +on each performance, and can learn a +large amount from the criticisms and corrections +bestowed on the others, quite apart from those +applying to her own playing.</p> + +<p>But for the would-be author there is no college +where the leading literary lights listen patiently, +for an hour or two at a stretch, while the students +read their stories and poems and articles aloud for +criticism and correction. Here and there ardent +amateurs form themselves into small literary coteries +for this purpose; but often these either<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> +develop into mutual admiration societies, or fizzle +out for lack of a guiding force.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Literature +is the most +Elusive Business +in the +World</div> + +<p>The difficulty with literature is this: It is the +most elusive business in the world. No one can +say precisely what constitutes good +literature, because, no matter how you +may classify and tabulate its characteristics, +some new genius is sure to +break out in a fresh place; and no one can lay +down a definite course of training that can be +relied on to meet even the average requirements +of the average case.</p> + +<p>You can set the instrumentalist to work at +scales and studies for technique; the dressmaker +can practise stitchery and the application of scientific +measurement; the art student can study the +laws governing perspective, balance of design, the +juxtaposition of colour, and a dozen other topics +relative to his art.</p> + +<p>And more than this, in most businesses (and I +include the professions) you can demonstrate to +the students, in a fairly convincing manner, when +their work is wrong. You can show the girl who +is learning dressmaking the difference between +large uneven stitches and small regular ones; the +undesirability of having a skirt two inches longer +at one side than it is at the other. You can indi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span>cate +to the art student when his subject is out of +drawing, or suggest a preferable choice of colours. +And though these points may only touch the +mechanical surface of things, they help the student +along the right road, and are invaluable aids to +him in his studies. True, such advice cannot make +good a lack of real genius, yet it may help to +develop nearly-genius, and that is not to be +despised.</p> + +<p>But with literature, there is so little that is +tangible, and so much that is intangible. Beyond +the bare laws that govern the construction of the +language, only a fraction of the knowledge that is +necessary can be stated in concrete terms for the +guidance of the student. And because it is +difficult to reduce the art of writing to any set +of rules, the amateur often regards it as the one +vocation that is entirely devoid of any constructive +principles; the one vocation wherein each can +do exactly as he pleases, and be a law unto +himself, no one being in a better position than +himself to say what is great and what is feeble, +since no one else can quote chapter and verse as +authority for making a pronouncement on the +merits—and more particularly the demerits—of +his work.</p> + +<p>And yet, nearly all the English-speaking race<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> +want to write. The craving for "self-expression" +is one of the characteristics of this century; and +what better medium is there for this than writing? +Hence the lure of the pen.</p> + +<p>It is partly because so many beginners do not +know where to turn for criticism, or an opportunity +to measure their work with that of others, +that some send their early, crude efforts to editors, +hoping to get, at least, some opinion or word of +guidance, even though the MS. be declined. Yet +this is what an editor cannot undertake to do. +Think what an amount of work would be involved +if I were to set down my reasons for declining +each of those eight thousand and more MSS. that +I turn down annually! It could not be done, in +addition to all the other claims on one's office +time.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Why the +MSS. are +Rejected</div> + +<p>But though life would be too short for any +editor to write even a brief criticism on each MS. +rejected, certain defects repeat themselves +so often that it is quite possible +to specify some outstanding faults—or +rather, qualities which are lacking—that lead +to the downfall of one MS. after another, with +the automatic persistency of recurring decimals.</p> + +<p>Speaking broadly, I generally find that the MS. +which is rejected because it has no marketable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> +value betrays one or more of the following deficiencies +in its author:—</p> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" summary=""> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Lack</td><td align='left'>of</td><td align='left'>any preliminary training.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='center'>"</td><td align='center'>"</td><td align='left'>specialised knowledge of the subject dealt with.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='center'>"</td><td align='center'>"</td><td align='left'>modernity of thought and diction.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='center'>"</td><td align='center'>"</td><td align='left'>the power to reduce thought to language.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='center'>"</td><td align='center'>"</td><td align='left'>cohesion and logical sequence of ideas.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='center'>"</td><td align='center'>"</td><td align='left'>ability to get the reader's view-point.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='center'>"</td><td align='center'>"</td><td align='left'>new and original ideas and themes.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='center'>"</td><td align='center'>"</td><td align='left'>the instinct for selection.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='center'>"</td><td align='center'>"</td><td align='left'>a sense of proportion.</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p>The majority of such defects can be remedied +with study and practice; and even though the final +result may not be a work of genius, it will be +something much more likely to be marketable than +the MS. that has neither knowledge nor training +behind it.</p> + +<hr style="width: 85%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span></p> +<h2>Three Essentials in Training</h2> + +<p>"How am I to set about training for literary +work?" is a question that is put +to me most days in the year.</p> + +<p>Training comes under three headings: Observation, +Reading, and Writing.</p> + +<p>The majority of beginners make the mistake of +putting writing first; but before you can commit +anything to paper, you must have something in +your head to write down. If you have but little +in your brain, your writing will be worthless.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">We get out +of Life +what we +put into it</div> + +<p>Just as a plant requires special fertilisers if it +is to develop fine blossoms and large fruit, so the +mind requires food of exceptional +nourishment if it is to produce something +out of the ordinary, something +worth reading.</p> + +<p>It is one of the great laws of Nature that, as a +general rule, we get out of life about what we +put into it. If a farmer wants bumper crops, he +must apply manure liberally to his land; if a man +wants big returns from his business, he must +devote much time and thought and energy to it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> +And in the same way, if you want good stuff to +come out of your head, you must first of all put +plenty of good stuff in.</p> + +<p>But—and this is very important—it is not supposed +to come out again in the same form that it +went in! This point beginners often forget. +When sweet peas are fed with sulphate of ammonia, +they don't promptly produce more sulphate +of ammonia; they utilise the chemical food to +promote much finer and altogether better flowers. +The same principle governs the application of +suitable nourishment to all forms of life—the +recipient retains its own personal characteristics, +but transmutes the food into the power to intensify, +enlarge, and develop those personal characteristics.</p> + +<p>In like manner, the food you give your mind +must be used to intensify and enlarge and develop +your individuality; and what you write must +reflect your individuality (not to be confused with +egoism); it should not be merely a paraphrase of +your reading.</p> + +<p>All this is to explain why I put observation and +reading before writing. They are the principal +channels through which the mind is fed. And, +in the main, the value of your early literary work +will be in direct ratio to the keenness and accuracy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> +of your observation, and the wisdom shown in +your choice of reading.</p> + +<p>You think this sounds like reducing writing to +a purely mechanical process, in which genius does +not count?</p> + +<p>Not at all. It is merely that the initial stages +of training for any work involve a certain amount +of routine and repetition, until we have acquired +facility in expressing our ideas.</p> + +<p>In any case, very few of us are suffering from +real genius. Ability, talent, cleverness, are fairly +common; but genius is rare. If you possess genius, +you will discover it quite soon, and, what is more +important, other people will likewise discover it. +As some one has said, "Genius, like murder, <i>will</i> +out!" You can't hide it.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, it will save time and argument to +pretend that you are just an ordinary being like +the rest of us, with everything to learn; you will +progress more rapidly on these lines than if you +spend time contemplating, and admiring, what +you think is a Heaven-sent endowment that requires +no shaping.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style="width: 85%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p> +<h3><a name="PART_TWO" id="PART_TWO"></a>PART TWO</h3> + +<h3>ON KEEPING YOUR EYES OPEN</h3> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span></p> +<p class="blockquot">One of the drawbacks of an Advanced Civilisation is +the fact that it tends to lessen the power of Observation.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 85%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></p> +<h2>A Course in Observation</h2> + + +<p>Begin your observation course by noting +anything and everything likely to have +a bearing on the subject of your writing, +and jot down your observations in the briefest of +notes. No matter if it seem a trifling thing, in +the early part of your training it will be well +worth your while to record even the trifles, since +this all helps to develop and focus the faculty for +observation.</p> + +<p>One of the drawbacks of an advanced civilisation +is the fact that it tends to lessen the power +of observation. The average person in this twentieth +century sees next to nothing of the detail of +life. We have no longer the need to cultivate +observation for self-protection and food-finding as +in primitive times. Everything is done for us by +pressing a button or putting a penny in the slot, +till it is fast becoming too much of an effort for +us even to look (or it was, before the War); and +the ability to look—and to see when we look—is, +consequently, disappearing through disuse.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span></p> + +<p>You will be surprised how much there is in this +practice of observation, once you get started.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Study +Human +Characteristics</div> + +<p>For example: If you intend to write a story, +you will need to study the various types of people +figuring therein; the distinguishing +characteristics, the method of speaking, +and the mental attitude of each.</p> + +<p>The amateur invariably states the +colour of a girl's eyes and hair, and the tint of her +complexion, with some sentences about her social +standing and her clothes, and then considers her +fully equipped for her part in the piece. Whereas, +in reality, these items are of no importance so far +as a story goes. We really do not mind whether +Dinah, in <i>Adam Bede</i>, had violet eyes or grey-green; +it is the soul of the woman that counts. +Neither do we trouble whether Portia wore a well-tailored +coat and skirt, or a simple muslin frock +lavishly trimmed with Valenciennes; it is her +ready wit, her resourcefulness, and her deep-lying +affection that interest us.</p> + +<p>Next in importance to the human beings are +the circumstances involved.</p> + +<p>Does your heroine decide to leave her millionaire-father's +palatial home and hide her identity +in slum-work and a room in a tenement?</p> + +<p>You will have to do a fair amount of first-hand<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> +observation to get the details and general "atmosphere" +appertaining to a millionaire's residence +and mode of living, and contrast these with the +conditions that represent life in the squalid quarters +of a city.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Environment +and +Circumstances +offer Wide +Scope</div> + +<p>Perhaps you will tell me that it is impossible +for you to make these observations, as you do not +know your way about any real slum, +or you are not on visiting terms with and +any millionaire. That raises another +important question that I hope to deal +with later, when we come to the subject +of story-writing. Here I can only say, Don't +attempt to write upon topics you are unable to +study at near range.</p> + +<p>After all, there are unlimited subjects that are +close to everybody's hand. You may be including +a dog in your story. Is he to be a <i>real</i> dog, or that +dear, faithful old creature, who has been leading an +active life (in fiction) for a century or more, rescuing +the heir when he tumbles in a pond; apprising +the sleeping family upstairs of the fact that the +clothes-horse by the kitchen fire has caught alight; +tracking the burglar to his lair; re-uniting fallen-out +lovers by sitting up beseechingly on his hind +legs, and in a hundred other ways making himself +generally useful?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span></p> + +<p>I am fond of dogs, and I never grudge them +literary honours; but I sometimes wish we could +get a change of descriptive matter where they are +concerned. What are <i>you</i> proposing to say about +the dog? "He ran joyfully to meet his master, +wagging his tail the while"? Something like +that? I shouldn't wonder. That is the beginning +and the end of so many amateur descriptions of a +dog; and, judging by the number of times I have +read these words, his poor tail must be nearly +wagged off by now.</p> + +<p>Instead of being content with this, start making +careful observations, and you will soon have something +else to write about. Notice how a dog talks—with +his ears; he can tell you almost anything, +once you learn to read his ears. And when you +have noted all the points you can in this direction, +and mastered this part of his language, see what +you can learn from his walk; you can estimate +a dog's temper and feelings, his sorrow, his joy, +and the state of his health, by noticing the variations +in his walk. Why, any one dog can provide +you with a book full of observations.</p> + +<p>You may say, however, that as your story is to +be a short one, you could never use up a book full +of observations if you had them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span></p> + +<div class="sidenote">You need a +Score of +Facts in +your Head +for each +one you +put on +Paper</div> + +<p>Very likely; but always remember that you need +to have a score of facts in your head for every one +you put down on paper. You must +be thoroughly saturated with a subject +before you can write even a brief +description in a telling and convincing +manner. Therefore, never be +afraid of making too many notes in your observation-book.</p> + +<p>Many of these entries you will never refer to +again; the very act of writing them down will so +impress them on your memory that they become a +matter-of-course to you. This in itself is valuable +training; it is one of the processes by which a +person may become "well-informed"—an essential +qualification for a good writer.</p> + +<p>While over-elaboration of detail in your writing +is seldom desirable, apart from a text-book or a +treatise, knowledge of detail is imperative if that +writing is to conjure up situations in the reader's +mind and make them seem vividly real. In +describing scenery, for instance, you do not need +to give the name of every bit of vegetation in +sight, till your MS. looks like a botanical dictionary; +but it is useful to know those names, you +may require some of them; and until your work<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> +is actually shaping, you cannot tell exactly what +you will use and what omit.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Keen +Observation +will save +you from +Pitfalls</div> + +<p>The habit of keen observation will save you +from a legion of pitfalls. The more you train +your eyes to see, and your mind to +retain what you have seen, the less +chance there is of your putting down +inaccuracies.</p> + +<p>I have been reading a MS. wherein the heroine—a +beautiful girl with a face like a haunting +memory (whatever that may look like)—spent a +whole afternoon lying full-length on the grass, +the first sunny day in February, revelling in the +scent of violets near by, and watching the swallows +skimming above her. If the writer had no +opportunity to observe the comings and goings of +swallows, she might at least have turned up an +encyclopædia, when she would have found that +swallows do not arrive in England till well on +into April.</p> + +<p>Then, after 249 more pages, the beautiful girl +finally died of a broken heart—obviously absurd! +In real life she would have died on the very next +page of rheumatic fever and double pneumonia, +after lying on the wet grass all that time!</p> + +<p>Frequently, when I point out similar errors to +the novice, I get some such reply as this, "Of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> +course, that reference to swallows was only a slip +of the pen"; or, "After all, it is merely a minor +point whether she lay on the grass or walked along +the road; it doesn't really affect the story as a +whole."</p> + +<p>True, such discrepancies may be only minor +details; but, on the other hand, they may not. I +have noticed, however, that the writer who is +inaccurate on small points is equally liable to +inaccuracy where the main features of the story +are concerned; and the writer who does not know +enough about his subject to get his details right +seldom knows enough about it to get any of it +right.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 85%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="The_Assessment_of_Spiritual" id="The_Assessment_of_Spiritual"></a>The Assessment of Spiritual +Values</h2> + + +<p>There is one aspect of life that can only +be learnt by observation; a phase of +your training where books and lectures +can be of but little assistance to you. Important +as it is that you should note the material things +relating to your subject, it is still more important +that you should train yourself to note the psychological +bearings and the spiritual values of life, +since these are often of far more vital consequence +to a story than the plot.</p> + +<p>By "spiritual values" I do not necessarily mean +anything of a directly religious quality. I use the +term to signify the revelation of mind and heart +and soul of the various characters that a writer +presents, as distinct from a catalogue of externals; +the reading of motives, and the recognition of the +forces that are within us, as distinguished from +the chronicling of superficial items.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Unseen +that Counts</div> + +<p>So often in the world of men and women around +us it is the unseen that counts. Just below the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>surface life is teeming with motives and aims and +ideals and personality; with problems that involve +mixed feelings, and produce paradox +and misjudgment, and apparently irreconcilable +qualities. These may show scarcely +a ripple on the outside, and yet be the real factors +that are shaping lives, and influencing the world +for better or for worse, and, incidentally, affecting +the whole trend of a story.</p> + +<p>To gauge these abstract qualities and their consequences +accurately is the biggest task of the +writer; and according to the amount of such +insight that he brings to bear on his subject, will +be the durability of his work, since this alone is +the part that lives. Fashions and furniture, +scenery and architecture, maps and dynasties, laws +and customs, even language and the meaning of +words, all change; and the older grows the world, +the more rapid are the changes. The only things +that remain unaltered are the laws of Nature and +the longings of the soul. Hence the only writings +that last beyond the changing fashions of the +moment are those that centralise on these fundamental +things, giving secondary place to ephemeral +details.</p> + +<p>If you want your work to live, it is useless to +make the main interest centre in something that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> +will be out-of-date and passed beyond human +memory within a very little while.</p> + +<p>This insight as to the subtleties of life is the +quality that gives vitality to your writing. Without +it your characters will be no more alive than +a wax figure in a draper's window, no matter how +handsomely you may clothe them in descriptive +matter. Have you ever read a story wherein the +heroine seemed about as real and alive as a saw-dust-stuffed +doll, and the hero had as much "go" +in him as a wooden horse? I have, alas! thousands +of them! And the reason for the lifelessness +was the lack in the author of all sense of "spiritual +values."</p> + +<p>A knowledge of the inner workings of the mind +and heart and soul can only be acquired by close +and constant observation. You may remember +in <i>Julius Cæsar</i>, where Cæsar tells Antonio that if +he were liable to fear, the man he should avoid +would be Cassius; he describes him thus: "He is +a great observer, and he looks quite through the +deeds of men." It is just this power that the +writer needs—the ability to look past the actions +themselves to the motives that prompted them.</p> + +<p>It is so easy to record the obvious. What we +need to look for is the truth that is not obvious. +For instance, at first sight it may seem quite easy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> +for us to decide why a person did a certain thing. +A woman makes an irritable remark. Why did +she make that irritable remark? Bad temper! +we promptly reply. But perhaps it wasn't bad +temper; it may have been due to ill-health—a +bad tooth can generate as much irritability in half +an hour as the worse temper going. Or it may +have been caused by insomnia; or by nerves +strained to the breaking-point with trouble and +anxiety. Or the speaker may have been vexed +with herself for some action of her own, and her +vexation found vent in this way.</p> + +<p>If you were writing a story, the cause of her +irritability might be an important link in the chain +of events. And in scores of other directions, the +cause of an action might be infinitely more important +in the working out of your plot than the +action itself.</p> + +<p>Moreover, if you want your work to appeal +to a wide and varied audience, you must take +as your main theme something that is understood +by all conditions of people; something that makes +a universal appeal. That is why the greatest +writers make the human heart the pivot of their +stories, as a rule. Readers are primarily interested +in the doings of, and the happenings to, certain +people; and very particularly the motives that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> +led up to the doings and happenings, and the +reasons why certain things were said and done, +and the psychological results of the sayings and +doings.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Main +Theme +should +make a +Universal +Appeal</div> + +<p>In the main, it is not of paramount importance +to you, when you are engrossed in a story, whether +the scene is laid in Japan among +decaying Buddhist temples, or in a +Devonshire village. It is the personality +of the characters, their sorrows +and joys, their struggles and love +affairs, and the solution of their human problems +that make the chief claim on your interest. Certainly, +the scenery and "local colour" and inanimate +surroundings may influence you favourably +or otherwise—backgrounds and the general "setting" +of a story are valuable, more valuable than +the amateur realises; nevertheless, they are not the +main features, and should never be made the main +features in fiction.</p> + +<p>Once you grasp the importance of the +"spiritual values," in life itself no less than in +writing, you will understand why it is that some +books survive centuries of change and social +upheaval, and appeal to all sorts and conditions of +temperaments. When we study Shakespeare at +school, we invariably wonder in our secret heart<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> +(even though we daren't voice such heresy!) what +on earth people can see in him. To our immature +intelligence he can be dulness itself, while his +style seems long-winded, and many of his plots +appear most feeble affairs beside our favourite +books of adventure. We are not sufficiently developed +and experienced in our school days to be +able to understand and appreciate his greatness, +which lies in his amazing knowledge of the human +heart and his grasp of "spiritual values."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Life is ever +offering +New +Discoveries</div> + +<p>One of the fascinating things about life is the +way it is for ever offering us new discoveries. We +never need get to the end of anything. +There are always heights beyond +heights, depths below depths, further +recesses to penetrate, fresh things to find out. And +nowhere is this more clearly demonstrated than +when we come to the study of human nature itself. +The writer who strives to depict men and women +as they really are is always coming on new surprises; +he never arrives at the end of his observations. +And he soon realises how infinitely more +important are the subtle workings of the heart and +mind than all the material things that crowd the +outside surface of life.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">To write +convincingly +one needs +Sympathy</div> + +<p>To be able to write convincingly about people, +we must know them; to know them we must live +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>among them, and sympathise with them—for +there is no other way to know and understand the +human heart. It is very easy to ridicule +people's weakness, and make +cheap sarcasm over their failings; but +it is useless to make your observations with a +cynic's smile. The cynic really gets nowhere; he +merely robs life of much of its beauty, giving +nothing in its place.</p> + +<p>To write about people so that we grip the hearts +of all who read, it is necessary to look beyond the +superficial weaknesses, and below the temporary +failings, to that part of humanity that still bears +the image of the Divine Creator. And you need +sympathy to accomplish this.</p> + +<p>Would-be authors often tell me that they are +sick of their everyday routine—office work, teaching, +nursing, home duties, or whatever it may be—and +long to throw it all up so that they may +devote all their time to writing.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">To know +People, we +must Live +and Work +among +them</div> + +<p>But you cannot devote all of your time to +writing! The beginner never understands this. +A great deal of an author's time is +taken up with the study of people, +and a general quest for material for +his books.</p> + +<p>While you are in the early stages<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> +of your writing, it is absolutely necessary for you +that you should be doing some sort of other work +in company with your fellow-creatures, and experiencing +the ordinary routine of life, else how +can you possibly get your writing properly balanced +and true to life?</p> + +<p>If you try to isolate yourself from the everyday +happenings of normal existence, avoiding the tiresome +duties and the irksome routine, merely keeping +your eyes on your MS., or on yourself, or on +only the things that appeal to you, how can you +ever expect your work to be in right perspective? +Under such conditions what you write would be +bound to give an incomplete, incorrect view of +life, one-sided, and out of all proper proportion, +and—the result could be nothing but a dire +failure.</p> + +<p>Stay where you are, and make your corner of +the universe your special study.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">How much +do you +Know of +those who +are Nearest +to You?</div> + +<p>Perhaps you think you know everything that is +to be known about people around you. But do +you, I wonder? Do they know everything +about you—your ideals and +inner struggles, and aims and aspirations?</p> + +<p>I doubt it.</p> + +<p>Experience shows that very often the people<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> +we know least of all are those with whom we come +into daily contact. We take them for granted. We +do not even trouble to try to understand them. +That they should have doubts and difficulties, +heart-aches and hopes and high aspirations, even +as we have, sometimes comes as a surprise to us.</p> + +<p>Begin your observations just where you are now. +See if you can find the glint of gold that is always +somewhere below the surface in every human +being, if we can but strike the right place. Try +to sort out the reasons and the motives that are +thick in the air around you. See if you can discern +another side to a person's character than the one +you have always accepted as a matter of course.</p> + +<p>And write down your discoveries and your observations. +You will need them later on.</p> + +<p>Here, then, is the first step in training yourself +for authorship. It is only one step, I admit; but +you will find it can be made to cover a good deal +of ground.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 85%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span></p> +<h3><a name="PART_THREE" id="PART_THREE"></a>PART THREE</h3> + +<h3>THE HELP THAT BOOKS CAN GIVE</h3> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span></p> + +<p class="blockquot">Steady, quiet, consecutive reading is necessary if we +are to do steady quiet, consecutive thinking; and, without +such thinking, it is impossible for writers to produce +anything worth while.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 85%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="The_Bane_of_Browsing" id="The_Bane_of_Browsing"></a>The Bane of "Browsing"</h2> + + +<p>While a wide range of reading, and a +general all-round knowledge of standard +literature are essential, if you +hope to become a writer, there are three directions +in which you can specialise with great advantage—reading +for definite data, reading for style, and +reading for the study of technique, <i>i.e.</i> to find out +how the author does it.</p> + +<p>With such matters as reading for recreation we +have nothing to do here. Training for authorship +means work, regular work, stiff mental work.</p> + +<p>Some amateurs seem to think that a course of +desultory dipping into books is a guarantee of +literary efficiency, or an indication of literary +ability.</p> + +<p>"I am never so happy as when I am curled up +in an armchair surrounded by books"; or "I do so +love to browse among books," girls will tell me, +when they are asking if I can find them a post in +my office, or on the staff of one of my magazines.</p> + +<p>It is so difficult for the uninitiated to under<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>stand +that the business of writing and making +books is one that entails as much close, monotonous +work as any other business; and the mere fact +that any one spends a certain amount of time in +reading a bit here and a bit there, picking up a +book for a half-hour's entertainment and throwing +it down the minute it ceases to stimulate the +curiosity, is no more preparation for literary work +than an occasional tinkling at a piano, trying a +few bars here and there of chance compositions, +would be any preparation for giving a pianoforte +recital or composing a sonata.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Nature's +Revenge +for the +Misuse of +the Brain</div> + +<p>I have nothing to say against dipping into books +as a recreation—refreshing one's memory among +old friends, or looking for happy discoveries +in new-comers—I have +passed hosts of pleasant half-hours +in this way myself when my brain was +too tired to work, and I wanted relaxation. But +such reading is not work; neither is it training in +any sort of sense—it is merely a pastime; and, as +such, must only be taken in moderation. It should +be the exception, not a habit.</p> + +<p>If you allow yourself to get into this way of +haphazard reading, in time you lose the ability to +do any consecutive reading, and, as a natural +consequence, it would be utterly impossible for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> +you to do any consecutive thinking,—an essential +for connected writing.</p> + +<p>The reason for this is quite clear, if you think +it over. When you persistently skim a legion of +books, or dip into them casually, and live mentally +on a diet of snippets—a form of reading that has +been the vogue of late years—you are giving +yourself mental indigestion that is wonderfully +akin to the indigestion that would follow a food +diet on similar lines. If your meals always consisted +of snacks taken at all sorts of odd times—fried +fish followed by rich chocolates, with a +nibble at a mince tart, a few spoonfuls of preserved +ginger, a trifle of roast duck, some macaroni +cheese, a little salmon and cucumber, some grouse, +oyster patties, and ice-cream on top of that—your +stomach wouldn't know what to do with it all, +and—— I need say no more about it!</p> + +<p>In the same way, when you read first one thing +and then another, piling poems on love scenes, +then adding a motley, disconnected selection of +scraps of information (of doubtful use in most +cases) with sensational episodes and pessimistic +outpourings, irrespective of any sort of sequence +or logical connection, your mind doesn't know +what to do with the conglomeration; for no sooner +has your thinking machine set one series of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> +thoughts in motion, than it has to switch off that +current and start on something else. Eventually +the brain gives up the struggle; the thoughts cease +to work; you lose the power to remember—much +less to assimilate—what you read.</p> + +<p>In the end, you can't read! Nature is bound +to take this course in sheer self-defence; the only +alternative would be lunacy!</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Why so +many +want +Books that +Shriek</div> + +<p>You can see all this exemplified, pitifully, in +the present day. With the great rush of cheap +books (and still cheaper education) +that flooded the country at the beginning +of this century, the masses +simply gorged themselves with indiscriminate +reading-matter—of a sort, (and so did +many who ought to have known better). Gradually +they lost the taste for straight-forward +simple stories of human life as it really is; things +had to be blood-curdling and highly sensational. +The type of reading-matter that had formerly +been associated solely with the "dime novel" and +depraved youths of the criminal class, found its +way into all sorts and conditions of bindings, and +all sorts and conditions of homes. People's minds +were getting so blunted that they simply could +not follow anything unless it was punctuated with +lurid lights; they could not grasp anything unless<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> +it was crude and bizarre and monstrous; they +could not hear anything of the Still Small Voice +that is the essence of all beauty in literature, art +or nature. Everything had to be in shouts and +shrieks to arrest their attention.</p> + +<p>Finally, the masses lost the power to read at +all, and we are now living in an age when everything +must be presented in the most obvious +medium—pictures. Few people can concentrate +on reading even the day's news—it has to be given +in pictures. The picture-palace and the music-hall +<i>revue</i> (which is another form of spectacular +entertainment) stand for the mental stimulus +that is the utmost a large bulk of the population +are equal to to-day.</p> + +<p>We delude ourselves by saying that we live in +such a busy age, we have not <i>time</i> to read. But +it is not our lack of time so much as our lack of +brain power that is the trouble; and that brain +power has been dissipated, primarily, by over-indulgence +in desultory reading that was valueless.</p> + +<p>All this is to explain why a course of indiscriminate +"browsing" is no recommendation for the +one who wishes to take up literary work. Steady, +quiet, consecutive reading is necessary if we are +to do steady, quiet, consecutive thinking; and,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> +without such thinking, it is impossible to write +anything worth whiles.</p> + +<p>Let your reading extend over a wide range, +certainly—the wider the better, so long as you +can cover the ground thoroughly—for an author +should be well-read. But take care that you do +<i>read</i>; don't mistake "nibbling" for reading. Far +better know but one poem of Browning thoroughly +and understandingly, than have on your shelves a +complete set of his works into which you dip at +random, when the mood seizes you, with no clear +idea as to what any of it is about.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 85%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Reading_for_Definite_Data" id="Reading_for_Definite_Data"></a>Reading for Definite Data</h2> + + +<p>Turning from reading in general to the +specialised reading I have suggested—the +first heading explains itself. Many +subjects that you write upon will require a certain +amount of preliminary reading—some a great deal—in +order that you may accumulate facts, or get +the details of climate and scenery correct, or the +mode of life prevalent at a specified time.</p> + +<p>Such a book as Mrs. Florence Barclay's novel, +<i>The White Ladies of Worcester</i>—with the scene +laid in the twelfth century—must have necessitated +a great deal of research among the historical +and church records of that era, and the +reading of books bearing on that period, in order +to get all the details accurate, and to conjure up +as convincingly as the author has done, an all-pervading +feeling of the spirit of those times.</p> + +<p>All stories dealing with a bygone period require +much preliminary reading, in order that one may +become imbued with the spirit of that particular +age, as well as familiarised with its manners and +customs and mode of speech.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span></p> + +<p>Most amateurs seem to think that a plentiful +sprinkling of expletives about the pages, with the +introduction of a few historic names and events, +are sufficient to produce the required old-world +atmosphere. I could not possibly count the number +of MSS. I have read where the rival suitor +for the hand of "Mistress Joan" says "Gadsook" +in every other sentence, while the estimable young +man who, like her father, is loyal to the king, is +hidden away in the secret-panel room.</p> + +<p>But tricks such as these do not give the story an +authentic atmosphere. You can only get this by +systematic study of the literature relating to the +period.</p> + +<p>And others, besides novelists, find it advantageous +to study historical records. I remember when +Mr. William Canton (the author of those charming +studies of child life, <i>W. V.</i>, <i>Her Book</i>, and +<i>The Invisible Playmate</i>) was engaged on the big +history of the British and Foreign Bible Society, +and was writing the account of the Society's Bible +work in Italy, not only did he read all their +official reports, and the correspondence bearing on +the subject, but, in order to get the work in its +right perspective as regards the events of the +times, he re-read Italian history for the period he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> +was dealing with. Thus he enabled himself to +gauge much more comprehensively the significance +of the Bible Society's work in that country when +viewed in relation to national happenings, public +thought, and the attitude of mind of the Italian +people.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Preliminary Reading helps you to judge the Worth of your Information</div> + +<p>The writer of articles or books on general +subjects (as distinct from fiction) must obviously +do a good deal of research. And such +reading for definite information has +one value that is not always recognised +by the amateur—it may let him +know whether it is worth while to +write the article at all!</p> + +<p>Suppose, for example, that you have decided +to write an article on "The Evolution of the +Chimney-Pot." It is a foregone conclusion that +you think you have a certain amount of exclusive +information in your own head about chimney-pots, +else there would be no call for you to write +on this subject, since the public does not want +articles containing nothing more than what has +been published already.</p> + +<p>You have collected some facts and information +about chimney-pots, however, that you think are +interesting and quite new. So far, good. Nevertheless, +you will be wise to ascertain what has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> +already been written on the subject; it may throw +fresh light on your own gleanings.</p> + +<p>First, you will probably look up the subject in +a good encyclopædia—failing one of your own, +consult one at a public library. If there is anything +at all under this heading, it is just possible +there may be cross-references that will be useful, +and allusions to other works on the subject, which +it would be well for you to get hold of if you can. +Then you will also remember that Ruskin has +written "A Chapter on Chimneys" in his <i>Poetry +of Architecture</i>, with some delightful illustrations. +And in the course of your explorations, some one +may be able to direct you to other works on the +subject, one book so often leads on to another. +In this way you find you are absorbing quite a +large amount of interesting information.</p> + +<p>Yet presently you may make the very important +discovery that what you were intending to +say has already been said by others, and possibly +said in a better and more authoritative manner +than you could pretend to at present!</p> + +<p>On the other hand, you may still consider that +you have exclusive information; in that case do +your best with it, and you will find your reading +has given you a quickened interest and wider +grasp of your subject. But if, in absolute honesty<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> +to yourself, you know you have nothing new to +contribute to the information that has already +been published, then do not attempt to offer your +article for publication. Write it up, by all means, +as a journalistic exercise for your own improvement; +it will be helpful if you try how far you +can seize, and sum up concisely, the important +points that you came across in your various readings +on the subject. <i>But don't attempt to pass +off writing of this description as original matter.</i> +Such methods never get you far.</p> + +<p>Even though the Editor may not have studied +chimney-pots in detail, and does not recognise +that your "copy" is practically a <i>réchauffé</i> of +other people's writings, some of the readers will +know that it contains nothing original, and will +lose no time in telling him so. There is one +cheery thing about the public, no matter how busy +it may be with its own personal affairs, and preoccupied +with a war, or labour troubles, a Presidential +election, or little trifles like that, it most +faithfully keeps an Editor informed if anything +printed in his pages does not meet with its entire +approval!</p> + +<p>And when an Editor finds he has been taken +in with stale material, he naturally marks that +contributor for future remembrance.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span></p> + +<p>It is well to bear in mind that one of the most +valuable assets in a writer's outfit is a reputation +for absolute reliability. Smart practice, trickery, +clever dodges, may get a hearing once, even twice—but +they have no future whatever.</p> + +<p>Let it become a recognised thing that whatever +you offer for publication is new matter resulting +from your own personal knowledge and investigation, +and matter that is sure to interest a section +of the general public; that you have verified every +detail, and have ascertained, to the best of your +ability, that the subject has not been dealt with +in this particular way before;—then you are sure +of a place somewhere in a mild atmosphere, if +not actually in the sun!</p> + +<p>Also, common sense should tell you that you +are checking the development of your own ability, +when you let yourself down (no less than the +publisher) by trying to pass off other people's +brain-work as your own. It doesn't pay either +way.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 85%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Reading_for_Style" id="Reading_for_Style"></a>Reading for Style</h2> + + +<p>Reading for the improvement of style +will involve various types of literature. +In order to know what you +should read, you need to know in +which particular direction you are weakest. In +the main, however, I find that all amateurs require +to cultivate—</p> + +<p>1. A simple, clear, direct mode of expression.</p> + +<p>2. Modern language and idiom—in the best +sense.</p> + +<p>3. A wide vocabulary.</p> + +<p>4. An ear for musical, rhythmic sentences.</p> + +<p class="noin">And equally they need to avoid—</p> + +<p>1. Other people's mannerisms.</p> + +<p>2. Long paragraphs and involved sentences.</p> + +<p>3. Pedantry and a display of personal learning.</p> + +<p>4. Hackneyed phrases.</p> + +<p>5. Modern slang.</p> + +<p>You may not be able to detect any corresponding +weaknesses in your own writings; but, if you +have had no special training in literary work, I +can safely assure you they are there—some of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> +them, possibly all of them! In any case, no +particular harm will result if you assume that +your writing will stand a little improvement +under each of these headings, and start to work +accordingly.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The +Beginner +Seldom +uses Simple, +Modern +English</div> + +<p>In the first chapter I mentioned a lack of +modernity in style as a frequent defect in the +MSS. declined by publishers; unless +you handled stories and articles all +day long as an editor does you +would never credit how widespread +is the failing.</p> + +<p>It is a curious fact that only a very small proportion +of people can write as they actually +speak; those who do so usually belong to the +poorest of the uneducated classes, or they are +experienced literary craftsmen.</p> + +<p>The large majority of people are so self-conscious +when they take pen in hand to write a +story or an article, that they cannot be natural. +They do not realise that they should write as +ordinary human beings; they invariably feel they +should write as famous authors; and they +promptly drop the language they use as ordinary +human beings in every-day life, and adopt an +artificial, stilted style which they seem to think +the correct thing for an author.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span></p> + +<p>And this artificial phraseology is invariably +archaic or Early Victorian, because the books +people see labelled "good literature" or "the +classics" are chiefly by dead-and-gone writers, +who wrote in a style that sometimes sounds old-fashioned +in these days, even though their English +was excellent.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Every +Generation +shows +Special +Characteristics +of +Speech</div> + +<p>Our mode of speech and of writing in this +twentieth century is not precisely that of Shakespeare +or Milton, even though the +fundamentals are the same. We live +in a nervous, hurrying age, and our +language is more nervous, more terse +than it was even twenty years ago. +We "speed up" our sentences, just as +we "speed up" our stories and our articles. We +have not time for lengthy introductions that +arrive nowhere, and for ornate perorations that +are superfluous. "Labour-saving" and "conservation +of energy" are prominent watchwords of this +present age, and are being applied to our language +no less than to our work.</p> + +<p>In order to get through all we must get through +in a day (or, at any rate, all that we imagine we +must get through!) it has become an unwritten +law that the same thing must not be done twice +over; more than this, we try to find the shortest<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> +cut to everywhere. As one result, we do not use +two words where one will suffice; only the undisciplined, +untrained mind employs a string of +adjectives where one will convey the same idea, +or repeats practically the same thing several times +in succession.</p> + +<p>Of course, all this curtailment can be—and +often is—carried to excess, till only a few essential +words are left in a sentence, and these are +clipped of half their syllables; we find much of +this in the newspapers and the periodicals of an +inferior class. And it could be pushed so far, till +at length we got to communicate with one another +by nothing more than a series of grunts and snaps +and snarls!</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Modernity +of Style is +Desirable</div> + +<p>But I am not dealing with the forms of speech +used by the illiterate or the half-educated; I am +referring to the language used by the +most intelligent of the educated +classes, and I want the amateur to +remember that this is not necessarily the language +of Shakespeare, even though the same words be +employed. There is a subtle difference in the +placement of words, in the turn of phrases, in +the strength and even the meaning of words, in +the shaping of sentences, and that difference is +what, for want of a better word, I term "mod<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>ernity," +and it is a quality that the amateur +requires to cultivate.</p> + +<p>This lack of modernity is noticeable in amateurs +of all types. It is a marked feature in the writings +of teachers and those who have had a university +education, or purely academic training; and +equally it is conspicuous in the MSS. of the one +who leads a very quiet, retired existence, or has a +restricted view of life.</p> + +<p>At first sight it may seem strange to the 'varsity +girl, who considers herself the last word in modernity, +that I classify her early literary attempts +with those of a middle-aged invalid, let us say, +who knows very little of the world at large.</p> + +<p>But those who concentrate exclusively on one +idea, or have their outlook narrowed to one particular +groove—whether that groove be church-work, +or housekeeping, or hockey, or reading for +a degree—drop into an antiquated mode of expression, +as a rule, the moment they start to write +anything apart from a letter to an intimate. The +rôle of author looms large before them. The +mind instantly suggests the style of those authors +they have been in the habit of reading—and more +particularly those they would like other people to +think they were in the habit of reading—the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> +books that are accepted classics, and, consequently, +must be beyond all question.</p> + +<p>It matters not whether amateurs are shaping +themselves according to Cowper and Miss Edgeworth, +or striving to live up to the Elizabethan +giants, they arrive at an old-fashioned style for +which there is no more call in the world of to-day +than there is for a crinoline or a Roman toga. +And this, despite the greatness of their models.</p> + +<p>Here are a few sentences taken at random from +the pile of MSS. waiting attention here in my +office:—</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Instances of +Antiquated +Expressions</div> + +<p>"Let us ponder awhile at the shrine +of Nature." This is from an article +on "A Country Walk," written by a High School +teacher. Now, would she have said that, personally, +either to a friend or to a class, if they +were going out for a country walk? Of course +not! You see at once how antiquated and stilted +it is when you subject it to the test of natural, +present-day requirements.</p> + +<p>In another MS. I read, "King Sol was seeking +his couch in the west." Why not have said, +"The sun was setting"?</p> + +<p>"He was her senior by some two summers," +writes a would-be novelist, in describing hero and +heroine. Why "some" two summers, I wonder?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> +And would it not be more straightforward to say, +"He was two years older than she"?</p> + +<p>"They were of respectable parentage, though +poor and hard-working withal." Needless to say +this occurs in a story of rustic life. Why is it that +the amateur so often describes the cottager in this +"poor but pious" strain?</p> + +<p>"We saw ahead of us her home—to wit, a rose-grown, +yellow-washed cottage." And a very +pretty home it was, no doubt; but why spoil it +by the introduction of "to wit"?</p> + +<p>"He was indeed a meet lover for such an up-to-date +girl." The word "meet" is not merely +antiquated and unsuited to a story of present-day +life; it seems particularly out of place when used +in close connection with so modern a term as "up-to-date." +The two expressions are centuries +apart, and both should not have been included in +the same sentence.</p> + +<p>One MS. says, "I would fain tell you of the +devious ways in which the poor girl strove to earn +an honest livelihood and keep penury at bay; but, +alas! dear reader, space does not avail." On the +whole, one is thankful that it didn't avail, all +things considered!</p> + +<p>In a letter accompanying another MS. the +author explains, "You won't find any slang in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> +<i>my</i> writing. I revel in the rich sonority of the +English language." That is all right; but some +people confuse "rich sonority" with artificiality. +A word may be richness itself if rightly applied, +but if used in a wrong connection, or employed in +an affected or unnatural manner, it will lose all +its richness and become merely old-fashioned, or +else absurd.</p> + +<p>I have not the space to spare for further instances, +but I notice one phrase that is curiously +popular with the beginner, who frequently lets +you know the name of some character in these +words, "Mary Jones, for such was her name——" +etc. I cannot understand what is the charm of +that expression, "for such was her name"; but it +is one of the amateurs' many stand-bys.</p> + +<p>Common sense will tell you that the surest way +to gain a good modern style is to read good +modern stuff.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">And now +for a +Remedy</div> + +<p>Begin with a special study of the +Editorials in the best type of newspapers. +This is reading that I strongly advocate +for the amateur in order to counteract archaic +tendencies; though I wish emphatically to point +out that by the "Leading Articles" I do not mean +the average "Woman's Gossip," or whatever other +name is given to the column of inanities that is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> +devoted to feminine topics; for in some newspapers +this is about as futile and feeble, and as +badly written as it is possible for a newspaper +column to be.</p> + +<p>Unfortunately, the average person does not +read the best part of the newspaper. He, and +more particularly she, reads the headlines, skims +the news, and runs the eye over anything that +specially appeals, looks down the Births, Marriages +and Deaths, and not much more. But this +will not improve anyone's English.</p> + +<p>Take a paper like the <i>Spectator</i>. Here you +have modern journalistic writing at its best. Read +the Leading Articles carefully each week. Read +also the paragraphs summarising the news on the +opening pages.</p> + +<p>Read aloud, if you can; this will help to +impress phrases and sentences on your mind. +Observe how clear and concise and straightforward +is the style. Of course, the articles will +vary; they are not all written by the same pen; +but those that follow immediately after the news +paragraphs are always worth the student's attention. +You will notice that the writer has something +definite to say, and he says it plainly, in a +way that is instantly understood. The words +used will be to the point; there will be a good<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> +choice of language, yet never an unnecessary +piling on of words. You may, or may not, agree +with everything that is said; but that is not of +paramount importance at the moment, as in this +case you are reading in order to acquire a clear, +easy style of writing rather than to gain special +information. Nevertheless, you will be enlarging +your mental outlook considerably.</p> + +<p>In the same way, study the Editorials in any of +the daily or weekly papers of high standing and +reputation, avoiding the papers of the "sensational +snippet" order. You will soon get to recognise +whether the style is good or poor.</p> + +<p>The <i>British Weekly</i> (London) is celebrated for +its literary quality. It will be a gain if you read +regularly the article on the front page, and "The +Correspondence of Claudius Clear," which is a +feature every week.</p> + +<p>This is to start you on a course of reading that +will give modernity to your style, and help to rid +you of the antiquated expressions and mannerisms +that are so noticeable in amateur work.</p> + +<p>Mere "newspaper reading" may seem to you +a disappointing beginning to the programme. +"The newspaper is read by everybody every day," +you may tell me, "and what has it done for their +style?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span></p> + +<p>But I am not advocating that type of "newspaper +reading." This isn't a question of reading +some murder case, or imbibing the exhilarating +information that some one met Mrs. Blank on +Fifth Avenue the other day, and she looked sweet +in a pale blue hat.</p> + +<p>Leave all that part of the paper severely alone. +Study the Editorials as you would study a book, +since the writings of first-class journalists are +excellent models for the amateur, a fact that is +curiously overlooked by the student. Read a +fixed amount each day, instead of relying on a +haphazard picking up of a paper and a careless +glance over its contents. Then, as a useful exercise, +take the subject-matter of a paragraph, or +an article, and see how <i>you</i> would have treated +it; try if you can improve on it (after all, most +things in this world can be improved upon if the +right person does the improving). You will be +surprised to find how interesting a study this will +become in a very little while.</p> + +<p>Do not misunderstand me: I am not advocating +newspaper reading <i>in place</i> of classical works, +but as a necessary and valuable addition to a +writer's literary studies.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 85%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="The_Need_for_Enlarging_the" id="The_Need_for_Enlarging_the"></a>The Need for Enlarging the +Vocabulary</h2> + + +<p>Equal in importance to the cultivation of +a modern style in writing, is the necessity +for having a wide selection of words at +your command, and a keen sense of their value. +Some people think the chief thing in writing is to +have ideas in one's head. Ideas are essential, but +they are not everything. Your brain may be +crammed full of the most wonderful ideas, but +they will be useless if they get no farther than +your brain.</p> + +<p>It is one thing to see things yourself, and quite +another to be able to make an absent person see +them.</p> + +<p>It is one thing to receive impressions in your +own mind from your surroundings, or as the product +of imagination, and quite another to record +those impressions in black and white.</p> + +<p>Tens of thousands of people are conscious of +vivid mental pictures, for one who is able to +reproduce them in such a form that they become +vivid pictures to others. And one reason for the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> +inability of the majority to express their thoughts +in writing is the paucity of their vocabulary, and +their lack of the power to put words together in +a convincing and accurate manner.</p> + +<p>Girls often write to me, "I think such wonderful +things in my brain; I'm sure I could write a +book, if only people would give me a little encouragement," +or, "if only I had time."</p> + +<p>But if they had all the encouragement and all +the time in the world, they could not transfer +those wonderful thoughts from their brain to +paper unless they had practice, the right words at +their command, and the experience that comes +from hard regular working at the subject.</p> + +<p>What people do not realise is this: wonderful +thoughts are surging through thousands of +brains. They are fairly common <i>inside</i> people's +heads; the difficulty is in getting them out of the +head—as most of us soon find out when we start +to write! I shall refer to this later on.</p> + +<p>If you wish to write down your thoughts—no +matter whether they are concerned with the +emotions, or religion, or nature, or cookery—you +must employ words; and the more subtle, or +elevated, or complex the subject-matter of your +thoughts, the greater need will there be for a +wide choice of words, in order to express exactly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> +the various grades and shades of meaning that +will be involved.</p> + +<p>If your vocabulary be small—<i>i.e.</i> if you only +know the average words used by the average +person—there is every chance that your writings +will be flat and colourless, and no more interesting, +or exciting, or instructive, or entertaining +than the ordinary conversation of the average +person.</p> + +<p>Hence the necessity for enlarging your vocabulary, +so that you have the utmost variety to +choose from in the way of suitable words, expressive +words, and beautiful words, (this last the +modern amateur is apt to overlook).</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The +Average +Person's +Vocabulary +is Meagre</div> + +<p>The smallness of the vocabulary used by the +average person to-day is partly due to the mass of +feeble reading-matter with which the +country was flooded in the years immediately +preceding the War.</p> + +<p>In addition to this, life had +become very easy for the majority of folk in +recent times; money was supposed to be life's sole +requisite. Work of all kinds was "put out" as +much as possible; we shirked physical labour; +lessons were made as easy as they could be; games +were played for us by professionals while we +looked on; effort of every sort was distasteful to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> +us. It has been said, that as a nation we were +becoming flabby and inert, and were fast drifting +into an exceedingly lazy, commonplace mental +attitude. We boasted that we couldn't think +(even though with many this was merely a pose); +we seemed quite proud of ourselves when we +proclaimed our indifference to all serious reading, +and our inability to understand anything.</p> + +<p>That pre-War period, given over to money-worship, +not only curtailed our choice of words +by its all-pervading tendency to mind-laziness, +but it had its vulgarising effect upon our +language, just as it had upon our dress, our mode +of living, and our amusements.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The dull +Monotony +of English +Slang</div> + +<p>Not only did we cease to take the trouble to +speak correctly, but we almost ceased to be lucid! +We made one word—slang or otherwise—do +duty in scores of places +where its introduction was either +senseless or idiotic, rather than exert our minds +to find the correct word for each occasion. Many +people appeared to think that the use of slang +was not only "smart," but quite clever; whereas +nothing more surely indicates a poor order of +intelligence.</p> + +<p>My chief objection to a constant use of slang +is not because it is outside the pale of classical<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> +English, but because it is so ineffective and feeble.</p> + +<p>As a rule, slang words and phrases are, in the +main, pointless and weak, for the simple reason +that we use one word for every occasion when +it happens to be the craze; and before long it +comes to means nothing at all, even if it chanced +to mean anything at the start—which it seldom +does.</p> + +<p>Our grandmothers objected to their own set +using slang on the ground that it was "unladylike." +The modern girl smiles at the term. +"Who desires to be 'ladylike'?" inquires the +advanced young person of to-day. Yet our +grandmothers were right fundamentally; with +their generation, the word "lady" implied a +woman of education, intelligence, and refinement. +The user of slang is the person who lacks these +qualifications; she has neither the wit nor the +knowledge to employ a better and more expressive +selection of words.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Slang +indicates +Ignorance</div> + +<p>Slang indicates, not advanced ideas, but ignorance—any +parrot can repeat an expression, it +takes a clever person always to use +the right word.</p> + +<p>Many people who constantly employ +any word that happens to be current, do not +really know what they are saying, neither do they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> +attach any weight to their words; they merely +repeat some inanity, because they have not the +brains to say anything more intelligent, or they +are too indolent to use what brains they have.</p> + +<p>Notice how a set of big schoolgirls will, at one +time, use the word "putrid," let us say, and apply +it to everything, from a broken shoe-lace to +examinations. And women will call everything +"dinkie," or "ducky," or something equally enlightening +and artistic, working the word all day +long until it is ousted by another senseless +expression.</p> + +<p>What power of comparison has a girl, such as +one I met recently, who, in the course of ten +minutes described a hat as "awf'ly niffy," a man +as "awf'ly sweet," a mountain as "awf'ly rippin'," +and another girl as an "awful cat"?</p> + +<p>What does it all amount to, this perversion of +legitimate words or introduction of meaningless +ones? Nothing—actually nothing. That is the +pity of it. If these "ornaments of conversation" +enabled one to grasp a point better, to see things +more clearly, or to arrive at a conclusion more +rapidly, I, for one, would gladly welcome them, +as I welcome anything that will save time and +labour. But, unfortunately, they only tend to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> +dwarf the intelligence and to lessen the value of +our speech.</p> + +<p>I have enlarged on the undesirability of slang, +because many amateurs think it will give brilliance, +or smartness, or up-to-date-ness to their +work. But it doesn't. It obscures rather than +brightens; it tends to monotony instead of smartness. +The beginner will be wise to avoid it, +unless it is required legitimately in recording the +conversation of a slangy person.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Some Books +that will +Enlarge +your +Vocabulary</div> + +<p>To enlarge your selection of words, you must +read books of the essay type rather than fiction, +as these usually give the widest range +of English. Two authors stand out +above all others in this connection—Ruskin +and R.L. Stevenson. Both +men had an extraordinary instinct for the right +word on all occasions—the word that expressed +exactly the idea each wished to convey.</p> + +<p>Read some of Stevenson's essays slowly and +carefully. Don't gobble them! You want to +impress the words, and the connection in which +they are used, on your mind. It is an effort to +most of us to read slowly in these hustling times; +yet nothing but deliberate, careful reading will +serve to teach the correct use of words and their +approximate values. And I need not remind you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> +to look up in a dictionary the meaning of any +word that is new to you.</p> + +<p>Ruskin's <i>Sesame and Lilies</i> you will have read +many times, I hope; if not, get it as soon as ever +you can. His <i>Poetry of Architecture</i> will make +a useful study; also <i>Queen of the Air</i> and <i>Praeterita</i> +(his own biography). His larger works, +while containing innumerable passages of great +beauty, are so often overweighted with technical +details and principles of art (some quite out-of-date +now) that they become tedious at times. +Yet there is so much in all of his writings to +enlarge your working-list of words, that you will +benefit by reading any of his books.</p> + +<p>Among present-day writers I particularly recommend +Sir A. Quiller-Couch, Dr. Charles W. +Eliot; Dr. A.C. Benson, Dr. Edmund Gosse, +Coulson Kernahan, and Augustine Birrell, whose +volumes of essays will not only enlarge your +vocabulary, but will prove particularly instructive +in suggesting the right placing of words, and +in giving you a correct feeling for their value.</p> + +<p>Of course this does not exhaust the list of +authors with commendable vocabularies; but it +gives you something to start on.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">It is the +Value of a +Word, +not Its +Unusuality, +that Counts</div> + +<p>Notice that the writers I have suggested do +not necessarily use extraordinary words, or un<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>common +words, or very long-syllabled words, or +ponderous and learned words. One great charm +of their writings lies in the fact that +they invariably use the word that is +exactly right, the word that conveys +better than any other word the +thought or sensation they wished to +convey. Sometimes it is an unusual word; sometimes +it is a familiar word used in an unfamiliar +connection; but in most cases you feel that the +word used could not have been bettered—it sums +up precisely, and conveys to your mind instantly, +the thought that was in the author's mind.</p> + +<p>Many amateurs fall into the error of thinking +that an uncommon word, or a long word, or a +word with an imposing sound, gives style to their +writings, and they despise the simple words, considering +them common-place. I heard an old +clergyman in a small country church explain to +the congregation, in the course of a sermon, that +the words "mixed multitude" meant "an heterogeneous +conglomeration"; but I think his rustic +audience understood the simple Bible words +better than they did his explanatory notes.</p> + +<p>I remember seeing an examination paper, +wherein a student had paraphrased the line—</p> + +<p class="poem"> +"The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea,"<br /> +</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span></p> + +<p class="noin">as, "The bellowing cattle are meandering tardily +over the neglected, untilled meadow land."</p> + +<p>This is an instance of the wrong word being +used in nearly every case; and as a complete +sentence it would have been difficult to construct +anything, on the same lines, that conveyed less +the feeling Gray wished to convey when he wrote +the poem!</p> + +<p>Good writing is not dependent upon long or +ornate or unusual words; it is the outcome of a +constant use of the right word—the word that +best conveys the author's idea.</p> + +<p>If there be a choice between a complex word +and a simple word, use the simple one.</p> + +<p>Remember that the object of writing is not +the covering of so much blank paper, nor the +stringing together of syllables; it is the transference +from the author's brain to other people's +brains of certain thoughts and situations and +sensations. And the best writing is that which +conveys, by the simplest and most direct means, +the clearest reproduction of the author's ideas.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 85%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="The_Charm_of_Musical_Language" id="The_Charm_of_Musical_Language"></a>The Charm of Musical Language</h2> + + +<p>There is a very special and distinct +charm about literature that is musical +to the ear—words that are euphonious, +phrases that are rhythmic, sentences that rise and +fall with definite cadence.</p> + +<p>Unfortunately, the twentieth century, so far, +has been primarily concerned with the making +of noise rather than music. Even before the War, +we lived in a welter of hideous jarring sound, to +which every single department of life has added +its quota. Outdoors the vehicles honk and rattle +and roar; in business life the clack and whirr of +machinery drowns all else; in the home doors +are banged, voices are raised to a raucous pitch, +children are permitted to shout and clatter about +at all times and seasons—indeed, it is the exception +rather than the rule, nowadays, to find a +quiet-mannered, well-ordered household.</p> + +<p>When Strauss put together his sound monstrosities, +which he misnamed music, he was only +echoing the general noise-chaos that had taken +possession of the universe, permeating art and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> +literature no less than everyday life. The nightmares +of the cubists and futurists were merely +undisciplined blatancy and harshness rendered in +colour instead of in sound, and were further demonstrations +of the crudity to which a nation is +bound to revert when it wilfully discards the +finer things of the soul in a mad pursuit of money.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Sound—Refined and +Otherwise</div> + +<p>The sounds produced by a people are invariably +a direct indication of the degree of their +refinement; the greater the blare and +clamour attendant upon their doings, +and the more harsh and uncultivated +their speaking voices, the less their innate refinement.</p> + +<p>Bearing all this in mind, it is easy to understand +why so much of our modern literature +became tainted with the same sound-harshness +that had smitten life as a whole. Some writers +would not take the trouble to be musical; some +maintained that there was no necessity to be +melodious; some regarded beauty of sound as +synonymous with weakness; others—and these +were in the majority—had lost all sense of word-music +and the captivating quality of rhythm. +And yet few things make a greater or a more +general appeal to the reader.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Dangers +of the +"Rough-hewn" +Method</div> + +<p>There is no doubt but what the idea that rough, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>unpolished work stood for strength, while carefully-finished +work implied weakness, was due to +the fact that several of our great +thinkers adopted the "rough-hewn" +method. Such men as Carlyle and +Browning were sometimes irritatingly +discordant and unshapely in style—occasionally +giving the idea, as a first impression, +that their words were shovelled together irrespective +of sound or sense.</p> + +<p>Said the lesser lights, "This seems a very easy +way to do it! And they are undoubtedly great +men. Why shouldn't we do likewise? It must +save a deal of trouble!"</p> + +<p>But there is one difficulty that we lesser lights +are always up against: whereas genius, in its own +line, can do anything it likes, in any way it likes, +and the result will be of value to the world, those +of us who are not in the front rank of greatness +cannot work regardless of all laws and traditions; +or, if we do, our work is not worth much. It was +not that Carlyle and Browning were permitted +to write regardless of laws and traditions because +they were great; certainly not. They were great +because they could write regardless of laws and +traditions, and yet write what was of value to +the world. So few of us can do that.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span></p> + +<p>Parenthetically, I am not saying that Browning +was never musical; the lyrics in <i>Paracelsus</i>, +for instance, are beautiful; but often he went to +the other extreme.</p> + +<p>It no more follows that beautiful language is +weak, than that uncouth language is strong. The +rough and often clumsy phraseology sometimes +used by the two men I have named was their +weakness; and the fact that the world was willing +to accept the way they often said things, for the +sake of what they had to say, is an immense +tribute to the worth of their ideas.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">To use +Pleasing +Language +is Good +Policy</div> + +<p>There are invariably two ways of saying the +same thing, and, all else being equal, it is more +advantageous to say what we have +to say in a pleasant rather than an +unpleasant manner. We know the +wisdom of this in everyday life; +equally it is the best policy in writing.</p> + +<p>I could name books that are moderately thin +in subject-matter and yet have had a large sale, +and this, primarily, because of the charm of their +style and the music of their language.</p> + +<p>While there should be ideas behind all that is +written, if those ideas are presented in language +that captivates the ear, the book has a double +chance, since it will appeal through two channels<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> +instead of only one—the ear as well as the mind.</p> + +<p>It must never be forgotten that the object of +our reading is sometimes—very often, indeed—recreation +and recuperation. We are not always +seeking information; the mind is not always +equal to profound or involved thought; but it is +always susceptible to beauty and harmony (or +it should be, if we keep it in a healthy condition, +and do not damage it with injurious mental +food). And whether we are seeking information +or recreation, there is a great fascination in reading +matter that has rhythm, melody, and balance +in its sentences.</p> + +<p>I consider that the power to write on these +lines is very largely a matter of training. +Though, obviously, some ears are more keenly +alive than others to the comparative values of +sound, and some are born with a certain instinct +for good expression, there is no doubt but what +practice will do much to induce a graceful, melodious +style of writing, and study will help us +to detect these qualities in the works of others.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Write +Verse if +you want +to Write +Good Prose</div> + +<p>With regard to training: I strongly +advise those who aim for a good +prose style to practise writing verse. +When you start, you will probably +find that your early attempts are nothing more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> +than a series of lines with jingling rhymes at stated +intervals.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, even such productions as these +are of definite use in your training. You have +had to find words that rhymed. You have had +to compress your ideas within a set limit; this in +itself is a check on the long-winded wandering +tendencies of the amateur. You have had to +consider the respective weight of syllables—which +is worth an accent, and which is not, and +so on. In short, you have had to give some discriminating +thought to what you were writing, +and how you were writing it, and that is what +the beginner so seldom does. He more often sits +down and goes on and on and on—words, words, +words—with no feeling for their respective +values, or the proportion of the sentences and +incidents as a whole.</p> + +<p>Viscount Morley, in his <i>Recollections</i>, writes: +"At Cheltenham College, I tried my hand at a +prize poem on Cassandra; it did not come near +the prize, and I was left with the master's singular +consolation, for an aspiring poet, that my +verse showed many of the elements of a sound +prose style."</p> + +<p>But the master's consolation was not so singular +after all. It is quite possible for one to write<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> +verse that may be excellent training for prose +writing, and yet that is not poetry in the most +exclusive sense of the word.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Read +Poetry +Aloud to +Cultivate a +Sense of +Musical +Language</div> + +<p>In addition to writing verse, I urge all students +who wish to cultivate a sense of music in their +writing to read good poetry, and, +whenever possible, to read it aloud.</p> + +<p>When reading aloud, the ear helps +as well as the eye; whereas, when +reading silently, the eye is apt to +run on faster than the ear is able—mentally—to +take in the sounds; and you are bound to miss +some of the finer shades of movement and +melody. When you say the words aloud, the +sound and the beat of the syllables are more +likely to be impressed upon your mind.</p> + +<p>You cannot do better than Tennyson to begin +with—one of the most musical of our poets. Read +"The Lotos-Eaters," the lyrics in "The Princess," +"The Lady of Shallott," "Come into the Garden, +Maud." In "The Idylls," and "In Memoriam," +are many exquisite passages. Read "Guinevere," +and "The Passing of Arthur," for example, noting +the lines that are conspicuous for their charm +of wording, or balance, or sound.</p> + +<p>Turning to other writers: I select a few instances +at random, and am only naming well-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>known +poems that are within the reach of most +students:—</p> + +<p>Christina Rossetti: The chant of the mourners, +at the end of "The Prince's Progress," beginning +"Too late for love," is worth reading many times.</p> + +<p>Jean Ingelow has, in a marked degree, a musical +quality in her verse which compensates in +some measure for its slightness. Her habit of +repeating a word often gives a lilt and a cadence +to her lines that is very pleasing, as for instance +in "Echo and the Ferry," and "Songs of Seven." +As an example by another poet, this repetition +of a word is used with delightful effect in +"Sherwood," by Alfred Noyes.</p> + +<p>Other poems you might read are: "The Forsaken +Merman," Matthew Arnold; "The Cloud," +Shelley; "Kubla Khan," Coleridge; "The Burial +of Moses," Mrs. Alexander; and "The Recessional," +Kipling. "The Forest of Wild Thyme," +Alfred Noyes, contains much in the way of music.</p> + +<p>After you have studied these—and they will +give you a good start—search for yourself. To +make your own discoveries in literature is a valuable +part of your training.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Anthologies +are +Valuable +Text-Books</div> + +<p>The student will find it very helpful to have +at hand one or two small volumes of selected +poems by various authors. Such anthologies often +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>give, in a compact form, some of the choicest +of the writers' verses; and this saves the novice's +time in wading through some work +that may be indifferent in search of +the best. Moreover, a little volume +can be slipped into the pocket, and +will provide reading for odd moments.</p> + +<p>Do not content yourself with a mere reading +of the poems. Try to decide wherein lies the +charm (or the reverse) of each. Explain, if you +can, why, for instance, the following, by Swinburne:—</p> + +<p class="poem"> +"Yea, surely the sea like a harper laid hand on the shore as a lyre,"<br /> +</p> + +<p class="noin">appeals to one more than Longfellow's lines:—</p> + +<p class="poem"> +"The night is calm and cloudless,<br /> +And still as still can be,<br /> +And the stars come forth to listen<br /> +To the music of the sea."<br /> +</p> + +<p>Compare poems by various writers dealing with +somewhat similar themes; note wherein the difference +lies both in thought and workmanship. Mrs. +Browning's "Sonnets from the Portuguese" could +be studied side by side with Christina Rossetti's +"Monna Innominata"; Longfellow's "The Herons<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> +of Elmwood" with Bryant's "Lines to a Waterfowl"; +Christina Rossetti's "The Prince's Progress" +with Tennyson's "The Day Dream."</p> + +<p>Such exercises will enlarge your ideas as well +as your vocabulary; they will help to give you +facility in expressing yourself, and also that +genuine polish which is the result of close familiarity +with good writing.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 85%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Analysing_an_Authors_Methods" id="Analysing_an_Authors_Methods"></a>Analysing an Author's Methods</h2> + + +<p>It is not possible to suggest any definite course +of reading for the study of technique (or +methods of authorship). The ground is too +wide to be covered by any prescribed set of books.</p> + +<p>In order to understand, even a little bit, "how +the author does it," you need to study each book +separately, as you read it—deciding, if you can, +what was the author's central idea in writing it; +disentangling the essential framework of the +story from the less important accessories; analysing +the plot; assigning to the various characters +their degree of importance; accounting for the +introduction of minor episodes; noting how the +author has obtained a fair proportion of light and +shade, and secured sufficient contrast to ensure a +well-balanced story; and how all the main happenings +combine to carry one forward, slowly it +may be, but surely, to the climax the author has +in view.</p> + +<p>These are a few of the points you should +observe. Now look at them in detail, and at the +same time apply them to your own work.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span></p> + +<div class="sidenote">One Central +Idea +Should +Underlie +every Story</div> + +<p>Every author of any standing has one central +idea at the back of his mind when he sets out +to write a novel; this is the pivot on +which the plot turns—it may be +called the keynote of the book, +Sometimes the author's "idea" is +obvious or avowed, as in the case of much of +Dickens's works, and <i>Uncle Tom's Cabin</i>. Sometimes +it is so deftly concealed that you may not +realise a book is giving expression to any one +special idea, so absorbing is the general interest.</p> + +<p>One great advantage of this keynote is the way +it gives cohesion to a story as a whole, a motive +for the plot, a bed-rock reason for the story's +existence.</p> + +<p>The central idea which is invariably behind a +well-written story must not be confused with the +"moral" that adorned all the praiseworthy books +of our grandmothers' day. The idea may be a +very demoralising one, and anything but a wholesome +pill administered in a little jam, as was the +"moral" of by-gone story-books. But the point +I want you to notice is this: every author who is +an experienced worker starts out with a definite +object in mind—good or bad, or merely dull, as +the case may be; he does not sit down and write +haphazard incidents with nothing more in view<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> +than the stringing together of conversations and +happenings that arrive nowhere, and illustrate +nothing in particular, and reach no climax other +than a wedding.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A Wedding +need not be +the Chief +Aim of a +Novel</div> + +<p>Possibly it will come as a surprise to many +amateurs when I tell them that the inevitable +uniting of the lovers (or their disuniting, +as the case may be) in the +last chapter, is not necessarily the +chief object of an experienced writer; +often it is merely incidental.</p> + +<p>The average beginner—more especially the +feminine beginner—has but one aim when she +embarks on fiction, viz., the marrying of her hero +and heroine. That the wedding bells ringing on +the last page may be an episode of secondary importance, +so far as a book is concerned, seldom +occurs to her. The result is the monotonous +character of thousands of the MSS. offered for +publication; and the weary reams of paper that +are covered with pointless, backboneless fiction, +that amounts, all told, to nothing more than the +engagement (or the estrangement) of two colourless, +nondescript individuals!</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Ideas +behind +Books +are as +Varied as +Human +Nature</div> + +<p>Sometimes the author aims to show you either +the inhabitants and manners and customs and +scenery of some definite locality! or one particular +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>class of society; or the virtues or failings of an +individual type; or the beauty of an abstract +virtue; or the pitiful side of poverty; +or vice decorated with gloss and +glamour.</p> + +<p>But whatever the idea may be, +one of some sort lies behind every +novel of recognised standing.</p> + +<p>Begin your study of a book, therefore, by looking +for its central idea; then observe how this +permeates the whole, and how the author utilises +his characters and his incidents to demonstrate +the idea.</p> + +<p>Some writers explain themselves in the title +they give to a book. <i>The Egoist</i> tells you at once +what to expect. But whether the motif of a +book be obvious or not at first apparent, it is important +so far as the staying quality of a story +is concerned. And it is not until you have studied +standard authors, with this particular matter in +mind, that you realise how much more important +it is that a book should have a keynote, than that +the hero should be handsome, or that the heroine +should be dressed in some soft clinging material +that suits her surpassing loveliness to perfection.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Look for +the Framework +of +the Story</div> + +<p>Having decided what is the central idea behind +the book you are studying (I am not suggesting +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>any particular book; choose any work of recognised +merit by a dead or a modern writer and it +will serve), next try to find the framework +of the story—the plot if you +like, though the framework is not always +the plot.</p> + +<p>Each complete story is composed of an essential +skeleton, with a certain amount of secondary +matter added to it to take away from its bareness. +It is well to notice that with the greatest writers +the framework is usually something fairly solid +and substantial that will stand the addition of +other matter; and it often deals with some great +human truth that is world-old. It is not much +good to have a framework composed of trivialities.</p> + +<p>But suppose the framework be something like +this—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Worthy John Jones becomes engaged to good +Mary Smith; they quarrel, and become disengaged. +J. J. falls a temporary prey to the sirenical +wiles of Elsienoria Brown; M. S. lends a +temporary ear to the insidious suggestions of +Adolphus Robinson. Elsienoria Brown inadvertently +listens to the innocent prattle of a little orphan +child, and forthwith mends her wicked ways and +dies of consumption; Adolphus Robinson is condemned +to penal servitude for life after absconding +with the Smith family plate. J. J. and M. S. are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> +finally restored to each other through the kind +offices of the same innocent orphan child.</p></div> + +<p class="noin">It may take you a little thought and time to +detach this framework from the author's wealth +of additional incidents or secondary matter.</p> + +<p>There may be talk about the lovely old Tudor +mansion, Mary's home; the life history of each +of Mary's ancestors, whose portraits hang in the +long gallery; the eccentricities of Mary's grandfather; +the Spartan temperament of Mary's +mother, with details about the perfection of her +servants, and the thoroughness of her spring-cleaning +activities; digressions as to non-successful +aspirants for Mary's hand prior to the advent +of John; Mary's work among the poor; Mary's +love of Nature, and her exquisite taste in garden +planning; Mary's patience with a gouty father; +the sordid history of the late parents of the +prattling orphan child whom Mary recently +adopted; Mary's stay in Cairo (after the quarrel), +and her meeting there with Adolphus; details of +Cairo natives; measurements of the pyramids; a +nocturne on moonlight over the desert; a dissertation +on flies; prices and descriptions of bazaar +curios; sidelights on hotel visitors, their tongues, +their flirtations, and their fancy-work—<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>—</p> + +<p>And much more concerning Mary.</p> + +<p>Then there will be Elsienoria; her stage career; +her intrigues; her eyes; her interest in bull-terriers +and bridge; a descriptive catalogue of her jewels, +and the furnishings of her palatial yacht; and +a vignette of her poor old mother taking in washing +in Milwaukee.</p> + +<p>In like manner there will be copious data concerning +John, and ditto concerning Adolphus, +with all sorts of entanglements to be straightened +out, and a legion of simple happenings that lead +to confusions.</p> + +<p>It is from a mass of incidents such as these that +you will have to eliminate the framework, the +part that cannot be dispensed with without the +rest falling to pieces. Practice in analysing +stories will soon make the framework of each +clear to you.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Assess the +Value of +each +Character +in the +Story</div> + +<p>The characters should be studied individually, +in order to find out why the author brought them +on the scene; what position each occupies +in relation to the whole; who +are the most important folk, and who +are brought in merely to render some +useful but unimportant service to the story.</p> + +<p>Then note how the author keeps the circumstances +that surround each character directly pro<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span>portionate +to his or her place in the story. The +great deeds are invariably performed by the hero—not +by some odd man who appears only in one +chapter and is never heard of again. The most +striking personality is never assigned to some +woman who only has a minor part given her, +and who vanishes in the course of a dozen pages, +with no further explanation.</p> + +<p>In this way assess the value of each character +to the story as a whole.</p> + +<p>Next study the matter that seems non-essential +to you, and decide, if you can, why each episode +was introduced.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Use of +Secondary +Matter</div> + +<p>At first glance you may think that +much of it could be done without, +and would make no difference whatever to the +story, beyond shortening it, if it were omitted +altogether.</p> + +<p>This is perfectly true of poor work. The unskilled +writer will pad out a MS. with all manner +of stuff that has no direct bearing on the plot. +There will be conversations that reveal nothing, +that throw no lights on the characteristics or the +motives of anybody, and are obviously introduced +merely to fill up a few pages. There will be +incidents that in no way affect the movement of +the story, that add no particular excitement or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> +interest, and carry you no nearer to the climax +than you were in the previous chapter.</p> + +<p>But the good craftsman wastes no space on +unnecessary talk, even though certain scenes and +episodes may be of less importance than others. +He knows that secondary matter, such as descriptive +passages, dialogues, interludes and digressions +are necessary in order to "dress" the framework +and give it something more than bare bones; +they are also needed to give variety and balance +to a book. Some incidents that may not appear +to be vital to the story, are introduced to break +what would otherwise have been a monotonous +series of events; or they are put in for the purpose +of giving brightness and a picturesque element as +a contrast to some sorrowful or gloomy occurrence.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Minor +Details +can be +made to +serve Two +Purposes</div> + +<p>If the book be written by a master, each character, +each conversation, each incident, each +descriptive passage, each soliloquy is introduced +for a specific purpose; nothing is haphazard, +nothing is merely a fill-up.</p> + +<p>Moreover, the expert novelist is +not content to put his secondary +matter to one minor use only; he frequently +makes it contribute something to the main issues<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> +of the story—and in this case it serves a double +purpose.</p> + +<p>For instance, take the imaginary story I sketched +out just now. Let us suppose that, half-way +through the story, there occurs a stormy chapter, +in which John and Mary quarrel and part +in a scene that is red-hot with temper and +emotion. It will be desirable to secure a decided +contrast in the next chapter, to give every +one—readers as well as lovers—time to cool +down a little; besides, you do not follow one +emotional scene with another that is equally overwrought, +or they weaken each other. The author +would, therefore, aim for something entirely +different in the chapter following the one that +ended with John violently slamming the hall +door, and Mary drowning the best drawing-room +cushion in tears.</p> + +<p>We will assume that the author transports +Mary to Cairo for change of air; and, in order to +restore the atmosphere to normal, he decides on +an interlude, entitled "Moonlight Over the +Desert"; this will serve as a soothing contrast to +the preceding upset.</p> + +<p>But he will not necessarily describe the moonlight +himself. If he makes Mary describe it in +a letter to a friend, or to her father who remained<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> +at home, he will be killing two birds with one +stone; he will be administering a pleasant sedative, +after the turmoil of the lovers' quarrel; +also he will be showing you how Mary's temperament +responds to the beauties of Nature, and how +appreciative she is of all that is good and pure +and lovely. In this way he will be helping you +to understand Mary better, and thus the "Moonlight +Over the Desert" chapter will be contributing +definitely to the main trend of the book.</p> + +<p>Then, again, the author may wish to bring the +reader back to the everyday happenings in a light +and whimsical manner, and he may give you a +scene showing the various ladies who are staying +at the same hotel with Mary in Cairo, retailing +their conversation, with the usual oddities and +humours and irresponsibilities that are to be +found in the small-talk of a mixed collection of +women at an hotel. In this way he can introduce +brightness and a light touch among more sombre +chapters. But in all probability he will make the +conversation serve a second purpose; Mary may, +on this occasion, hear the name of Adolphus +Robinson for the first time, little realising that +he is to play an important part in her life later +on; or an American visitor may chance to give<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> +details of her old charwoman in Milwaukee, +Elsienoria's mother, little knowing that Elsienoria +is the evil star in Mary's horizon, etc.</p> + +<p>These are indications of the way an experienced +author can make every incident in the story +dovetail with something else, as well as serve an +"atmospheric" purpose, <i>i.e.</i>, to change the air +from grave to gay, or from mirth to tragedy. He +never writes merely for the sake of covering +paper, or bridging time; whereas the amateur +only too often introduces digressions and irrelevant +matter with very little reason or apparent +connection, apart from a desire to cover paper, +or, perhaps, because the episode came into his +mind at that moment, and he thought it was +interesting in itself, or that it would help to +lengthen the story.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Never lose +Sight of +the Climax</div> + +<p>Notice, too, how the clever author keeps his +eye on the climax; how ingeniously he will make +everything lead towards that climax; +and how he puts on pace as he gets +nearer and nearer the goal, instead of +hurrying on events at a terrific rate at the beginning, +then getting suddenly becalmed part-way +through, and making the tragedy painfully long-drawn-out +at the end—as is the method of many +amateurs!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span></p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Main +Rules apply +to all +Stories, +irrespective +of Length</div> + +<p>You may tell me that all this does not apply +to you personally, as you are not so ambitious as +to try your hand at a book; you only +write short stories.</p> + +<p>The same rules apply to all stories, +whether 3,000 or 100,000 words in +length, the difference being that with a short story +greater condensation is necessary. Instead of +devoting a chapter to some contrasting episode, +you would give a paragraph to it; and instead +of having a dozen or so secondary characters, you +would be content with only two or three besides +the hero and heroine, and this in itself would +reduce your number of minor episodes and your +descriptive matter.</p> + +<p>Whatever the length of your story, it is well to +remember that there should be one main idea at +the back of all (apart from the wedding); also +a framework, to which is added a certain amount +of secondary matter that is well-balanced and +introduced with a definite object in view; the +characters must bear a fixed relation to the whole; +and there must be a climax, concealed from the +reader, so far as possible, till the last moment, +but ever-present in the writer's mind as the goal +towards which every incident, indeed every paragraph, +in the story trends.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span></p> + +<p>You will find it very useful to study the short +stories of Rudyard Kipling, Sir James Barrie, +and Mrs. Flora Annie Steel.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The +Necessity +for Careful +Planning</div> + +<p>Studying fiction in this way is exceedingly interesting, +and wonderfully instructive. Obviously +every author has his own individual +methods, and no two work in +exactly the same way. But if you +examine these main features, which are common +to most, you begin to realise something of the +careful planning and forethought that go to the +making of a story that is to grip its readers, and +live beyond its first publication flush.</p> + +<p>Perhaps you may be inclined to think that the +bestowal of such minute care on the details of a +book would tend to make it artificial and stilted; +there are those who argue that the rough, slap-dash +style is the only method by which we can +catch the fine frenzy of genius in its unadulterated +form! But all Art calls for attention to +detail; anything that is to last must be the product +of painstaking thought. Life itself is a +mass of detail carefully planned by the Master-Mind. +If you study your own life, you will be +amazed to find, as you look back upon the past, +how every happening seems to be part of a wonderful +mosaic, that nothing really stands quite<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> +alone with no bearing whatever on after events.</p> + +<p>That the slap-dash method is much easier than +the careful, thoughtful working-out of a story, I +admit. But it does not wear—why? because +there is really no body in the work; it is all on +the surface, and therefore quickly evaporates. +That which costs you next to nothing to produce, +will result in next to nothing.</p> + +<p>Of course, you can elaborate your work, and +add a multitude of details all apparently bearing +on the story, till the readers (and also the main +features of the story) are lost in a mass of small-talk +and unimportant events. But the secret of +all good art is to know what to take and what +to leave; and the genius of a writer is evidenced +in the way he knows just what incidents to put +down in order to gain the object he has in view, +and what to omit as redundant, or unnecessary +to the direct working out of his theme.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Application</div> + +<p>I am not analysing any novel to give you +concrete examples of the points I have named. +My object in writing these chapters +is not so much to set down facts for +you to memorise, as to help you to find out things +for yourself.</p> + +<p>Our own discoveries are among the few things +of life that we manage to remember.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span></p> + +<p>Having dissected a novel, and made notes on +the way it was constructed, turn to your own +work (whether a long or a short story), and see +what you have to show in the way of a main idea, +a good framework, a purpose for each character, +a reason for each incident, well-balanced secondary +matter, with a steady <i>crescendo</i> and <i>accelerando</i> +leading to a good climax.</p> + +<p>I need not point out the application. It is for +you to make your own stories profit by your study +of the methods of the great writers.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style="width: 85%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span></p> +<h3><a name="PART_FOUR" id="PART_FOUR"></a>PART FOUR</h3> + +<h3>POINTS A WRITER OUGHT TO NOTE</h3> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span></p> +<p class="blockquot">Beautiful and striking thoughts are a common everyday +occurrence; the uncommon occurrence is to find the +person who can reduce those thoughts to writing in such +a manner as to convey, exactly to another mind the +ideas that were in his own.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 85%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Practice_Precedes_Publication" id="Practice_Precedes_Publication"></a>Practice Precedes Publication</h2> + + +<p>When you sit down pen in hand with +the intention of writing something—<span class="smcap">Write</span>!</p> + +<p>This may seem unnecessary advice +to lead off with; but it is surprising how much +time one can spend in not writing, when one is +supposed to be engaged in literary work (no one +knows this better than I do). It is so easy to gaze +out of the window in pleasant meditation, letting +the thoughts wander about in a half-awake, half-dreaming +state of mind.</p> + +<p>Girls often sit and think all kinds of romantic +things, weaving one strand of thought with +another, letting the mind run on indefinitely into +space and roam about aimlessly among pleasant +sensations. Such girls sometimes think this an +indication that they have the ability to write a +novel; whereas it is doubtful whether they could +draft a possible plot for the simplest of stories; +their brain is not sufficiently disciplined to consecutive +thought.</p> + +<p>Others are possessed of high, noble impulses;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> +or they feel a sudden overwhelming sense of the +beautiful in life; or a desire to attain to some +lofty ideal; and forthwith they conclude this +indicates a poetic gift of unusual calibre. All +such experiences are good, they are also plentiful +(fortunately, for the uplifting of human nature); +but they do not imply the ability to write good +poetry, even though they prove exceedingly +useful to a poet.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Beautiful +Thoughts +do not +Guarantee +Beautiful +Writing</div> + +<p>Most beginners think that the main essential +for a writer is a fair-sized stock of beautiful or +striking thoughts; but it is quite as +important to know how to write +down those thoughts. As a matter +of fact, beautiful and striking +thoughts are of common, everyday +occurrence; the uncommon occurrence +is to find the person who can reduce those +thoughts to writing in such a manner as to convey, +exactly, to another mind the ideas that were +in his own.</p> + +<p>"But how ought I to start with writing?" the +novice sometimes asks. "There seems so much +to say, yet it is difficult to know where to begin."</p> + +<p>When a student commences the study of Art +he does not begin with the painting of some big, +involved subject, such as "A Scene from Ham<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span>let." +He spends some years working at little bits +and making studies. He practises on a profile, +or a hand, or the branches of a tree; he will +sketch and re-sketch a child's head, or one figure; +he will work away at a few rose-petals or an apple—always +endeavouring to render small pieces of +work well, rather than large pieces indifferently.</p> + +<p>When a great artist starts work on an Academy +picture, he does not commence at one side of the +canvas and work right across to the other side +till the picture is finished. He does not necessarily +begin his masterpiece by painting on the canvas +at all. As a rule, he makes a rough-out of his +idea (more than one, very often), merely blocking +in the figures, arranging and re-arranging the +position of the main items, then assigning the +details to their proper places, till he gets all properly +balanced, and to his liking.</p> + +<p>Then he dissects the picture-that-is-to-be, +making separate studies of the figures, sometimes +making several drawings of an arm, or a piece of +drapery, or a bit of foreground, expending infinite +care and work on fragments, and making dozens +of sketches before a stroke is put on the canvas +itself.</p> + +<p>Thus you see both the novice and the master<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> +specialise on detail before they tackle a piece of +work as a whole.</p> + +<p>Some of the "studies" made by famous artists +for their important pictures are positive gems, +and help us to understand something of the immense +amount of thought and preparation that +go to the making of any work of art that is to +live.</p> + +<p>The student who is training for authorship +must work on the same lines. All too often the +amateur starts by putting down the first sentence +of a story or an article, and then writes +straight on to the very end, without any preliminary +rough-out or separate study of detail; +and the result is a shapeless mass of words, lacking +balance and variety, and either without any +climax, or with two or three too many.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">"It simply +Came!"</div> + +<p>When offering a MS. for publication, the +writer will often tell me—as though it were something +to be proud of—"I merely sat +down, and without any previous +thought, wrote the whole of this story from beginning +to end. It simply came."</p> + +<p>One can only reply: "It reads like it!"</p> + +<p>I have before me a letter and MS. from a +would-be contributor, who writes: "I just dashed +this off as it first came into my head. I do so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> +love scribbling, and I simply can't help jotting +things down when the fit takes me."</p> + +<p>This is very well to a limited extent. There +are times when all authors just dash things off +when the fit takes them; but, if they have any +sense (and no one succeeds as a writer if they +have not) they do not regard the dashed-off +scribble as the final product, and rush with it to +a publisher. Much ability may be evidenced in +a hurried "jot-down" of this type; and if written +by a master hand, it may be useful as an object +lesson, showing how a clever author makes his +preliminary studies; but as a finished piece of +work it is of little value, for the simple reason +that it is not finished.</p> + +<p>Of course, the greater the writer the less revision +will his dashed-off-scribble need, because +experience and practice have taught him to know +almost by instinct what to put down and what +to omit. Nevertheless, he is certain to go over +it again, making alterations and additions, before +sending it out to the reading public.</p> + +<p>Before you can hope to write anything worth +publication (much less worth payment), you will +require considerable practice in actual writing.</p> + +<p>Directly a beginner puts on paper a little study +in observation, or collects some facts from various<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> +already-published books, or induces twelve or +sixteen lines of equal lengths to rhyme alternately +(rhymes sometimes omitted, however, in +which case the lines are styled "blank verse"), +that beginner invariably sends along the MS. to +an editor, and is surprised, or grieved—according +to temperament—when it is not accepted.</p> + +<p>Few would-be authors realise that what may +be good as a study or an exercise, is not necessarily +of the slightest use to the general public. +And, after all, the final test of our work is its +use to the public. If the public will not take it, +it may just as well remain unwritten (unless we +are willing to regard it as practice only), for it +is certain our acquaintances will not listen while +we read our "declined" MSS. aloud to them!</p> + +<p>"But why shouldn't the public buy my first +attempt?" some one will ask.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Why "first +attempts" +have +rarely any +Market +Value</div> + +<p>The public seldom is willing to +pay some one else for what it can do +quite as well itself. And most people +have made first attempts at writing. +Rare indeed is the person who has +not laboured out an essay, or dreamed a wonderful +love story, or put together a few verses. In +the main, all first attempts bear a strong family +likeness one to the other, and though the general<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> +public may not stop to analyse its own motives, +the truth is, it will not buy immature work as +a rule, because it feels it can produce writing +equally immature.</p> + +<p>For this reason (among other things) first +attempts have rarely any market value—unless +you have been dead at least fifty years and have +acquired fame in the interval!</p> + +<p>Of course there is always the remote chance +that a genius may arise, whose first attempt +eclipses everything else on the market; but as I +have said before, we need not worry about that +exceptional person, since some one has estimated +that not more than two are born in any generation. +And even these two have to be divided +between a number of arts and sciences; they are +not devoted exclusively to literature!</p> + +<p>The average writer whose books have made his +name famous, had to write much by way of practice, +before any of it found a paying market. And +we humbler folk must not be above doing +likewise.</p> + +<p>Begin to train yourself in writing by making +studies, in words, just as the art student makes +them in line or wash. Make studies of character, +of scenery, of temperament, of dialogue—of anything +that comes to your notice and interests you.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span></p> + +<p>To make a character study of someone you +know intimately, or with whom you are in daily +contact, is a useful exercise—but I don't advise +you to read it to them afterwards, that is if you +feel you have been quite frank in your writing, +and you value their friendship!</p> + +<p>Aim to make each study a little word-picture, +embodying some idea, or reproducing some trait, +or conversation, or incident. But do not be in +too great a hurry to embark on a lengthy or +involved piece of work.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Style +of Writing +should Vary +According +to the +Subject-Matter</div> + +<p>Practise various styles of writing—serious, conversational, +gay, didactic, colloquial, etc.; and +see that the style corresponds with +your subject-matter.</p> + +<p>Watch good authors with this latter +point in view. For example, the +style of writing in Kipling's "Barrack +Room Ballads" is not the style he used when +writing "The Recessional."</p> + +<p>Often several styles of writing are necessary +in one story, if we are introducing contrasts in +characters or in scenes. And though we may +think that one style is peculiarly our own, it is +most desirable that we should write just as +readily in any style. This gives variety and +colour to our work; also it reduces the risk of our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> +acquiring mannerisms, which are generally tiresome +to other people, though we are blandly unconscious +of them ourselves.</p> + +<p>But be sure that you do not appear to force +an effect; do not make an effort to be light-hearted, +for instance, or overdo the sombre tone one would +use at a funeral. Sincerity should underlie all +your writings; they should carry the conviction +with them that what you say happened, actually +<i>did</i> happen, and was not invented by you merely +to heighten the gaiety or deepen the gloom, as +the case may be.</p> + +<p>In order to make your style sincere and convincing, +you must study life itself, not take your +models from other people's books. If you are +to write in a joyous style that will infect others +with your cheeriness, you must enjoy much of life +(if not all of it) yourself, and be able to enter +into other people's enjoyment. If you are to +make your readers feel the grief that surrounded +the funeral of which you write in your story, you +must have shared in sorrow and sympathised with +others in theirs.</p> + +<p>Once you enter into the very spirit of each +happening, you will find your style will soon +shape itself according to the situation. You will +use the right words and expressions just as you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> +would were you facing the situation in real life, +without having to stop to think out what is best +suited to the occasion.</p> + +<p>But the beginner has to learn to be natural +when writing; that is one of his hardest tasks, I +often think; and he sometimes needs considerable +practice before he acquires the power to write +exactly as he thinks and speaks, and convey precisely +what he himself feels. Therefore practise +your pen particularly in this direction if you find +it an effort to be natural on paper.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Need +for Condensation</div> + +<p>All beginners need to practise condensation; +our tendency while we are inexperienced is to be +diffuse, and to over-load our subject +with unimportant explanations or +irrelevant side-issues.</p> + +<p>It will help you if, after a finished piece of +writing has been put aside for a few days, you +go over it with a fresh mind, and delete everything—single +words or whole sentences—that can +be omitted without lessening the force or the picturesque +quality of your writing, or blurring your +meaning.</p> + +<p>For example:—If the hero's grandfather has +no bearing on the development of the story (and +you are not seeking to prove hereditary tendencies), +spare us his biography.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span></p> + +<p>Do not tell the reader, "It is impossible to +describe the scene," if you straightway proceed to +describe it.</p> + +<p>It is waste of space to write, "It was a dull, +gloomy, cheerless November day"; one takes it +for granted that a gloomy November day is dull, +likewise cheerless.</p> + +<p>If the colour of the heroine's eyes and the tint +of her hair are immaterial to her career, omit such +hackneyed data. Of course these matters may be +important—if the lady is the villainess, for instance. +I have noticed that it seems essential the +wicked female should have red hair and green +eyes, while the angel has violet (or grey) eyes, +with long sweeping lashes—in novels, at any +rate. I cannot be so certain about real life, for +I have never met an out-and-out villainess in the +flesh; though I have known several really nice +girls, who were a joy to their aged and decrepit +parents, and who married the right man into the +bargain—and all this on mere mouse-coloured +hair, nondescript eyebrows, and complexions +verging on sallow!</p> + +<p>If, after consideration, you are bound to admit +that it will make no difference to the working +out of the story, nor to its general interest, if you +omit some such trivial description, or a word or a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> +phrase, take it out; its deletion will probably +improve the MS. In such a matter, however, it +is very difficult for us to judge our own work.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Quest +of the +Right +Word</div> + +<p>As a useful exercise in the art of condensation, +practise describing incidents as forcefully as you +can, using the fewest possible sentences. +This will also train you to +select the word that best describes +your idea. You will soon realise that the one +right word (and there is always one right word +for every occasion) carries more conviction with +it than half-a-dozen words when neither is exactly +"it."</p> + +<p>The able writer is not the one who uses many +words, but he who invariably uses the exact word.</p> + +<p>It is safe to say that, as a general rule, the +more you increase your adjectives, and qualifying +or explanatory phrases, the more you decrease the +strength and vividness of your writing.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Making +Plots</div> + +<p>The student should practise sketching out +plots. This is a very fascinating occupation, and +all seems to go easily here—until you +examine them! Then you may be +less elated.</p> + +<p>When you have completed the plot to your +own satisfaction, look at it carefully in order +to discover if you have, by any chance, used an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> +idea or a theme that has been used by some one +else before you. This is a painful process, for, as +a rule, one's most admired plot crumbles to +nothing under this test! If you are quite honest +about it, you will be obliged to confess—until +you have had a fair amount of practice—that +your plots are nothing more than other people's +plots re-shuffled.</p> + +<p>Do not delude yourself by saying that you will +"treat it differently." Perhaps you will; but you +will stand more chance of success if you determine +to get a new plot that has not been used +before, and treat <i>that</i> differently.</p> + +<p>The lack of any new idea or originality in the +plot is the cause of thousands of MSS. being +turned down each year. Many amateurs seem to +think that the plot is of next to no importance, +whereas it is the foundation upon which you raise +the superstructure; if there is no strength in the +foundation, the upper part is likely to be tottery.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Learning +and +Cleverness +must not be +Obtrusive</div> + +<p>Until you start to scheme out plots, you have +no idea how much there can be (but +often is not!) in this part of an author's +business.</p> + +<p>Do not regard your writing as a +medium for the exhibition of your own cleverness. +Never try to show off your own learning or to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> +impress the reader with your own brilliancy.</p> + +<p>Early amateur efforts often bristle with quotations, +foreign words, stilted phrases, pedantic +remarks, or references to classical personages. +The reason for this is clear; when the amateur +writes he invariably sees himself as the chief +object of interest in the foreground, rather than +his subject-matter. Almost unconsciously the back +of his mind is filled with the thought, "What +will the public think of <span class="smcap">me</span> when they read +this?" Consequently he does all in his power +to impress the public, and his relations and friends +(and by no means forgetting his enemies) with +his attainments and unusual knowledge.</p> + +<p>We are all of us like this when we start. But +as we gain experience—not merely experience in +writing, but that wide experience of the world +and human nature, which is such a valuable asset +to the writer—we come to realise that the public +pay very little heed to a writer personally (until +he or she becomes over-poweringly famous); it +is the subject-matter of a book that they trouble +about, and the way that subject-matter is treated. +Readers do not care in the least if an author can +read Hafiz in the original (unless he is actually +writing about Persian poetry, of course); but +they do care if he has written a bright, absorbing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> +story that holds their interest from first to last, +or a helpful illuminating article on some topic +that appeals to them. Therefore, why make a +special opportunity to drag in Hafiz, or some one +equally irrelevant, when he is but vaguely related +to the subject in hand, or possibly is quite superfluous?</p> + +<p>Do not think I mean by this that a knowledge +of languages and the classics is immaterial or +unnecessary for the writer. Quite the reverse. +The more knowledge we acquire of everything +worth knowing (and standard literature is the +great storehouse of knowledge) the better +equipped we are for work, and the greater our +chance of success.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Well-Informed +Man does +not use his +Learning +for Show +Purposes</div> + +<p>But remember this: the really well-informed +man does not use his learning for show purposes. +Knowledge should not be employed +for superficial ornamentation. It +must be so woven into the strands of +our everyday life, that it becomes as +much a part of us as the food we eat +and the air we breathe. Our reading should not +be made to advertise our intellectual standing.</p> + +<p>We do not read Plato and Shakespeare and +Dante that we may be able to quote them, and +thus let others know we are familiar with them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> +We read them in order to get a wider outlook on +life; to see things from more than one point of +view; to look into minds that are bigger than our +own; to learn great facts and problems of life +that might not otherwise come our way, yet are +necessary for us to know, if we are to see human +nature in right perspective. In short, we study +great authors in order to arrive at a better understanding +of our neighbour; some take us farther +than this, and help us to a better understanding +of God and His Universe. If we are reading the +classics with any lesser aim, we are missing a +great deal.</p> + +<p>The knowledge we absorb from such reading +should work out to something far greater than a +few quotations! It should affect our thoughts +and our life itself (which obviously includes our +writing), because it has helped us to clearer, altogether +larger ideas of this world of ours and the +people who are in it.</p> + +<p>Such knowledge will make its mark on our +writing in every direction, giving it depth and +breadth—<i>i.e.</i>, we shall see below the surface instead +of only recording the obvious; and take big +views instead of indulging in puerilities and +pettiness.</p> + +<p>Likewise it should make us more tolerant and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> +sympathetic and large-minded, knowing that life +is not always what it seems.</p> + +<p>And it may help us to accuracy—a virtue of +priceless worth to the writer.</p> + +<p>Of course, the knowledge acquired from the +reading of great books does not take the place of +the knowledge we gain by mixing with living +people; we need the one as much as the other. +But it is a wonderful help in enlarging our power +of thinking, and the scope of our thoughts; and +it opens our eyes to much in the world around +us that we might otherwise miss.</p> + +<p>So much by way of precept. Now for an +example of the type of writing that is overloaded +with learning.</p> + +<p>Some years ago, when I was assistant-editor of +the <i>Windsor Magazine</i>, a girl, who had taken +her B.A., came to me with an urgent request that +I would help her to a start in journalism. If +only I would give her the smallest opening, she +was sure she would get on; she was willing to +try her hand at anything, if only—etc.</p> + +<p>At the moment we were proposing to publish +an article on the nearly extinct London "Cabby." +I had already arranged with some typical cabmen +to be at a certain cab-shelter on a given day, to +be interviewed. As this girl was so keen to try<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> +her hand at writing up a given subject, I asked +her if she would care to tackle the "Cabmen" +article, explaining that we wanted a simple +straightforward account of their work and experiences, +the various drawbacks of the profession, +any curiosities in the way of passengers they +had come across, and similar particulars calculated +to arouse public interest in the men.</p> + +<p>She was charmed with the idea, and grateful +for the chance to get a start. And she said she +quite understood the simple, chatty style of +article I wanted.</p> + +<p>A week later the article arrived. And oh, how +that girl had slaved over it, too; it seemed to me +she had tried to include in it everything she knew! +It started with an eight-line Greek quotation. It +gave historical details of the city of London; +there were references to Roman charioteers and +the Olympic games, extracts from Chaucer and +other authors equally respectable. Indeed, there +seemed to be something of everything in the +article—excepting information about the cabmen. +What little she had written about them, poor +men, was swamped by the display of her own +knowledge.</p> + +<p>Yet it was difficult to make her understand +that there was something incongruous in the as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>sociation +of broken-down old cabmen with a +Greek extract; that the one topic created a false +atmosphere for the other; while equally it was +unsuitable to introduce Greek into a general magazine, +seeing that the larger proportion of the +grown-ups among the reading public had forgotten +all the Greek they ever knew.</p> + +<p>Unpractised journalists are apt to overload +their articles with data that has no immediate +connection with the subject in hand, even though +it may be distantly related. Such inclusions +often weaken the whole, as they confuse rather +than enlighten the reader.</p> + +<p>One other caution is necessary. Avoid quoting +from other people's writings. With some +amateurs this amounts to a most irritating mania. +Now and then, an apt quotation may serve to +enforce a point, but the beginner should be sparing +in their use.</p> + +<p>Remember that people, as a rule, do not care +to pay for what they have already read elsewhere! +Also, a publisher only reckons to purchase original +matter (apart from books that are avowedly +compilations).</p> + +<p>In any case, you are not gaining practice in +original writing if you are merely copying out +what some one else has written.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 85%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="The_Reader_Must_Be_Interested" id="The_Reader_Must_Be_Interested"></a>The Reader Must Be Interested</h2> + + +<p>The first essential in any publication is +that it shall interest people, especially +the people who, it is hoped, will buy it. +Every book does not appeal to the same type of +reader; but every book should appeal to <i>some</i> type +of reader, and it should interest that type of +reader, or it will prove a failure.</p> + +<p>This does not necessarily mean that it must +keep the reader wrought up to a high pitch of +excitement, or squirming with laughter, or bathed +in tears—though a judicious mixture of these +things may contribute much to the success of your +work. It means that what you propose to tell +people must be something they will want to hear; +and when you start to tell it to them, you must +tell it in such a way that they will be keen for +you to continue.</p> + +<p>Beginners often think the main point is their +own interest in what they write. It is certainly +desirable that we ourselves should be interested in +what we write, otherwise the chances are it will +not be worth reading; but it is still more import<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span>ant +that what we write should interest other +people. I have known a book to sell well, +though the author was thoroughly bored when +writing it; but I have never known a book to sell +well if the public were thoroughly bored when +trying to read it!</p> + +<div class="sidenote">If your +Writings do not Grip, +they will +not Sell</div> + +<p>And this necessity for interesting the reader +applies to every class of writing. It is useless to +write a scientific treatise in such a +dull way that the student is not +sufficiently attracted to read the +second chapter; it is useless to write +a religious article in such a stereotyped, conventional +manner that nobody gets beyond the second +paragraph, and everybody is quite willing to take +the rest as read; it is useless to write such vague +insipid verse that the reader does not even take +the trouble to find out what it is all about; and +it is useless to write feeble fiction that lands the +reader nowhere in particular, at the end of several +chapters.</p> + +<p>If you cannot grip, and then hold, the reader's +attention, your writings will not be read.</p> + +<p>And if they are not read, they will not sell.</p> + +<p>You may think this last remark a backward +way of putting it, and that a book must sell +before it can be read. But several people read<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> +it before a copy is actually sold, and often a good +deal depends on the verdict of these people. It +is read by the publisher, or his editor (sometimes +several of them); if they decide that it does not +interest them, and that it is not likely to interest +the public—where are you?</p> + +<p>Even if you determine, after your MS. has been +declined by a few dozen publishers, to pay for +its publication yourself, and in this way get it +into print, there are the reviewers to be thought +of; should they be of the same opinion as the +publishers who declined it, and find it so lacking +in interest that they never trouble to finish it, +and ignore it entirely in their review columns—that, +again, is unfortunate for you!</p> + +<p>Among other people who may read it, there +are the publisher's travellers. If it fails to interest +them they can hardly grow so enthusiastic +over it, when displaying it to the bookseller, as +they do over another book that kept them sitting +up all night to finish it!</p> + +<p>More than this, a keen, intelligent bookseller +reads many of the books on his counter, in order +that he may know what to recommend his customers +when they ask him for a book of a definite +type. Indeed, he is often supplied with "advance +copies" by the publisher. If he finds a volume<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> +engrossing, you may rely on his introducing it to +his customers; and if the purchasers of the earliest +copies are captivated by it, they will certainly +talk about it and urge their acquaintances to read +it, and send it to their friends on dates when gifts +are due.</p> + +<p>Thus you see a book really must be read before +it has a chance of any sale.</p> + +<p>Beginners often think the all-important thing +is to get their MS. set up in type; that once it is +published the public will buy it and read it as a +matter of course. But the public won't, unless it +interests them. And no matter how much money +an author may be able to expend on the production +of a book, it will bring him little satisfaction +if that book does not sell, and he sees the major +portion of the edition eventually cleared out as +a "remainder," or dumped in stacks on his door-step, +when the publisher can give it shelf-room +no longer.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The +Personal +Outlook +must be +Taken into +Account</div> + +<p>To interest people you must write on subjects +of which they know something, or +subjects which in some way make an +appeal to them. You seldom succeed +in interesting them if you write +of things quite outside their usual +range of thought or ideals or aspirations. To<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> +ensure some attention from your audience, it is +imperative that this matter of personal outlook be +taken into account.</p> + +<p>A subject may be of enthralling interest to +you, but if it is not in any way likely to interest +your readers from a personal standpoint—if it +has no connection with their spiritual or material +life, if it makes no appeal to them on the score +of beauty, if they cannot by any stretch of imagination +see themselves in a leading part—then it +is risky to make that the subject of an early +article or book. When you are well-established, +and recognised as a capable writer, you can take +your chance with any exotic subject you please; +but I do not advise it at the beginning of your +career.</p> + +<p>This does not mean that out-of-the-way subjects +should never be chosen. Obviously life +would be deadly monotonous if we were always +trotting round the same circle. Novelty is most +desirable; monotony is fatal to success. But it +must be novelty that is linked in some way with +the reader's life.</p> + +<p>Let us suppose you are absorbed in the study of +a certain new germ—a germ that is responsible +for much mortality among tadpoles. Not only +have you discovered the existence of this germ<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> +but you have taken its name and address, inspected +its birth certificate, secured its photograph, +insisted on knowing its age and where the family +go to school, ascertained its average food ration, +noted its climatic preferences, and many other +useful facts. All this would be very interesting +to persons who are rearing frogs; but as such +people are few in number, it would scarcely +attract the bulk of the reading public, hence you +could not expect a book on the subject to have a +large sale; nor would an article be likely to find +a resting place in a magazine or newspaper that +aimed to attract the general public. The subject +would have no interest for the majority of people, +because once we have left our unscientific youth +behind, tadpoles are generally as remote from our +life as the North Pole.</p> + +<p>But, suppose you suddenly discover that these +same germs are communicated by tadpoles to +water-cress, and therefore directly responsible for +hay fever or whooping-cough (or something +equally conclusive); you will find the general +public all attention in an instant, since water-cress +and whooping-cough make a personal claim +on most of us. And in that case your writings +would find a market at once.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span></p> + +<div class="sidenote">A Novel +must have +"Grit" +Somewhere +in its Composition</div> + +<p>The same ruling applies to fiction. Study any +successful novelist, and you will see how his +knowledge of the things that appeal +to men and women guided him in +the choice of a subject, and his manner +of presenting it.</p> + +<p>Some beginners think a peculiar +plot, or a bizarre background, or an eccentric +subject is more likely to command attention than +familiar topics; but that depends entirely on what +there is in it likely to appeal to the reader and +rivet his attention. Mere eccentricity or peculiarity +will not in itself ensure the reader's permanent +interest; behind the externals there must +be something with more "grit" in it.</p> + +<p>While newness of idea is much to be desired, +and a breaking-away from hackneyed scenes and +types should be aimed for, there must be a strong +underlying link to connect the unusual idea with +the reader's sympathies and mental attitude. You +may lay the scene of your story in the Stone Age, +or make your hero and heroine some never-heard-of-before +dwellers in the moon; but unless you +can interweave some fundamental human trait, +or some soul longing that will make such a story +understandable to ordinary humanity, it will not +interest average readers, since they know very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> +little about the tastes and manners and customs +of the folks who lived in the Stone Age; neither +are they likely to be at all convinced, nor particularly +excited, because you tell them certain circumstances +about beings, said to be in the moon, +who could never possibly come their way.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Mere +Eccentricity +will not +hold the +Public</div> + +<p>Even though a few people may at first be attracted +by some eccentricity on your part (and, +after all, if we only shriek loud +enough, some one is certain to turn +round and look at us), there is no +lasting quality in such methods of +catching attention.</p> + +<p>A troupe of pierrots at the seaside may get +themselves up in a garb bizarre enough to give +points to the cubists; but unless they also provide +a fair programme, they will not retain an +audience. After the first glance at their peculiarities, +the public will stroll farther along +the parade to the much plainer-looking company, +if that company provide a better entertainment.</p> + +<p>There must be "body" in the goods you offer +the public, apart from qualities that are only +superficial, such as a weird or unusual setting.</p> + +<p>In some cases an author's strong appeal to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> +human interest has even borne him aloft over +actual defects.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Why Fame +has +sometimes +Overlooked +Defects</div> + +<p>The verses of Ann and Jane Taylor +could never be called poetry; yet +most of the incidents recorded touch +a sympathetic chord in every child's life, and +each "moral" emphasises exactly the claims of +justice that are recognised with surprising clearness +by even the youngest; hence the poems have +a personal interest for any normal, healthy-minded +child. And, in consequence, they have +lived for over a hundred years.</p> + +<p>In certain of his books Ruskin wrote much +about pictures—pictures that could only interest +a small proportion of the general public, because +so few are able to go and see the pictures in the +Continental churches and galleries. Moreover, +some of his art criticism is considered worthless +by many artists. Yet Ruskin has been, and still +is, universally read. Why?</p> + +<p>Because, in addition to his erroneous estimate +of certain artists, and his prejudices against +others, and his remarks about unfamiliar pictures +many of his readers have never seen, he continually +touched on matters in which we all have a +very personal interest—our duty to God, our relations +to our fellow-men, the inner workings of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> +our mind, the problems of the soul, the beauties +and messages of Nature, and scores of other topics +that are of the keenest interest to every thoughtful +person. Ruskin himself complained that +people did not read him for what he had to say, +but for the way in which he said it. Yet he was +not quite correct in this. People read him for +something besides his style; they often read him +for the side issues, the comments by the way, the +little vignettes and pen-pictures of scenery, the +great truths embodied in a few sentences—matters +that strike home to us all, even when the +main purport of a book may appeal only to a +few.</p> + +<p>Having recognised the need for interesting the +reader, decide next the means by which you hope +to do this.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Decide the +Means by +which you +will +Endeavour +to Interest</div> + +<p>It may be a merry jingle nonsense +rhymes that you intend shall +please by their very absurdity; or it +may be the voicing of some tragedy +haunting many human lives that you rely on to +touch the human heart; or the description of some +scene of beauty that you feel will be the main +attraction of your writing; or perhaps it is the +unselfishness of the hero, the strong courage of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> +the heroine, or the ingenuity of the villain that is +to be its outstanding feature.</p> + +<p>Whatever it may be—keep it well in view, and +always work up to it. The trouble with so many +amateurs is their tendency to forget, before they +are half-way through their MS., the ideas with +which they started!</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Settle on +Your +Audience</div> + +<p>The class of reader whom you hope to attract +is another point to be taken into consideration. +The literature that appeals to the +factory girl is not the type calculated +to enthuse the business man; the +book that delights the Nature lover might be +voted "insufferably dull" by the woman who likes +to fancy herself indispensable to smart society.</p> + +<p>While we do not, as a rule, write only for one +small section of society, there are certain divisions, +nevertheless, that must be recognised; and +the beginner who is not sufficiently versed in his +craft to be able to work in broad sweeps on a +big canvas that can be seen and understood by all, +is wise to observe definite limitations, and work +within a clearly-marked area.</p> + +<p>You must decide whether a story is for the +schoolgirl or her mother; whether you are writing +for those who crave sensation, or for those +who like quiet, thoughtful, restrained reading;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> +whether your article is for the student who +already knows something about the matter, or +for the general reader whom you wish to interest +in your theme.</p> + +<p>Having settled who are to be your readers—do +not let them slip your memory while you address +several other conflicting audiences from time to +time. Writers of books for children are especial +sinners in this respect, frequently introducing +passages that are quite outside the child's purview, +and obviously better suited to adults.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Be sure +of your +Object</div> + +<p>Your object in writing should be definitely +settled before you start on your MS. Is it to +instruct, or to help, or to entertain? +Is it to provide excitement, or to act +as a soothing restorative to tired +nerves and brain? Is it to expose some social +wrong, or to enlist sympathy for suffering and +misfortune? Is it to make people smile, or to +make them weep? Is it to induce a light-hearted +and care-free frame of mind, or to make the +reader think? Is it to pander to a vicious taste, +or to foster clean ideals?</p> + +<p>Inexperienced writers often seem to think there +is no need for any defined purpose in their work, +unless they are issuing an appeal for charity, or +writing an article that is to combat some special<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> +evil. Yet everything we write should have a +purpose. Unfortunately, we have dropped into +a habit of ticketing a work "a book with a purpose" +when it deals particularly with religious or +social propaganda; whereas every book should +be a book with a purpose, or it will not be worth +the paper it is written upon. You must have +some reason for what you write, or some object +which you keep in view, if you are to make any +impression on the reader.</p> + +<p>Many of you who are beginners will probably +explain that your object in writing is solely to +entertain (and a very good object it is). In that +case, see to it that your writing <i>is</i> entertaining. +Don't let it be flat and colourless and tepid for +pages at a stretch.</p> + +<p>But you must remember that every book should +be entertaining. This is as much a primary +necessity as that every book should be grammatical. +It is another way of saying that every +book must interest people. Yet how few +amateurs stop to consider whether what they +write is really entertaining?</p> + +<p>Ask yourself, after your MS. is completed, "If +I saw this in print, should I be so impressed with +it that I should write off at once to my friends +and urge them to buy it, and mention it to all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> +my acquaintances as something well worth their +getting and reading?" If not—why not?</p> + +<p>If you can criticise your own work dispassionately +in this way, it will help you to detect some +of your own weak points. But, unfortunately, so +few of us can look dispassionately upon the children +of our own brain!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 85%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Form_Should_Be_Considered" id="Form_Should_Be_Considered"></a>Form Should Be Considered</h2> + + +<p>Form which plays a very important part +in the construction of literature, means +shape and order; it means also definite +restrictions.</p> + +<p>Though we do not realise it at first, these restrictions +are particularly desirable. Without +them, we might go writing on and on, till no one +could follow us in our meanderings, the brain +would be worn-out with the attempt. Yet these +same restrictions are what the novice most resents, +or at any rate is inclined to flout.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, you must abide by certain rules +if your work is to be readable and profitable.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Established +Rules +save our +Wasting +Time on +Experiments</div> + +<p>You may regard all rules as arbitrary. I know +how inclined one is, when only just beginning to +feel one's feet, to kick down every +sort or prop and barrier and sign-post +and ledge, in order to run riot, without +let or hindrance, over all the +earth. But we cannot do this when +we are only learning to walk, without tumbling +down and acquiring bruises; and then we lose a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> +certain amount of time in picking ourselves up +and getting our bearings again.</p> + +<p>While the thought of starting out on brand-new +adventure, without any one's advice or dictation, +is very enticing, the wise person is he who first +of all avails himself of the discoveries already +made by other folk (a time-saving policy to say +the least of it). Then, when he has assimilated +as much as he can of what others before him have +found out, he can experiment on his own, and +start on a voyage of discovery into truly unknown +lands. But it is sheer waste of energy to go +pioneering over land that has already been +thoroughly investigated, and mapped out, by men +and women who have gone before us.</p> + +<p>And although we may consider the limitations +of Form in Art as quite superfluous in our own +particular case, it is well to get thoroughly +acquainted with them, bearing in mind the fact +that thousands of writers for centuries past have +been handling the subject, experimenting along +these same lines, often asking the same questions +that we are asking. And all whose opinions were +worth anything came to the same conclusion, viz:—that +strict attention to Form is necessary in +all creative work, if that work is to have lasting +value.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span></p> + +<p>Therefore you might as well accept this at the +outset, at any rate until you have reached the +stage where you can do exactly as you please and +still command the attention of an admiring +universe.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Three-Part +Basis</div> + +<p>All the master-minds seem to agree that a story, +whether long or short, should consist of three +main parts. Indeed most of the art-products +of the brain are constructed +on a three-part basis. Experience has shown that +this form is the most satisfying to the mind—and +remember, one of the essentials of a work of art +is that it shall satisfy the mind with that sense +of fitness and completeness and appropriateness, +so very hard to define exactly in words, and yet +so necessary to our enjoyment of anything.</p> + +<p>A painting has foreground, middle distance +and background. A musical composition, if short, +has generally a first part in one key, a second part +in the minor or a related key, and a third part +that is often an amplification of the first part +with additional matter that brings it to a satisfactory +conclusion. If the composition be lengthy, +such as a sonata or symphony, its First Movement, +Slow Movement and Finale are labeled for +all to understand.</p> + +<p>The three-volume novel of our grandmothers'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> +day was a recognition of the desirability of definite +division. And although we do not now +spread our stories over so much paper, nor trim +them with such wide margins and three sets of +covers, the three parts are still there, and in many +cases the author still marks them plainly for the +reader, by dividing his work into specified sections.</p> + +<p>Sometimes we find a 4th Act, and a 5th, in a +play, just as we sometimes have four movements +in a sonata; but in most cases the extra act is +really only an episode, not a main division in +itself, and usually belongs to the second part.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The +Divisions +of a Story</div> + +<p>Broadly speaking, the divisions of a story may +be ticketed—</p> + +<p>1. Starting things.</p> + +<p>2. Developing things.</p> + +<p>3. Accomplishing things.</p> + +<p>The first part is devoted to introducing the +characters; starting them to work, according to +some pre-arranged scheme in the author's mind; +laying in the background, and generally "getting +acquainted."</p> + +<p>In the second part, the scheme or plot is developed; +complications and side issues, contrasting +episodes and by-play may be introduced. This +is the place for the author to exercise all his in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>genuity +in seeming to wander farther and farther +from the solution of the problem of the story, +while in reality he is ever drawing the reader +towards it.</p> + +<p>The third part is concerned with the actual +solution of the problem, and shows how all the +previous happenings helped to bring about the +climax with which the story should end.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Length +must be +Taken +into Consideration</div> + +<p>The three parts may, or may not, be about +equal in length; but if one is longer than the +other, it should be the middle part. +It is never well to introduce delays +in the first part, nor are they desirable +in the last part.</p> + +<p>To be complex or episodical at the start is unwise; +the reader likes to get well under way +moderately early, to know who everybody is and +what they are after. When your story is fairly +launched, you can lengthen it with diversions, +descriptions, dialogues, and episodes, and, granted +they are interesting and have a direct bearing on +the story, the reader will not complain.</p> + +<p>But once you reach the third part, and start to +gather up the scattered characters and far-flung +incidents, in order to unite them all into one convincing +conclusion, you must not dally, nor divert +the reader's attention from the main issue.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span></p> + +<p>You will see from the foregoing that it is necessary +to fix the length of your story before you +start to work—otherwise you will not get it +properly balanced. I do not mean that you must +tie yourself down to an exact number of words +for each part, any more than for the whole; but +you should settle, before you start, an approximate +estimate of the amount of space you will +allow to each part, and then see that you keep +somewhere near it.</p> + +<p>For instance, the probability is that, unless you +keep an eye on yourself, you will overdo the +detail in the first part. So many novices start +writing their story before they have half thought +it out in all its bearings; the result is that all +sorts of new ideas come to them, and fresh developments, +and different aspects of the plot; and +they add to their original plan, work in fresh +characters, amplify those that are already there, +till all sense of proportion is gone. Or they may +have a special liking for one particular character +(invariably it is the one who, they secretly think, +represents their own tastes and aspirations), and +they will overdo this one with detail, and unduly +spin out that portion of the book.</p> + +<p>Then again, when we are fresh, and only starting +a work, we are more inclined to stroll leisurely<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> +among voluminous particulars, and write all that +comes into our head, than we are when we have +written forty thousand words, and are wishing we +could get the rest of it out of our brain, and down +on the paper, with less physical, as well as less +mental, effort!</p> + +<p>Therefore, when you eventually revise your +MS. as a whole, overhaul the first section very +thoroughly, cutting it down ruthlessly if you +find you have been unduly diffuse.</p> + +<p>Nowadays a story that drags at the outset is +doomed.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Form as +Applied +to Articles</div> + +<p>But fiction is not the only class of writing +ruled by Form; articles, essays, verse are all +subject to a certain order of presentation, +and certain restrictions, which +no writer can ignore without lessening +the effectiveness of his work—and in the +main the threefold basis applies to all.</p> + +<p>When writing an essay or an article, it is useful +to make your divisions as follows—</p> + +<p>1. State your theme and your reasons for its +choice. (In other words: make it quite clear to +your readers what you are going to write about, +and why you decided to write about it.)</p> + +<p>2. Say what you have to say about it.</p> + +<p>3. Give the conclusions to be drawn therefrom.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span></p> + +<p>Here, as in the case of fiction, it is desirable to +get right into your subject quickly, never "side-tracking" +the readers' mind on to a subsidiary +topic until they have a firm hold of your main +theme. Ruskin was particularly tiresome in the +way he would turn off at a tangent, and start +talking about some minor matter, before the +reader had grasped what subject he was proposing +to deal with.</p> + +<p>After you have turned your theme inside out, +in the second part, and told all the points about +it that you think will be new to your reader, +make your third part a climax, in that it works +up to a definite conclusion.</p> + +<p>It does not matter what the subject of your +article, broadly speaking it should be built on +these lines, since this is the form in which the +human mind seems best able to take in information. +You cannot expect people to follow your +descriptions, your arguments, or your objections, +if they do not know what you are talking about; +hence the need for a very clear presentation of +your subject at the beginning.</p> + +<p>And, in order to leave your reader in a satisfied +frame of mind, <i>i.e.</i> with a sense of certainty that +things were brought to their logical conclusion—also +an essential in a work of art—the third<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> +section must be primarily occupied with the +reasons for, or the outcome of, or the deductions +to be drawn from, that which has gone before.</p> + +<p>This leaves the middle section of the article for +digressions, side issues, or any other form of +amplification.</p> + +<p>Once the student recognises how desirable are +the laws of Form, how they give shape and proportion +and cohesion to matter that would otherwise +be void and hopeless, he will realise how +impossible it is to do good work without preliminary +thought, and careful planning. And he +will also understand how it is that MSS. which +are merely "dashed off" without any preparatory +work, those that "just came of their own accord," +as the authors sometimes boast, invariably fail to +arouse a spark of enthusiasm in the soul of an +editor.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 85%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Right_Selection_Is_Important" id="Right_Selection_Is_Important"></a>Right Selection Is Important</h2> + + +<p>The mere fact that the sun never sets on +the British Empire does not necessitate +our including the whole of it in one MS. +Yet some beginners seem most industriously anxious +to do this.</p> + +<p>Amateurs may be divided roughly into two +classes: those who tell too little, and those who +tell too much. The majority come under the latter +heading. The literary artist is he who knows +exactly what to select from the mass of material +before him (in order to make the reader see what +he himself sees); and what to discard as non-essential.</p> + +<p>I am inclined to think that the instinct for +selection is largely born, not made. It is one of +the channels through which genius betrays itself. +Very few great artists can explain why they chose +one particular set of items for their canvas, or +their book, and ignored others; or why that particular +set conveys a sense of beauty to the observer, +when another set would make no such appeal.</p> + +<p>Yet the sense or instinct can be cultivated to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> +some extent, and the first step is to recognise the +necessity for careful selection. Few beginners +give a thought to the matter. They imagine that +all they have to do, when they set out to tell a +story, or describe some incident or scene, is to +say all they can about it—the more the better.</p> + +<p>"I never spare myself where detail is concerned," +a would-be contributor wrote when +offering a magazine article. Unfortunately she +did not spare me either; there were fifty-seven +pages of close, nearly illegible writing, describing +the tombs of some long-dead unknowns in an out-of-the-way +Continental church.</p> + +<p>To enumerate every single item is not Art; it +is cataloguing.</p> + +<p>Slight themes require but few details.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Training +Yourself +in the +Matter of +Selection</div> + +<p>Look your subject well over before you write a +line; decide what are its outstanding features, +which are its most prominent characteristics, +and what it is absolutely +necessary to say about it, in order to +give a clear presentment. At the +same time, note what is irrelevant to the main +purport of your writing, and what is comparatively +unimportant.</p> + +<p>After all, the mind can only take in a certain +amount of detail, a certain number of facts; and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> +as it cannot absorb everything, a limit has to be +placed somewhere. Common sense tells us that +since something must be left out, it is well to +omit the colourless, unimportant data that never +will be missed!</p> + +<p>In every scene there are always definite points +that arrest the attention and give character to +the whole, and many other points that really do +not make very much difference one way or the +other. The artist (whether he be making word-pictures +or colour-pictures) selects those points +that give the most character to the scene, those +incidents which convey the most comprehensive +idea of the place and the people and their doings, +in the fewest words.</p> + +<p>If you are writing a story, it is seldom necessary +to describe every thing appertaining to, and every +one connected with, the heroine, for example—at +any rate, not on her first appearance. Her +home, her relations, her dress, can often be dealt +with in a few sentences; but those sentences must +contain just the facts that give the key to the +whole situation.</p> + +<p>Probably it will not throw any vivid light on +the lady if you state that her drawing-room was +upholstered in old rose, and she herself devoted to +chocolate; because the virtuous no less than the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> +wicked, the most advanced feminist as well as +the silliest bundle of vanity, might all have equal +leanings toward old rose and be addicted to +chocolate. But if you state, either that she was +reading a first edition of Dante, or cutting out +flannelette undergarments for the sewing meeting, +or powdering her chalky nose in public—the +reader will have some sort of clue as to your +heroine's personality. An instinct for selection +will tell you which item will characterise a +person most accurately.</p> + +<p>In the same way some incidents will directly +affect the whole trend of a story, others leave +the main issues untouched. Select the incidents +that matter, and leave those that merely mark +time without taking the reader any further.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Caricature +is not Characterization</div> + +<p>But while it is desirable to record outstanding +features, it is not wise, as a rule, to emphasise +mere peculiarities, as this only tends +to stamp one's writing as unnatural, +exaggerated, or caricature. Far better +seize on general topical characteristics, only +select those that are prominent, colourful, and +vigorous, rather than neutral, insipid traits or +happenings.</p> + +<p>People reading Kipling's story, "The Cat that +walked by itself," invariably exclaim, "That's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> +just like <i>our</i> cat!" Yet in all probability Kipling's +cat was not at all like either of their cats. +He merely chose the typical characteristics common +to all cats, and each person immediately +sees his own individual pussy in the picture.</p> + +<p>A lack of an instinct for selection is one of the +commonest failings in amateurs, and is responsible +for the rejection of an endless stream of +MSS. For this reason it is desirable that the +beginner should pay special heed to the subject, +and note to what extent he is making actual +selection, or whether he is merely jotting down +all and sundry in haphazard unconcern.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 85%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="When_Writing_Articles" id="When_Writing_Articles"></a>When Writing Articles</h2> + + +<p>There are two main difficulties in writing +an article; one is to get a good +beginning, the other is to get a good +ending. If you know your subject well (and it +is useless to write on a subject you do not know +well), it is wonderful how the middle portion +takes care of itself in comparison with the care +that has to be bestowed on the entrance and exit.</p> + +<p>I have seen amateurs write and write and re-write +their opening paragraphs (with intervals +of perplexed pen-nibbling in between), crossing +out a sentence as soon as they put it down, interpolating +fresh ideas that ran off at a tangent, +suddenly jumping back a hundred years or so in +their anxiety to start at the very beginning of the +subject—and finally tearing up their by-now-unreadable +MS., and commencing all over again.</p> + +<p>Here are two methods by which you may more +easily get under way—and the great thing is to +get under way, and write <i>something</i>, then you +at least have a concrete MS. to pull to pieces and +re-arrange and hammer into shape. It is the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> +blank paper, or the page you have crossed out +and then torn up in despair, that is so irritatingly +non-productive!</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Settle +your Chronological +Starting-point—and +Stick to it</div> + +<p>Decide, before you write a line, the exact point +in the life-story of your subject at which you will +start. Remember that it is impossible +to say <i>everything</i> about it, or +give the whole of its history; therefore +settle quickly what can safely +be left out concerning its antecedents +and early childhood without detriment to the +subject as a whole.</p> + +<p>Once you have made up your mind as to the +precise chronological starting point, stick to it +(half the initial trouble of getting into your subject +will be over if you do); and do not in the +course of a few paragraphs hark back to some +previous happening or era, because you have +suddenly remembered something that might be +made to bear on the subject.</p> + +<p>The way anxious writers will endeavour to tell +every mortal thing that can be told regarding the +most distant prehistoric family connections of +their subject, is on a par with a certain type of +chairman at a meeting, who will persist in dilating +on the sayings and doings of his great-grandfather +instead of dealing with the topic in hand.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span></p> + +<p>If I ask the untrained amateur to write me an +article on "The Use of Pigeons in War," the +chances are all in favour of his starting with the +Ark, and talking for several paragraphs round +the Dove with the olive branch. By a natural +and easy transition, he would presently be quoting, +"Oh for the wings of a dove!" Pliny's doves +would have an innings, the London pigeons of +St. Paul's have honourable mention, the ornithological +significance of the botanical term <i>Aquilegia</i> +might be touched upon, with other equally +irrelevant or far-fetched allusions to the <i>Columbæ</i> +as a whole; and all this before any really serviceable +information is forthcoming under the heading +specified.</p> + +<p>This is no exaggerated picture; it is the type +of article frequently submitted, and is due to a +writer's lack of an instinct for selection, and his +determination to leave nothing unsaid. In the +end, he of course leaves a great deal unsaid, +because the inevitable limitations of an article +make it impossible to give so much past history +and still find room to say what should be said +about the present-day aspect. The space is gone +before the writer has barely got there!</p> + +<p>And because of this tendency to expend too<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> +much ink at the beginning on details that are too +far removed from the central point of interest to +be worth recording, I will give another hint that +may occasionally prove useful.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">When in +Doubt—Begin +in the +Middle</div> + +<p>When in doubt where to start, begin +in the middle; <i>i.e.</i> attack the subject +where the interest seems to focus; +or launch out without any preliminary whatever, +into the very heart of the matter. It is quite possible +it may prove to be the beginning!</p> + +<p>The desirability of shaping an article according +to the definite rules of form was dealt with +on page 136. A careful planning of the form +beforehand will help the writer to keep his +article properly balanced, and to avoid over-weighting +it unduly with unimportant data at the +outset.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">When you +have +Finished—Leave +off</div> + +<p>With regard to the wind-up of an article, here +again the writer has much in common with the +speaker, and happy is he who knows +instinctively just when to leave off. +So few do!</p> + +<p>Failing an instinctive perception +of the right ending, or the desirable climax, the +writer can deliberately plan one and then work +up to it. And it is well to plan it fairly early,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> +in order to make the whole of the article gravitate +toward this finale.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">It is the +Final +Impression +that Counts</div> + +<p>In writing, as in so many other things, it is +the final impression that counts. The reader's +attitude of mind, when he comes to +the end of the last page, is a powerful +factor in settling your success as +a writer. If you end lamely, with +non-effective sentences, or with pointless indecision—if, +in short, the reader does not feel he +has got somewhere or achieved something by reading +the article, he will not be remarkably keen +on anything else you may write.</p> + +<p>The beginner seldom pauses to inquire: What +is my object in writing this article? If I were to +put the question to a number of would-be authors, +and they replied truthfully, they would say, "To +see myself in print," or, "To make money"; yet +I cannot reiterate too often that what we write +must have more in the way of backbone than this. +The reason that thousands of MSS. are returned +to the senders every year is because those senders +had no other object in view, apart from money-making +or getting into print.</p> + +<p>Decide therefore on a more useful object—useful, +that is, from the reader's point of view. +The reader does not care one iota whether you are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> +going to make money, or whether you now see +yourself in print for the first time. The point <i>he</i> +is concerned with is what he himself gets out of +his reading—whether he has been amused and +entertained, or has gained information, or a new +light on an old subject, or a spiritual uplift, or +useful facts, or some fresh interest, or a soothing +narcotic for an anxious brain.</p> + +<p>And you must have some such object in mind, +when you plan the shortest article, no less than +when you scheme out a novel.</p> + +<p>In writing the article on "The Use of Pigeons +in War" your object might be the giving of information +that would be fresh to the public (and +we never need trouble to tell them that which they +know already); information calculated to increase +their knowledge of the ways in which we waged +the great war for the world's freedom, and also +to give them a new interest in these wonderful +birds. Bearing all this in mind, it will be seen +at once that the preamble about the Ark would +be quite unnecessary, since it would convey no +new information whatever.</p> + +<p>Mere recapitulation of ancient well-known +facts is never desirable, outside a text-book.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Keep an +Eye on +Topicality</div> + +<p>Topicality has often much to do with the acceptance +of an article; but the beginner seldom +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span>takes this point into consideration. The finest +article one could write would be turned down if +the subject were out of date—and +twenty-four hours make all the difference. +We move at such express +speed, and events hurry past at such a rapid rate, +that the article an editor would jump at to-day +may be useless to him to-morrow; the book that +would be marketable this season may be unsaleable +next.</p> + +<p>Of course this does not apply to every MS., +but it does to a good many, and particularly in +regard to articles for periodicals. If you think +your subject will have special interest for the +public at the moment—send it at once, and if it +is the burning question of the day, send it to a +newspaper rather than to a magazine, remembering +that magazines have to go to press some weeks +before the date of publication. If a magazine +editor receives your MS. January 1st, the very +earliest he could get it into his magazine would +probably be April, and the chances are he would +have everything planned and set up until May. +In the <i>Girls' Own Paper and Woman's Magazine</i>, +for instance, the final sheet of the September +number has to be passed for press the first week +in June.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span></p> + +<p>Bearing these facts in mind, you will realise +that it is useless to send an article on a Christmassy +subject to an editor in November. His +Christmas number was probably put together in +August, and by November it is travelling by +train or steamer, bullock-wagon or native carrier, +to distant parts of the world.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Articles +that are not +Wanted</div> + +<p>And I must mention another fault common +with beginners. It is useless to offer articles that +are nothing more than a <i>réchauffé</i> of +encyclopædic facts. Any schoolboy +can string together text-book information, +and compile facts from other people's +works.</p> + +<p>If your article is on an old-established theory, +or some well-known theme, you must contribute +some new personal experience, if it is to be of any +worth. Readers will not pay for books or articles +that contain nothing but what they could write +themselves, given the time and the works of +reference.</p> + +<p>Then, again, it is useless to choose a subject +merely because it appeals to you personally; if +there is no likelihood of its appealing to the majority +of the readers, it is valueless to an editor.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Study the +Readers' +Preference +no less than +your Own</div> + +<p>The business of writing is like every other +business in that self-effacement may contribute +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span>much to success. The good business man does +not spend his time talking about his +own tastes and achievements and +preferences; he keeps an eye on what +interests his customers and talks +about that.</p> + +<p>The good writer does not write merely to air +his own likes and dislikes and grievances, or to +impress people with his own attainments and +good fortune; he keeps his eye on what interests +his readers (who are his customers) and follows +this up in some degree in his writings.</p> + +<p>This need not mean any relinquishing of personal +ideals, or pandering to cheap tastes. The +readers' ideals may be as high—or even higher—than +yours; their tastes may be quite as refined—but +they are not necessarily the same as yours. +Therefore, study what will interest them to read +rather than what it will interest you that they +should read. Think it out, and you will find +there may be a world of difference between the +two.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Send +Suitable +Articles +to Likely +Magazines</div> + +<p>Writers are often told to study the type of +articles appearing in the magazine in which they +are anxious to see their own work published. +This is very sound advice. The unsuitabilities +that are offered at times are past counting. A +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>man wrote recently to the editor of a prominent +Missionary Monthly: "I notice you have no chess +columns in your paper. I could +supply one regularly, and I assure +you it would help your circulation +considerably." For the <i>Woman's +Magazine</i> I have been offered murder stories of +the most lurid and revolting character; articles +on "Seal-hunting in the Arctic as a Sport," "Curiosities +in Kite-Flying," "The Making of Modern +Motor Roads," and others equally outside the +range of women's activities even in these days of +wide-flung doors.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Editors do +not want +Repeat-Subjects +as a Rule</div> + +<p>Avoid offering articles on subjects that have +already been dealt with in a periodical. Unless +you have unique and valuable information +to add to that already given, +space cannot be spared to repeat matter. +Moreover, the public does not +want to pay twice for the same thing—and that +is what it would amount to.</p> + +<p>It is no recommendation to write to an editor, +"I see you have an article on 'Glow-worms as a +Hat-Trimming' in your last issue; I am therefore +sending you another article on the same subject." +Unless you have some new and really informing +data to contribute, the probability is that you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> +would only be covering the same ground as the +previous writer.</p> + +<p>Neither are you likely to get your MS. +accepted if you write, "I have read the article on +'Glow-worms' in your last issue, and disagree +with many of the statements made therein. Far +from glow-worms being things of elusive beauty +and suggestive of fairyland, as your contributor +calls them. I regard them as noxious pests. I +have written my views in detail, and hope you +will be able to publish the article in your next +issue to counteract the wrong impression that the +other one conveyed."</p> + +<p>Now, an editor to a large extent identifies himself +with the views expressed in the pages of the +paper he edits. And had he not approved of the +statements made, he would not have been inclined +to print them in an ordinary non-controversial +paper. Is it likely, then, that he would want +another contribution calmly informing his readers +that the previous article was entirely wrong and +unreliable?</p> + +<div class="sidenote">On +The Subject +of "How +to——"</div> + +<p>Most editors are overdone with the usual "How +to—" articles. The public has by +now been told "How to" do everything +under the sun, I am inclined +to think; but if you feel it laid upon your soul to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> +impart still further instruction—try to find a fresh +form of title.</p> + +<p>Do not choose too big a subject. "Heaven," +"Human Nature," "Eternity," and kindred +themes are beyond the powers of any mortal—much +less the beginner.</p> + +<p>Get right away from hackneyed phrases and +allusions. So many MSS. are peppered throughout +with such expressions as "all sorts and conditions"; +"common or garden"; "let us return to +our muttons"; "tell it not in Gath"; "but we +must not anticipate."</p> + +<p>If you feel drawn to write an essay on "Friendship," +it is not necessary to start with David and +Jonathan; they have already been mentioned—more +than once, in fact—in this connection. +Neither is it desirable, when writing about Jerusalem +to quote, "a city that is set on a hill cannot +be hid."</p> + +<p>Variety is always pleasing, and editors do like +to come upon something, occasionally, that they +have not read more than a dozen times before.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 85%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Suggestions_for_Style" id="Suggestions_for_Style"></a>Suggestions for Style</h2> + + +<p>If you are writing with the object of giving +information, avoid the indefinite style. Either +make a clear, decided statement (if you are +competent to do so), or leave the matter alone. +You not only weaken the force of your statements, +and smudge your meaning, by beating about the +bush and walking round your subject, but you cast +doubts in the reader's mind as to whether you are +fully qualified to write about it at all.</p> + +<p>Here is an extract from an article sent to me on +"The Cultivation of Broad Beans." Speaking of +blight, the writer says: "I would not presume to +dictate to the experienced gardener, who doubtless +has his own method of dealing with the black +blight that is so common on these plants; but for +the benefit of the novice I would say that, personally, +I always find it a good plan to nip off +the tops of the beans so soon as the black fly +appears. And, failing a better plan, the amateur +might try this."</p> + +<p>Articles written in this strain are fairly common, +and are often the outcome of modesty on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> +the part of a writer who does not wish to appear +too dogmatic, or "to take too much upon himself." +But from the utility point of view they +are poor stuff, and are suffering as much from +"blight" as the unfortunate beans, since each +statement seems to be disparaged in some way +by the over-diffident author!</p> + +<p>Either the remedy suggested for the black fly +<i>is</i> a remedy, or it isn't. If it is a remedy, then +it is as applicable to the bean owned by the experienced +gardener as to the one owned by the +novice. In short—if it be advantageous to nip +off the tops of blighted broad beans, the writer +should have said so in simple English, without +apologising for his temerity in making the statement, +and thereby discounting all he says.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Ambiguity +must not be +Allowed +to Pass</div> + +<p>Aim at writing with accuracy, clearness and +precision. Ambiguity should never be allowed to +pass. Any sentence that you feel to +be in the slightest degree uncertain, +or obscure, as to meaning should be +reworded so as to leave no doubt +whatever as to your meaning.</p> + +<p>If, on re-reading your article, you are not quite +sure what you meant when you wrote any passage, +take it out altogether. Do not leave it in to +puzzle the reader, even though you add a foot<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>note—as +Ruskin did—explaining that you have +no idea what you meant when you wrote it.</p> + +<p>In order to avoid an ambiguous style, two +things are necessary: the ability to think clearly +and concisely, and the ability to write down exactly +what one thinks.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Subject +Should +Regulate +the Choice +of Words</div> + +<p>The choice of words should be influenced by the +subject of your writing. A dignified subject calls +for dignified language. A racy subject +calls for racy language; and so +on.</p> + +<p>If your theme be a lofty one, do +not "let down" the train of lofty thought it +should engender, by introducing some word or +phrase that induces a much lower—or a different—plane +of thought and ideas. It is a backward +policy, to say the least of it, to weaken, or obliterate, +by ill-chosen language, the ideas you set out +to foster in the reader. It is no extenuation to +plead that the jarring phrase is particularly expressive; +if it actually counteracts the ideas you +seek to convey, it cannot be expressing your meaning.</p> + +<p>The beginner often gets himself tied up in a +knot with negatives; and even if he steer clear of +actual error, he is apt to overdo himself with +double negatives. It is better to make a direct<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> +statement in the affirmative if possible, than to +involve it in negatives.</p> + +<p>Instead of saying "a not uncommon fault," it +is clearer at first sight if you say "a common +fault," or "a fairly common fault." I know it +does not always follow that the exact reverse +fulfils the purpose of the double negative; a fault +may be "not uncommon" and yet not exactly +common. Nevertheless it is always possible to +get the precise shade of meaning in the affirmative; +and until a writer is quite fluent, it is better +not to risk confusing the reader's mind by the +introduction of too many negatives.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Tendency +to Use +Involved +Sentences</div> + +<p>In the praiseworthy desire to use fine English, +the beginner is very apt to get a sentence such a +mixed-up maze of words that there +seems little hope of the meaning ever +getting out alive at the other end!</p> + +<p>I take this from a MS. just to hand:—</p> + +<p>"Not that her parents would have entirely +agreed with the supposition that there might have +been that in his character which, had he not felt +himself unequal to the task which affected him +not a little in its apparent issue, even though +actually simple in its ultimate object, it would +have been possible for him to utilise to such an +extent that he might not have entirely disappoint<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span>ed +their none too sanguine estimate of his ability."</p> + +<p>I admit that all amateurs do not rise to such +cloud-wrapped heights; but many are nearly as +bad!</p> + +<p>Then, again, I have known the idea the author +had in view when he started a paragraph, to get +lost half-way through! This is due to the fact +that the mind has not been trained to sustain +consecutive thinking, but is permitted to veer +round to all points of the compass like a weather-cock.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">"Every +Why hath a +Wherefore"</div> + +<p>If you enunciate a problem, see that you give +the solution. If you start to elucidate some +theory (or the reader is led to believe +that you are going to elucidate it), +do not forget all about it, and switch +off to something else.</p> + +<p>If you have no solution to offer, it is wiser and +more satisfactory, as a general rule, not to put +forward a problem at the close. A sense of incompleteness—or +of something still awaiting fulfilment—is +as disastrous to the success of an +article as it is to the success of a book.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Undesirables</div> + +<p>Beware of labouring a thought. If your point +is only a slight one, do not reiterate it in various +forms or over-embellish it.</p> + +<p>If no big idea lies behind your<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> +sentences, no amount of impressive, ornate language +will make your writing great.</p> + +<p>People sometimes think that a fanciful style of +writing will hide defects; whereas, on the contrary, +it often emphasises them.</p> + +<p>Avoid using many quotation marks and italics; +they make a page look fidgety. Also they indicate +weakness. If your remarks are not strong +enough to stand alone, without words or phrases +being propped up by quotes or underlinings, they +are no better when so decorated.</p> + +<p>A lavish use of extracts from other people's +writings is undesirable. As I have said elsewhere, +neither the publisher nor the reader is keen to pay +for what they can read—and probably have already +read—elsewhere.</p> + +<p>A pedantic style of phraseology, and a desire +to let other people see how much one knows, are +amateur failings.</p> + +<p>Some beginners go to the other extreme, and +adopt a slangy, purposely-ungrammatical style, +with the beginnings and finals of words clipped +away, and a cultivated slovenliness that they +imagine gives a picturesque quality, or an ultra +up-to-dateness, to their writing.</p> + +<p>But no good work is ever built on such foundations. +The first thing to aim for is clarity, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> +the ability to express yourself in an easy, natural +and concise manner, always using the fewest and +the best words for the purpose, and employing +them according to modern methods.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Improbabilities, +misnamed +"Imaginative +Writing"</div> + +<p>Amateurs often lean towards the improbable—calling +it imaginative work—partly because +they fancy they are less hampered by +rules and restrictions than if they +take everyday, mundane subjects. +Yet—paradox though it may seem—the +improbable must be bounded by +probability in its own sphere; and imagination +must be kept within definite limits and work according +to definite forms—else it is no better than +the gibberings of an unhinged mind.</p> + +<p>Beginners frequently choose the moon, the +stars, or the ether as the background for their +imaginary characters; or they revel in after-death +scenes that are supposed to represent the next +world—either of suffering or of happiness. And +a favourite ending is something like this, "Suddenly +I awoke, and lo, it was only a dream," etc.</p> + +<p>Avoid all these hackneyed themes, and obvious +tricks.</p> + +<p>It takes a Dante to lead us convincingly +through the mazes of an unknown world.</p> + +<p>Perhaps you feel that you are a Dante? Pos<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span>sibly +you are: greatness must make a start somewhere. +But in that case, there will be no need +for you to strain after effect; genius can be evinced +in the treatment of the simplest subjects.</p> + +<p>Therefore experiment at the outset with everyday +themes, and perfect your style in this direction +before embarking on a very ambitious programme: +we must learn to walk before we can +run. The airman does not start turning somersaults +the first time he goes aloft (or, if he does, +that is the last time we hear of him, poor fellow).</p> + +<p>It is a mistake to think that the undisciplined +wanderings of an untrained mind betoken imaginative +genius. It is the way one handles the +commonplace that reveals the true artist; and +style plays an important part in this, though it +is by no means everything!</p> + +<p>The question of imaginative work is big enough +to deserve a volume to itself: much has already +been written on the subject, and much remains to +be said—too much to make it possible to do it +justice in a book of this description. But I mention +it here, in passing, to warn the beginner +against spending much time on work that is not +imaginative but merely impossible, until thoroughly +grounded in the rudiments of his craft.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span></p> + +<div class="sidenote">Pecularity +is not +Originality</div> + +<p>Literature seldom gains by peculiarities of style +or marked mannerisms, even though these are to +be found in the works of certain +writers who are of unquestionable +ability. Such devices tend to become +monotonous, and as a rule the public will only +tolerate them when the subject matter of a book +is so good that it is worth while to plough through +the writer's mannerisms to get at it—<i>i.e.</i> mannerisms +are put up with only when the writer is +great in spite of them: no one is great because of +his mannerisms; they are only superficial disturbances.</p> + +<p>I am not saying this to discourage any attempt +at originality of style; real originality is usually +most desirable; what I am anxious to impress on +the beginner is the fact that mere peculiarity is +not originality.</p> + +<p>Nor will it benefit anyone's work to copy the +mannerisms of great writers—since these are often +their defects.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Mannerisms +are soon +Out of Date</div> + +<p>It must also be remembered that many mannerisms +are nothing more than fashions of the moment, +just as most slang is; and in +these rapid times they quickly become +out of date, whereupon they +give a book an antiquated touch. And few things<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> +are more difficult to survive than an atmosphere +that is merely old-fashioned and nothing more.</p> + +<p>It will be quite time enough, when you are +expert at writing clear, understandable English, +to decide whether your genius can best find expression +in long and complicated sentences as +used by Henry James, or in such cynical scintillations +as those favoured by Bernard Shaw, OF +in the paradoxical methods of G. K. Chesterton, +or what you will. No limit need be set once a +person has ideas to give the world, and can write +them down in simple, direct, well-chosen language.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 85%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="The_Ubiquitous_Fragment" id="The_Ubiquitous_Fragment"></a>The Ubiquitous Fragment</h2> + + +<p>Amateurs often think it is much easier +to write a "fragment" than to write a +complete anything. The one who hesitates +as to whether he has the ability to write a +long story, is quite sure he is capable of writing a +fragmentary bit of fiction—one of those vague +scraps with neither beginning nor ending that are +always tumbling into the editor's letter-box—and +he feels that all vagueness, and lack of finish, and +the fact that the MS. gets nowhere, are sanctioned +because he adds, as a sub-title some such qualification +as "An Episode," or "A Character Study," +or "A Glimpse."</p> + +<p>In the same way a writer who is too diffident to +attempt a volume of essays, will feel perfect confidence +in sending out a MS. labelled "A +Reverie," or "A Meditation," even though it be +nothing more than a rambling collection of platitudes +on the sunset.</p> + +<p>In most cases it is a distrust of his own powers +that inclines the amateur to embark on writing of +this type.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span></p> + +<div class="sidenote">A Fragment +may be +Incomplete, +but it +should +not be +Formless</div> + +<p>Fragments may be exceedingly beautiful; they +are really most acceptable in this hurrying age +when life often seems too crowded +with work-a-day cares to leave us +much leisure for sustained reading. +But they must embody the fundamental +principles of Form; and they +must be constructed with even more attention to +artistic presentment, (or the means used to captivate +the reader), than would be necessary for +a lengthier work.</p> + +<p>Also, though they are but fragmentary, they +must appear to be portions of a desirable whole, +sections of a well-finished piece of work. Their +apparent incompleteness should seem due to the +author having insufficient time—not insufficient +knowledge—to finish them.</p> + +<p>What is set down must not only be good work +in itself, but it must suggest other good work as +a completion.</p> + +<p>You have probably seen some reproduction of +a fragmentary pencil or pen-and-ink sketch, by +an experienced artist, showing only a portion of +a figure or a building; yet so suggestive that the +onlooker instinctively fills in the remainder, and +constructs out of the artist's unfinished drawing +a picture complete and beautiful.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span></p> + +<p>I have several such sketches before me on my +study wall. One shows a corner of a quadrangle +in the precincts of a cathedral. In the background +there is a Gothic west window, a buttress, and +a piece of a tower; while a flight of steps in a +corner of the quadrangle, a bit of old-world stone-work +around a doorway and window, a fragment +of roof and a cluster of chimneys, with half a +dozen lines indicating an ancient flagged walk, +comprise the remainder. Only a few inches of +paper and a few pen-strokes—nevertheless instinctively +the mind runs on, and sees the whole +of the cathedral in the shadowy background; the +side of the quadrangle past the old doorway; even +the street beyond with its cobble stones and +market women. Indeed, you can visualise all the +life of the quaint sleepy, French town if you +look long enough at the little fragment; not because +it is all indicated by the artist and left in +an incomplete state, but because what he did put +down is so vital, so suggestive, so fraught with +possibilities, that the mind fills in all the blanks, +and fills them in with beauty corresponding with +the specimen he has shown us.</p> + +<p>And while we are studying the sketch, it may +be noticed that though this is but an unfinished +fragment, it is perfectly balanced, and shapely<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> +and proportionate as it stands. The patch of +light on the flagged path is balanced by the +shadow in the doorway. The flight of crumbling +stone steps, the most conspicuous feature in the +foreground, has been drawn with the utmost pains +in every detail. Even the cathedral window +looming in the background has its exquisite +tracery carefully drawn, no scamping the work +because it was only the background of an incomplete +sketch.</p> + +<p>In the same way, a fragmentary word picture +should be properly constructed, and absolutely +accurate in detail (so far as that detail goes), +well proportioned, carefully balanced, containing +distinct charm in itself. The background may +be only lightly indicated, but even so, it should +contain possibilities—(the cathedral may be in +misty shadow, but you must be able to see enough +of it to know that it <i>is</i> a cathedral, and a great +cathedral at that).</p> + +<p>The central idea must be placed well in the +foreground, it should be clearly stated, and be +something worth calling an idea.</p> + +<p>The points you mention, but leave unamplified +should be something more than windowless, blank +walls, or blind alleys leading nowhere; they +should open up fresh vistas of thought, and send<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> +the reader's mind out and beyond the limits of +your sentences.</p> + +<p>Your word-picture must be satisfying in itself, +even though one realises that it is but a small +part of a much larger whole that might have +been written, had time and space permitted.</p> + +<p>Certain literary fragments extant are probably +portions of large works the authors had in view +but did not finish; Coleridge's "Kubla Khan," +for instance. The type of fragment I am talking +about in this chapter, however, is actually +finished, so far as the author's handling is concerned; +but unfinished in detail and setting, or +with only a vignetted background.</p> + +<p>Some writers have set down a few lines with +neither introduction nor development plot, yet +such is the force and the revealing quality of the +sentences they put down, and the accuracy of +their sense of selection, that they have conveyed +as much, and suggested as much, to the mind of +the reader as if they had written pages. The following +verse of William Allingham is an example +Here is a volume of suggestion in seven lines.</p> + +<p class="poem"> +Four ducks on a pond,<br /> +A grass bank beyond,<br /> +A blue sky of spring,<br /> +White clouds on the wing:—<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span>What a little thing<br /> +To remember for years—<br /> +To remember with tears!<br /> +</p> + +<p>Tennyson wrote some beautiful fragments. +"Flower in a Crannied Wall" contains a world +of thought, and could easily furnish a theme for +a row of ponderous books; "Break, break, break," +has poignant possibilities.</p> + +<p>William Sharp, as "Fiona Macleod," wrote +some charming prose fragments; but behind each +you will invariably find a complete idea, and an +idea that suggests others.</p> + +<p>Practise writing fragments by all means, but +see that they are shapely, and suggestive of +greater space and a bigger outlook than can be +measured by the number of sentences. Above all, +let each embody some idea—and let there be no +uncertainty as to the whereabouts of that idea, +no ambiguity as to what you are driving at.</p> + +<p>To produce a good fragment you must do +some intensive thinking, because you have not +space to spread yourself out. This will be a gain +to all your writing. The rambling, formless habit +of thinking is the bane of the amateur, and the +type of MSS. resulting therefrom is the bane of +the editor.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 85%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Concerning_Local_Colour" id="Concerning_Local_Colour"></a>Concerning Local Colour</h2> + + +<p>Local colour can be a powerful factor in +enhancing the charm of a story or article. +It may be introduced as the background +against which the scene is laid; or as a sidelight on +the scenery, customs, and types of people peculiar +to a district. Anything can be utilised that conjures +up in the reader's mind the idiosyncrasies of +a definite locality—only it must be something that +<i>will</i> conjure up the scene.</p> + +<p>One advantage of local colour is the opportunity +it gives the writer of a double hold on the +reader's interest—he may captivate by the setting +of his theme no less than by the theme itself. +Also it enables him more effectually to take the +reader "out of himself," and place him in a new +environment—an essential point if that reader is +to become absorbed in what he is reading.</p> + +<p>Mere verbatim description of scenery is not the +best way to work in local colour; it is liable to +become guide-booky. Neither is a catalogue of +the beauty spots of a locality any better. Usually +the most advantageous method is a judicious, illu<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>minating +touch here and there, revealing outstanding +characteristics, and emphasising the material +things that give "colour," <i>i.e.</i>, variety and vivid +distinction, to a scene.</p> + +<p>They may be topographical characteristics or +they may be personal characteristics.</p> + +<p>Beginners think that local colour is primarily +a matter of hills and hedgerows, sunbonnets and +smocks—the picturesque element that we look for +in the countryside. But conversation can give +local colour to a story without a single descriptive +sentence. Pett Ridge can transport you in an +instant to the heart of Hoxton or the Walworth +Road, by means of some bit of cockney dialect. +W. W. Jacobs will give a salty, far-sea-faring +flavour to the most untravelled public-house in +Poplar, in merely recounting a trifling difference +of opinion between some of the customers!</p> + +<p>Local colour has justified the existence of more +than one book that is thin both in literary quality +and in plot; <i>The Lady of the Lake</i> is an instance. +But I do not advocate a writer aiming for success +on similar lines.</p> + +<p>Some words and expressions open up a much +wider vista to the mind's eye than do others. Consider +your descriptive passages critically, and see +if, by a different choice of words, you can, in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> +same length of sentence, give the reader a larger +outlook.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">American +Writers +excel in the +Handling +of Local +Colour</div> + +<p>Some British writers appreciate to the full the +artistic value of local colour (Rudyard Kipling +and Mrs. F. A. Steel can make one +feel as well as see India; Blackmore's +books breathe Devonshire; Lafcadio +Hearn—if one can call him British!—envelops +one in the Oriental odour +of Japanese temples; Shan F. Bullock's stories are +Ireland herself); but many ignore its possibilities +and set the scene with a nondescript society background, +or an equally non-commital rural haze.</p> + +<p>American writers make rather more use of local +colour. And the reason is clear: no other country +presents so great a variety in the way of climate, +scenery, and human types as does the United +States. An American author need only sit down +and write of what he sees immediately around +him, and, so long as he keeps away from such +modern items as the ubiquitous commercial traveller +and advertisement signs, and devotes his attention +to natural objects and local paraphernalia +(human and otherwise), he is certain to be recording +what is novelty to a large proportion of his +fellow-countrymen. Moreover Americans are +more given to dealing with things in a straight<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span>forward, +unconventional manner than are the +British writers, writing of what they actually +know and see around them, unhampered by classical +traditions and age-old literary usages. Hence, +there is often a freshness, a vividly-alive quality in +their descriptions, that can only be obtained by +writing with a subject red-hot in the mind.</p> + +<p>The author who merely rushes into the country +for a few days, or spends a couple of weeks on the +Continent, or sprints through the European ports +of China, to obtain local colour, for a story, usually +gets about as "stagey" and artificial a result as +does the home-keeping, middle-class girl, who has +her heroine presented at the Court of St. James, +and draws the local colour from the Society +columns of a daily paper!</p> + +<p>You must know your "locality" well yourself +if you are to make the local colour real to your +readers; second-hand or hastily collected data are +no good.</p> + +<p>The would-be author will do well to study +typically-American authors, with a view to observing +their use of local colour—particularly +those who wrote some of their best work before +the motor-car and telephone exercised their levelling +and linking-up influences.</p> + +<p>To name one or two: Mary E. Wilkins and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> +Sarah Orne Jewett have specialised on New England +village life; Charles Egbert Craddock (Miss +Murfree) on the Great Smoky Mountains of +Tennessee; George Cable on Louisiana; James +Lane Allen on Kentucky; Amélie Rives, in her +earlier books, on Virginia; etc.</p> + +<p>And it is worth while noting that such writers +give, not only pictures of the scenery about them, +but also an insight into the native character. Thus +both Mary E. Wilkins and Sarah Orne Jewett depicted +the rigid pride of the New Englanders, as +well as the poor but picturesque quality of the +soil. George Cable showed the temperament of +the Southerner as well as the tropical glamour of +the Southern States. Owen Wister has made us +love the large-hearted, child-like, primitive cowboy, +as well as feel the vastness and the very air +of the plains and the mountains of Wyoming.</p> + +<p>Such work is local colour at its best, since it +gives us the human traits as well as the scenic conditions +predominating in a locality, and enables +us to form a mental picture of the people and the +place as a whole.</p> + +<p>Closely allied to this, is that most fascinating +study—the effect of climate, scenery, and general +environment on character. But as that subject is +outside the purview of this book, I merely suggest<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> +it to the student as something well worth following +up, if there be an opportunity for first-hand +observation.</p> + +<p>For the novelist who specialises on temperamental +delineation, it has wide possibilities.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 85%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Creating_Atmosphere" id="Creating_Atmosphere"></a>Creating Atmosphere</h2> + + +<p>Have you ever seen a landscape painting +that was one expanse of correctness in +detail, and yet seemed either utterly +dead, or to walk out of the canvas at every point +and hit you violently in the eye? Such a painting +often has a bright-red tiled roof—every tile +visible and in its proper place; a violently blue +sky decorated here and there with solid masses +of apparently unmeltable snow; grass an acute +green; trees emphatic as to outline, every branch +clearly defined in its appointed place; sheep standing +out like pure-white snowflakes on the acute +grass; the smoke from the cottage chimney a thick +grey mass suggesting a heavy bale of wool; each +brick, each window frame, each paling emphasised +with careful exactness.</p> + +<p>The amateur who produces a painting after this +style is usually very pleased with it, and attributes +any adverse criticism, that a competent artist may +pass upon it, to professional jealousy!</p> + +<p>"What is wrong with it?" I have heard a +student ask, when a master has condemned such a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> +canvas. "It was all there, every detail, exactly +as I have painted it."</p> + +<p>Yes, it may have been all there, but something +else was there which the artist omitted to include, +and the something else was "atmosphere." The +artist may put in every twig and tile, every plant +and pane of glass; but if he omit the play of light, +the glamour of haze, the mystery of shadow, the +marvellous suggestiveness of the undefined, his +painting will be lifeless and wooden, or altogether +unbalanced, no matter how accurate the drawing.</p> + +<p>Equally, the author needs atmosphere if his +writing is to rise above the dead level of the uninspired; +but while one can define to some extent +(though not entirely) what is atmosphere in a +painting, it is next to impossible to give an exact +definition of atmosphere in writing. It is an +elusive quality difficult to describe off-hand. So +intangible is it that you can seldom put your finger +on a passage and say, "Here it is!" yet all the +while you may be fully conscious of there being—back +of the writing—something more than plot, +or purpose.</p> + +<p>The atmosphere of a book may appertain to +matters moral or material; it may affect the mind +or the emotions; it may be beneficial or baneful; +it may give colour or glamour, light or shade; it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> +may be mysterious or mesmeric. But whatever its +trend, in the main it lies in suggestiveness rather +than in definite statement. Like its prototype, +"atmosphere" in writing is an unseen environment, +yet it permeates and influences the whole, +giving it character and even vitality.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">"Atmosphere" +is +Invaluable +as a Time +Saver</div> + +<p>In writing it is possible to suggest a great deal +that could not be described in detail within the +limits imposed on you by the length +of your book and the consideration of +balance. Moreover, the things suggested +may be of secondary importance +beside the main action of the story, and yet +be very useful in furthering the idea you have in +mind, or in helping to convey a particular impression.</p> + +<p>In such cases the introduction of atmosphere +may do much for you. While you give only a +hint here and there, or a few sidelights in passing, +you may yet manage to convey to the readers a +"feeling" that carries them beyond the cut-and-dried +facts you may be handling, or lifts them +above the mere working-out of a plot. It is the +haze that may hide, and yet indicate, a something +in the distance, just beyond the range of sight—and +the suggestion of something still beyond is +always alluring; the infinite within us rebels<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> +against finite limitations, and welcomes anything +that points to further ideas, further possibilities.</p> + +<p>Thus atmosphere is invaluable as a time saver. +Life is too short (and the publisher too chary of +his paper and printing bill) to allow any of us, +save the truly famous, to describe minutely the +whole background of our writing, spiritual, mental, +or material. If we can, by a few expressive +words, or phrases, create an atmosphere that shall +reproduce in the reader's mind the train of +thought, or the scene, that was in our own mind +as we wrote, we shall, obviously, be spared the +making of many sentences, and the covering of +much paper with descriptive matter and soul +analyses, that might otherwise overweight our +main theme.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Abstract +Qualities +are Usually +Suggested</div> + +<p>Atmosphere usually suggests some abstract +quality rather than a concrete item. We say that a +work has an outdoor atmosphere or an +old-world atmosphere or a healthy atmosphere; +or we may merely say "it +has atmosphere," meaning a subtle +over- (or under-) current that clothes the framework +of the narrative with a glamour or a spiritual +quality that will help to reinforce, or mellow, or +illuminate the author's picture. But we do not say +a book has a millionaire atmosphere, or a detective<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> +atmosphere, even though the book be about these +people. They correspond with the solid objects in +the landscape, and are quite distinct from the atmospheric +effects that can do so much to enhance +the charm, or subdue the sordidness, of these solid +objects.</p> + +<p>It does not necessarily follow that the atmosphere +of a book is a wholesome one. There are +some writers who create a positively poisonous +atmosphere for the mind; but, fortunately, the +trend of humanity is in the direction of clean +thought and wholesome living, even though our +progress be slow and we encounter set-backs; and +vicious books are seldom long-livers, while those +the public call for again and again are invariably +books with a healthy atmosphere.</p> + +<p>The student might make a special note of this!</p> + +<p>Atmosphere in a well-written book is often so +unobtrusive that the reader fails to recognise it as +a specific element in the make-up of the story +that did not get there by accident. It is so easy +to fall into the error of thinking that this or that +characteristic or ingredient is due to the author's +style, or temperament, or genius; certainly it may +be due to either or all of these things, but if it is +worth anything it is also due to a well-thought-out +scheme on the part of the writer.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span></p> + +<p>In other words, atmosphere only gets into a +work if it is put there. It does not merely "happen +along," and if you want your writing to be +imbued with atmosphere, you must supply it; it +won't come of itself. And before you can supply +it, you must first think out what you want that +atmosphere to be and then decide how best you can +secure it.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">"Atmosphere" +covers a +Wide +Range of +Suggestion</div> + +<p>It may have to do with spiritual aspects of life—high +ideals, faith, healthy thought, right living. +Ruskin's <i>Sesame and Lilies</i> comes +under this head, even though the +subject-matter is not religious according +to our ordinary use of the word. +From beginning to end one is thinking +on a higher plane than that of material consideration; +one's thoughts are continually branching +out beyond the actual purport of the book +as set forth by the author.</p> + +<p>An old-world atmosphere has a special charm +for many readers. We find it in <i>Cranford</i>, Jane +Austen's books, and many others of a bygone +period—though it should be noticed that in these +cases the authors did not purposely incorporate +it in their work. They put atmosphere, certainly; +but it has only become an "old-world" atmosphere +by the courtesy of Father Time: in their own<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> +day, these books were quite up-to-date productions. +Certain modern books have an old-world +atmosphere—<i>The Broad Highway</i> and <i>Our Admirable +Betty</i>, by Jeffery Farnol; <i>When Knighthood +was in Flower</i>, by Charles Major (and many +others will occur to the mind); but in each case +the old-world atmosphere had to be put there very +carefully by the author.</p> + +<p>The hysterical atmosphere needs no description. +We know too well the type of book that keeps its +characters (and aims to keep its readers), from +the first chapter to the last, keyed up to an unnatural +pitch of emotionalism, with copious details +about everybody's soulful feelings and temperaments +and lingerie. Books with this atmosphere +were constantly striving to get their heads above +water in the years of this century preceding the +war. They are interesting from one, and only +one, point of view: they indicate the diseased +mentality that has always come to the surface in +periods of the world's history prior to some great +human upheaval.</p> + +<p>A pessimistic atmosphere is fairly common—especially +does it seem to find favour with young +writers. One of the best examples of a book with +a really pessimistic atmosphere is the <i>Rubáiyát</i> +of Omar Khayyám.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span></p> + +<p>Atmosphere has sometimes transformed the commonplace +into something rare and delightful. <i>Our +Village</i>, by Miss Mitford, is an instance. Here +you have the most ordinary of everyday events +described in such a way that they are invested +with a halo of charm.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">To Create an +Atmosphere</div> + +<p>To create the atmosphere you desire, you must +be thoroughly imbued with it yourself—you cannot +manufacture it out of nothing. It +must so possess you while you are +at your work that it is liable to tinge all you +write. You will never make other people sense +what you do not sense yourself.</p> + +<p>For instance, it would not be possible for an +out-and-out pagan to write a book with a sympathetic +evangelical atmosphere, any more than +the Kaiser could write a book imbued with the +spirit of true Democracy.</p> + +<p>Then you must insinuate your atmosphere at +times and seasons when it will make the most impression +on the reader without interfering with, or +hindering, the development of the story; remembering +that it is always better to suggest the atmosphere +than to put it in with heavy strokes.</p> + +<p>You may wish to make a story the very breath +of the out-doors. But in order to do this, it would +not be necessary to stop all the characters in what<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>ever +they were saying or doing, while you describe +scenery and sunsets, or explain to the reader how +"out-doory" everything and everybody is! This +would easily spoil the continuity and flow of the +whole, by switching the reader's mind off the plot +and on to another train of thought. Instead, you +would make the whole book out-doory without +any pointed explanation—"setting the stage" in +the open air as much as possible, emphasising the +features of the landscape rather than boudoir decorations, +mentioning the sound of the soughing +trees or the surging sea, rather than the tune the +gramophone was playing; introducing the scent of +the larches in the spring sunshine rather than the +odour of tuberoses and stephanotis in a ballroom. +In each case the one would suggest freedom in +the open air, while the other would suggest conventionalities +indoors.</p> + +<p>In some such way, you would rely on touches +in passing to produce the desired effect, always +bearing in mind the importance of getting these +touches as telling as possible.</p> + +<p>Such allusions (often merely hinted at, rather +than spoken) should be equal in effectiveness to +long paragraphs of detailed description; therefore, +choose carefully the means by which you hope to +secure your end. Your touches must be so true<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> +and so sure that they instantly convey to the +reader's mind your own mental atmosphere.</p> + +<p>In this, as much as in any other phase of writing, +you need an instinct for the essentials, <i>i.e.</i> +a feeling that tells you instantly what will contribute +most surely to the making of the atmosphere +you desire, and what is relatively unimportant.</p> + +<p>Atmosphere is the element in your work that +can least of all be faked without detection—or +cribbed from other writers.</p> + +<p>It must permeate the whole of your story +whether long or short, and be something beyond +the mere words you write down. The readers +must feel, when they finally close the book, that +they have got more from you than what you +actually said; that you led their thoughts in directions +that carried them off the highway of the +obvious, giving them visions of things that were +unrecorded.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 85%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="The_Method_of_Presenting_a" id="The_Method_of_Presenting_a"></a>The Method of Presenting a +Story</h2> + + +<p>The method of presenting the story +needs a little consideration.</p> + +<p>The most common, and the most desirable +as a rule, is the narrative, told in a third +person; <i>i.e.</i> the writer relates a story about certain +people, but does not himself pose as a character +involved in the story. Beginners will do well to +adhere to this type of story, until they have attained +to a certain amount of fluency with their +ideas.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Writing in +the First +Person</div> + +<p>Another popular method is the narrative told +in the first person, <i>i.e.</i> the writer relates a story +about certain people, in which he also +plays a more or less important part. +If well written, this form makes a +pleasant change from the story written in the third +person; but it necessitates a certain amount of +experience on the part of the writer, if it is to be +saved from dulness.</p> + +<p>Moreover, its limitations are hampering to the +beginner. If you are writing in the third person,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> +you, as the author, are allowed (by that special +concession granted to makers of fiction) to know +everything that every character in your story +thinks or does. You may relate in one paragraph +what the hero was thinking and doing in San +Francisco, and in the next what the heroine was +thinking and doing at the same moment in New +York.</p> + +<p>But if you are writing in the first person, you +have not the same licence to roam all over the +universe, penetrating the deepest recesses of +people's lives and laying bare their secret thoughts +to the glare of day. You are supposed to stick to +your own part and mind your own business. If +you manage to find out other people's business as +the story proceeds, there must be some sort of +circumstantial evidence as to how you found it +out; it will not be enough merely to state that it is +so, as you could do were you writing in the third +person.</p> + +<p>For instance, in a MS. I pick up from the pile +on my table I read:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"He paused when he reached the drawing-room +door and glared at her, livid with rage. +She returned his look with one of haughty +indifference. Then he left the house, and as he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> +walked along the cheerless streets, he clenched +his fists and hissed between his teeth, 'You shall +suffer for this.' She, meanwhile, rang the bell +for tea and resumed the novel upon which she +had been engaged when he arrived."</p></div> + +<p>Told in the third person, it is easy to let the +reader know what he and she were thinking and +saying and doing at the same moment. But supposing +you were writing all this in the first person +with yourself as the heroine, it would not be so +easy to convey the same information to the reader. +You could write:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"He paused when he reached the drawing-door +and glared at me, livid with rage. I returned +his look with one of haughty indifference. +Then he left the house, and I rang the +bell for tea and resumed the novel upon which +I had been engaged when he arrived."</p></div> + +<p>But if you wished to let the reader know how +the bad-tempered creature clenched and hissed, +you would have to get at it by some round-about +means—your dearest friend might call at the +moment and tell you that she had just passed +him in the cheerless street clenching and hissing; +or some other such device could be employed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> +But all this involves extra thought and care in +the construction of the story.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A Stumbling-block +to the +Amateur</div> + +<p>Amateurs are much given to story-writing in +the first person; it seems such an easy method +(when they know nothing about it); +they invariably see themselves in a +leading part, and make the hero or +heroine do and be all they themselves +would like to do and be. But they never go far +before they trip up against this block of stumbling—the +impossibility of the first person singular +"I" being in two places at the same time, and +seeing inside people's hearts and brains, to say +nothing of their locked cupboards and secret +drawers.</p> + +<p>Also, the beginner is apt to forget the <i>rôle</i> he +is supposed to be playing when he puts himself +into a story, and he lapses, at intervals, into the +third person.</p> + +<p>Sometimes, in order to dodge the difficulties, an +author will write one part in the form of a diary, +thus enabling a character to talk about herself (it +is usually a feminine character who keeps a +diary!). Then, when the limitations of the first +person singular hamper the progress of the story, +the diary is dropped for a time, while the author<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> +revels in the all-embracing freedom of writing in +the third person.</p> + +<p>This is a weak method, however, and plainly a +subterfuge; being practically an announcement +that the author could not or would not take the +trouble to work the story through in correct form. +It is also bad from an artistic standpoint; it does +not hang together well; past and present tenses +are apt to get mixed; it produces an unsatisfactory +feeling in the mind of the reader, who so often +is in doubt as to whether the author is writing +as a character in the story or merely as the author—and +anything that leaves a confused, unsatisfactory +feeling in the reader's mind is poor art.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Writing a +Story in the +Form of +a Diary</div> + +<p>A story written entirely in the form of a diary +is sometimes attempted. And closely allied to +this is the story written as a series of +letters.</p> + +<p>Both methods are popular with +amateurs. Most people regard a +diary as the simplest type of writing, requiring +neither style nor sequence, nor even the thinnest +thread of connection running through the whole, +unless the author so desires. Moreover, though +every one does not feel competent to write a book +or even a short story, we all feel competent to +keep a diary—most of us <i>have</i> kept one at some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> +time in our career. What can be easier therefore +than to write a story in diary form? And we +proceed to write our story as we wrote our own +diary, with this difference that we put into the +fiction diary the sort of happenings we used to +deplore the lack of, when we wrote down our own +daily experiences.</p> + +<p>Until we have given some study to the subject +we do not recognise that, while a series of somewhat +disconnected sentences and brief entries may +be very useful as records for future reference, likewise +may be moderately serviceable as safety-valves +for overwrought, self-centred temperaments, +they are seldom of interest to any one save +the writer, and if put forward as recreational +reading, may easily prove uninteresting in the +extreme, even with the addition of a love episode! +A story in diary form needs to be written by an +experienced pen if it is to resemble a genuine +diary, and yet hold the reader's interest throughout, +and culminate in a good climax.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A Story +told in +Letters</div> + +<p>A story told in a series of letters can easily be +the dullest thing imaginable. What is an excellent +letter seldom makes an excellent +chapter in a novel. A letter, if it is to +seem a real letter, should be discursive; +and this is the very thing the amateur needs<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> +to guard against when writing a story, if that story +is to show force and action; he is prone to be too +discursive as it is. In any case, unless it is remarkably +well done, the reader chafes at the delay +inevitably caused by the irrelevant small talk that +is the hallmark of most letters.</p> + +<p>Some writers have managed to handle the +"letter-form" in an interesting manner, by relying +on descriptive narrative, rather than any striking +plot, to hold the reader. <i>The Lady of the Decoration</i> +by Frances Little, is a good example.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The +Introduction +of Dialect</div> + +<p>Dialect should be approached with caution. It +is so easy to be tedious and unintelligible in this +direction.</p> + +<p>Remember that you are writing in +what is almost a fresh language to +most people, when you employ a dialect that is +purely local; hence you are imposing an extra +mental strain on the reader; and in order to compensate +for the additional demand you make on +his brain, you must give him something above +the average in interest. No one, in these days of +hustle, is going to take the trouble to wade through +a species of unknown tongue, and wrestle with +weird spelling and unfamiliar idiom, unless there +is something remarkably worth while to be got +out of it. And for one who will spare the time<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> +to fathom the mysteries of the dialect, there are +thousands who will give it up.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Object +Of Writing +a Book is +not to Befog +the Reader's +Mind</div> + +<p>If it be necessary to write in a particular dialect, +avoid so far as possible the use of expressions that +in no way explain themselves, and +crowding the pages with the more +obscure colloquialisms of the district. +The object of writing a book +is not to befog the reader's mind.</p> + +<p>One knows that dialect is sometimes imperative +in order to create the right atmosphere and to +state things as they actually occurred. In such +cases it is usually best to use it only in small +quantities—as where a native strolls across very +few pages, and is on view for only a short while. +Yet you must see that your dialect is correct. +Merely to write a few words phonetically, and put +a "z" in place of an "s" (as is sometimes done, +for instance, when making a native of Somerset +speak), is not convincing.</p> + +<p>To write a story throughout in dialect calls +for exceptional skill; and, as a rule, it can only +be done successfully by those who have known +a dialect from childhood, or at any rate have +spent some years in its company. The names +of Sir James Barrie and S. R. Crockett naturally +come to one's mind in this connection.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span></p> + +<div class="sidenote">"An Honest +Tale speeds +best being +Plainly +Told"</div> + +<p>The beginner will be wise to write his early +experiments in plain English and in the third +person. Fiction that is free from +confusion of style, mixed methods, +and uncertainty of handling always +does the best. The story that is related +in a clear direct manner is most popular with +the public—likewise, it is the most difficult to +write well, though few beginners believe this: it +looks so very simple!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 85%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Fallacies_in_Fiction" id="Fallacies_in_Fiction"></a>Fallacies in Fiction</h2> + + +<p>I have come to the conclusion that the contrariness +of human nature is largely responsible +for the rejection of many of the MSS. +that never get into print; but not the contrariness +of the editor (as the unsuccessful writer generally +thinks when he sees his MS. back once more in +the bosom of his family).</p> + +<p>Most of us, at one period or another, feel we +could shine much more brilliantly in some other +environment than the one in which we find ourselves. +It has been described as "a divine discontent." +There is plenty of discontent about it, I +allow; but I am not so sure that it is divine. +While it may be, and often is, the expression of +a real need for a little more growing space, it is +sometimes the outcome of mere restlessness, or a +lazy, selfish desire to escape the irksome things +that are in our own surroundings, vainly imagining +that we can find some pathway in life where +there are no disagreeables to be faced.</p> + +<p>But whatever the motive may be, there is a +universal idea among the inexperienced that some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> +other person's job is preferable to their own; some +one else's circumstances more interesting and romantic +and dramatic and enthralling than theirs +could ever be. And the result is—much wasted +opportunity.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The +Amateur +so Seldom +has First-hand +Knowledge +of his +Subject</div> + +<p>Now the sum-total of this, in regard to story-writing, +is the fact that fully 80 per cent. of the +fiction submitted to editors deals with +situations of which the writer has +practically no first-hand knowledge; +as a natural consequence it is unconvincing +and often incorrect.</p> + +<p>The schoolgirl who has never +travelled beyond Folkestone or Boulogne, and +whose knowledge of fearsome weapons is limited +to a hockey-stick, riots one across the Continent +on a "Prisoner of Zenda" chase, directly she starts +to write.</p> + +<p>The girl of twenty, living a quiet, useful life in +some small provincial town, in close attendance +upon a kindly invalid aunt, devotes the secret +midnight candle to writing the life-story of a +heartless butterfly of a faithless wife: while the +kindly invalid aunt is surreptitiously writing decorous +mid-Victorian stories of very, <i>very</i> mild +wickedness coming to a politely bad end, and +oppressively good virtue arriving at the top (with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> +more moral advice than plot, or anything else). +The niece imagines she is writing just the type of +story that the public craves; and the aunt is under +the delusion that hers is just the sort of literature +that is wanted for distribution among factory +girls.</p> + +<p>The maiden of high degree writes of the lily-white +beauty of the girl in the grimy garret. The +democratic daughter of the colonies invariably +sprinkles a few titles about her MS.</p> + +<p>Before the war, the anæmic young man in a city +office, who spent most of the year in a crowded +suburb and his short vacation at some crowded +seashore resort, persistently wrote of the exploits +of a marvellous detective who ran Sleuth-hound +Bill to earth in Gory Gulch. Since 1914, he (the +young man) has sent me many MSS.—from +France, Salonika, Egypt, India, and Flanders—and +these are generally love stories, and seldom +bear a trace of battle-smoke or high adventure. +(I am speaking of amateur work, remember.)</p> + +<p>I have nothing to say against a desire for new +horizons; it is a legitimate part of our development. +And I can understand that for a certain +type of weakly and rather starved personality +there is a slight compensation for the lack of +change they crave, in putting down on paper their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> +longings and ideals, and in writing romance in +which they secretly see themselves in the leading +part.</p> + +<p>But this is not saleable matter; neither is it +particularly readable matter, as a general rule +(though there are occasional exceptions, of +course). Because in such cases the writers are +invariably dealing with situations the inwardness +of which they know really nothing. Or else all +their knowledge has been obtained from the writings +of others; they are merely repeating other +people's ideas and other people's descriptions.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Choose +your Topic +from your +own +Environment</div> + +<p>You cannot write convincingly on topics about +which you know little. You can cover reams of +paper—amateurs are doing it every +day of the year!—with descriptions +of people, and houses, and scenes, and +walks of life with which you have +only a hearsay acquaintance; but such writing is +scarcely likely to be worth printing and paying +for.</p> + +<p>If the schoolgirl, instead of wasting her time +on something that reads like a washedout <i>réchauffé</i> +of <i>The Scarlet Pimpernel</i>, would try her hand at a +story of schoolgirl life, she might produce something +really bright and alive, even though it lacked +the symmetry and finish that years of practice<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> +bring to a writer. And though the MS. did not +find a market at the time, on account of immaturity +of style, it might prove valuable later on +when the writer had gained experience. It would +give her data she had forgotten in the intervening +years.</p> + +<p>And the girl who spends her ink on the philanderings +of the faithless wife (a species, by the +way, that she has probably never set eyes on, having +been brought up like most of the rest of us +in a decent circle of sane relations and friends) +might, perhaps, have done some charming pictures +of domestic life, as did the authors of <i>Cranford</i> +and <i>Little Women</i> in their day.</p> + +<p>If the aunt, instead of hoping to influence factory +girls of whom she knows absolutely nothing, +and whose conversation, could she but hear it, +would be an unintelligible language to her, had +turned her invalidism to practical account, and +passed on useful hints and ideas to other invalids, +she might have written something that would have +been welcomed by others similarly handicapped.</p> + +<p>And so on, down to the city clerk, who never +can be made to realise that a type of story most +difficult to lay hands on is the one that deals, accurately, +with the inside of that world peopled by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> +the bankers and stockbrokers and money magnates. +The detective tracking Sleuth-hound Bill has the +tamest walk-over in comparison with the daring, +and tense excitement, surrounding some financial +deals.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Original +Work is +rare: the +Universal +Tendency +is to Copy</div> + +<p>I do not say that these writers would necessarily +have placed their MSS. had they written +on the lines suggested; it takes something +besides the theme and background +to make a good story. But +I do say that they would have been +many degrees nearer publication, had +they dealt with types and circumstances that had +come within their personal cognisance, rather than +with those they only knew by hearsay.</p> + +<p>The outsider would scarcely credit how rare it +is for an editor to receive a piece of really original +work; the universal tendency is to copy other +people's productions rather than trouble to discover +original models.</p> + +<p>The schoolgirl, studying water-colour drawing, +prefers to work from a "copy," showing some other +person's painting of a vase of flowers, rather than +have her own vase filled with real flowers before +her. Some one else's work saves the inexperienced +the responsibility of selection—and selection is +always a difficult point for the beginner, who finds<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> +it hard to decide what to include in, and what to +leave out of, a picture.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Beginners +are Seldom +Aware that +they are +Copying +others</div> + +<p>In the same way, inexperienced fiction writers +find it easier to copy other people's stories; though, +unlike the schoolgirl and her painting-copy, +they are quite unconscious +that they are doing so; they usually +imagine that what they have written +is entirely original.</p> + +<p>It is difficult to get the novice to distinguish +between writing anything down on paper, and +creating it in his own brain. So many think the +mere passing of thoughts through the brain, and +the transmitting of those thoughts to paper, are +indications of their ability to write; and that +what they write must be original.</p> + +<p>And yet in most beginners' MSS. scarcely any +of the incidents, or situations, or plots ever came +within the writer's own purview; the majority are +hashed up from the many stories one reads nowadays—though +the author has no idea that he is +only stringing together selected ideas that originated +in other people's brains.</p> + +<p>There are many reasons to account for this. +For one thing, the novice feels safe in using the +type of material that has already been published. +The world is wide, human nature is varied, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> +it is not easy to decide what to take; therefore +the writer who plans his story on time-honoured +lines is relieved of the responsibility of selection.</p> + +<p>Then, again, if a particular type of story has +been accepted and published, it has received a +certain hall-mark of approval, and forthwith +others tread the same path; there is less uncertainty +here than in breaking new ground.</p> + +<p>There is yet another reason: to evolve anything +that is new and unhackneyed necessitates +our taking trouble; and some amateurs will not +take any more trouble than they can possibly help; +they do not recognise that writing stands for hard +work.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Tried Old +Friends we +have Met +before</div> + +<p>I cannot spare the space to touch on well-worn +plots, but here are a few of the sentences and +expressions that haunt amateur MSS.</p> + +<p>Have you ever read a story that +opened, "It was a glorious day in +June," followed by a page of blue +sky, balmy breezes, humming bees, not a leaf +stirred, and scent of roses heavy on the air? Of +course you have. We all have. That glorious +day in June is one of the most precious perennials +of the story-writer's stock-in-trade.</p> + +<p>You know at once that twenty summers will +have passed o'er <i>her</i> head, and that <i>he</i> is just<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> +round the corner waiting to come upon her all +unawares, so soon as the author can quit cataloguing +nature's beauties.</p> + +<p>And have you ever read a story that opened +with "A dripping November fog enveloped the +city"? Of course you have; and you know at +once, before you get to the next line, which +describes its denseness and the slippery pavements, +and a host of other discomforts, that you are going +to be ushered into an equally dismal city boarding-house, +and introduced to a lovely-complexioned +girl whose frail appearance is only enhanced +by her deep mourning, and hear the sad story +of the pecuniary straits that necessitated her bringing +her widowed mother (often fractious), or it +may be a younger sister (always sunny and the +lodestar of her life), from their lovely old home +in the country, while she earned a living in town. +And, without fail, she has always imagined that +they were well provided for, till the family lawyer +(always old) broke the news after the funeral that +the place was mortgaged up to the hilt, and even +her father's life insurance had been allowed to +lapse.</p> + +<p>You know all the rest—the dreary tramp round +in search of work, and the way she irons out her +threadbare garments to make them last as long<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> +as they can (irrespective of the fact that the +mourning was new only a few weeks before, and +she presumably had a good stock of underwear +in her prosperous days), and a host of other harrowing +experiences until—it comes right in the +end.</p> + +<p>And all because the story opened with a dripping +November fog! Why, I believe the average +amateur would consider it almost improper to +start a desolate orphan on a quest for work in +the metropolis in anything other than a dense +November fog!</p> + +<p>And yet—how much more cheerful for her, poor +dear, could she but begin her career on a dry day—and +some November days in London are quite +sunny and bright—so much better for her in the +thin jacket she always wears on such occasion, +and her worn-out shoes!</p> + +<p>It would be such a blessed thing if we need not +start with the weather, nor the number of summers +that had floated over the sweet young +heroine's head (or winters, if the central figure be +an old man). But the amateur clings to these +openings.</p> + +<p>Then take "the boudoir." After the weather +I don't think anything haunts me more persistently +than the boudoir. "Lady Gwennyth was sitting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> +reading a letter in her luxurious (or cosy, or +dainty) boudoir, when——" etc.</p> + +<p>Now why is it that the girl who starts out to +write fiction loves to introduce her heroine in +this wise? It is most unlikely that the amateur +knows much about a boudoir—few of us do. It +is a room that appertains solely to the rich, and +to only a small proportion of the rich at that. I +know many wealthy women and many well-born +women who haven't a boudoir, simply because the +cramped conditions of modern living seldom leave +them a room to spare for this purpose. The fact +is the boudoir proper does not really belong to +this purposeful age. It is a relic of the more +leisurely Victorian times and the ease-loving, well-to-do +Frenchwoman of pre-war days. Most +modern women have very little time to spend +in a boudoir if even they need one; nevertheless +it appears with unfailing regularity in stories +dealing with the richer ranks of life, till you +would think it was as necessary to a woman's +entourage as—an umbrella!</p> + +<p>Why is it that the heroine has usually refused +a couple (if not more) offers of marriage, before +she is brought to our notice, with yet another offer +looming on the horizon? In real life, as we know<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> +it in this twentieth century, it is most unusual for +a girl to be constantly turning down offers of marriage +like applications for charity subscriptions +though there are exceptions here and there, certainly.</p> + +<p>Yet I scarcely open a love-story that does not +state that the heroine had already refused "every +eligible man in her circle"; though the reader can +seldom see why <i>one</i> man should have proposed to +the damsel, much less a crowd!</p> + +<p>The heroine presented to us by the amateur is +invariably a most ordinary young person, often +quite uninteresting, and lacking the faintest streak +of distinctiveness. And then the question arise—Why +should all the eligible men in the town +have proposed to her?</p> + +<p>Perhaps one explanation is the fact that inexperienced +writers have not learnt the art of depicting +character; as they do not know how to +convey an idea of her attractiveness, they think +if they state that she was attractive that is +sufficient. But statements are not sufficient; she +must be attractive.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p>The youthful heroine and the aged grandmother +may also be quoted as evergreen types that +long ago had become monotonous. Whether girls<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> +married in their teens as a matter of course, a +couple of generations ago, I do not know, as I was +not there; but the youthful heroine was a <i>sine +quâ non</i> in Victorian fiction.</p> + +<p>She is not a <i>sine quâ non</i> now, however; anything +but; the seventeen-year-old bride is by no +means the rule in these times; there is practically +no limit nowadays to the age at which a woman +may receive offers of marriage.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, the amateur persistently follows +bygone models, and still clings to the very young +heroine; no more than eighteen summers are, at +the outside, allowed to pass over her lovely head +before she is introduced to our notice.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p>And certain traditions are still followed in +regard to other details. Her complexion is always +of the rose-petal order, her hair is always escaping +in a series of stray curls about her neck and +forehead (and, by the way, these "stray curls" of +fiction are sadly responsible for many of the +untidy lank locks of to-day!). If you read as +many MSS. as I do, you would think that no +straight-haired, ordinary complexioned girl had +the least chance of a personal love-story, despite +the fact that most of the girls one knows in real +life, who have married and lived "happy ever<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> +after," have been either sallow or sunburnt or +colourless, or just healthy-looking.</p> + +<p>If you doubt whether a successful heroine can +be evolved out of a woman no longer in her teens, +and with a complexion that would not stand +pearls, remember the Hon. Jane, in <i>The Rosary</i>.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p>In addition to the youthful heroine, the aged +grandmother needs to be given a long rest. When +the young wife who married in her teens visits +her old home in company with her one-year-old +infant, it is invariably the dearest old lady who +comes forward to embrace her first grandchild; +and from her own conversation and the description +of her general appearance, the sweet old soul +must be at least eighty, despite all that Nature +might rule to the contrary, to say nothing of the +dressmaker!</p> + +<p>Tradition has it that grandmothers must have +white hair, and spectacles, voluminous skirts, and +knitting in their hands as they sit in an easy-chair +with comfortably slippered feet on a hassock; +and that is the sort of grandmother the +amateur brings on the scenes, irrespective of the +fact that the grandmother of to-day is skipping +about in girlish skirts and high-heeled shoes, with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> +hair and complexion as youthful as she likes to +pay for.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p>Nothing in the way of fiction is more difficult to +write than a thoroughly good love story. And yet +the beginner invariably starts with a love story, +and continues with love-stories, as though there +were no other possible selection.</p> + +<p>I do not think it is often possible to write a +good love-story until one has had some experience +of life. It is so easy to mistake neurotic imaginings +and over-strung emotionalism for love; and +it is still easier to fall back on the conventional +things that the conventional hero and heroine do +and say in the conventional novel, and imagine +that we are recording our own ideas and experiences.</p> + +<p>There are several reasons why the love-story +appeals to the girl who is starting out to write. +She is looking forward to a love-story of her +own, if she be a normal girl, and has already seen +herself in the part of her favourite heroine. Naturally +it is not surprising that love-stories are of +absorbing interest to her. And a girl usually sees +herself as the heroine of her own early love-stories; +and she invariably makes her heroine do +and say what she would like to do and say under<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> +the circumstances, and at the same time she makes +the hero do and say what she would like her own +lover to do and say—but it does not follow that +this is true to life; or that her lover would say +the things she credits him with in her story. Very +few proposals in real life ever resemble the proposals +in fiction!</p> + +<p>A girl will often introduce her heroine in a +picturesque pose against some lovely background +of hills, or woods, or garden flowers; and the hero +coming upon her suddenly is made to pause, lost +in admiration of the exquisite picture she makes. +The girl writes this because—unconsciously, perhaps—she +sees herself in the part, and likes to +think she would make a very attractive picture +that would rivet a man's attention.</p> + +<p>But it is not true to life. In reality, the average +man seldom notices the scenic fittings under such +circumstances. He either sees the girl—or he +doesn't. Unless he is an artist looking for useful +subjects for his pictures, the background is not +often seen in conjunction with the girl. I merely +give this as an instance of the way amateurs are +apt to see themselves in an imaginary part that in +reality is at variance with "things as they are"; +and their writings become artificial in consequence.</p> + +<p>There is another reason why the love-story is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> +the beginner's choice: it calls for so few characters. +The simplest ingredients are—a nice, beautiful +girl and a strong, manly, deserving masculine. +Of course, you can vary the flavour by +making them rich or poor, misunderstood, down-trodden, +capricious, and what not. And you can +amplify it by introducing the bold, bad rival +(masculine); the superficial, fascinating butterfly +rival (feminine); the irate forbidding parent +(<i>his</i>, if he is rich and she is poor; <i>hers</i>, if he is poor +and her mother is ambitious and money-grabbing); +the designing mischief-maker (a black-eyed +brunette, or a brassy-haired blonde); and a +host of other well-worn familiar types. But when +all is said and done, you need have but two +characters to delineate, if you do not feel equal +to more—and there is a distinct save of brain +in this!</p> + +<p>When you reach the climax in any other than +a love-story, you are expected to make the <i>dénouement</i> +something of a slight surprise at any rate, +if no more; and we all know that surprises—slight +or otherwise—are not altogether easy to manufacture +for purposes of fiction. It is simple work +to go on talking and describing and making the +people talk—about nothing—for pages and pages; +but by no means simple to lead it all up to a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> +definite point of culmination. There must be +some sort of point to a story; and that point is +the trouble as a rule!</p> + +<p>But with a love-story, the amateur thinks he +need not worry about hunting for a climax—every +one knows what the climax must be. "All you +have to do is to bring them along the road of life +to a suitable spot where they can fall into each +other's arms"—thus the novice argues, and proceeds +to do it. Another save of brain wear and +tear!</p> + +<p>In any other situation the <i>dramatis personæ</i> are +bound to do at least a little talking, to explain +how the thing has worked out, or to let you know +how matters finally adjusted themselves. But not +so our happy lovers! About the longest sentence +he is called upon to construct is, "At last!" as +he clasps her to him; while her contribution to +the duologue need only be, "Darling!" which she +whispers, resting her head on his shoulder. And +they need not say even this much: for one very +favourite method of conclusion, with inexperienced +authors, is to bring the hero and heroine suddenly +face to face with some such final sentence +as, "What they said need not be recorded here: +such words are too sacred to be repeated"—a finale +that always annoyed me in my young days!</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span></p> +<p>Amateurs are generally very weak in character-drawing, +and nowhere is this more noticeable than +in love-stories. There is a time-honoured notion +that the chief requisites in the heroine are youth +and beauty, as I have already said, while the hero +must of equal necessity be clean-cut, manly and +masterful. With these ideas already fixed in his +head, the novice seldom sees any necessity for +character-delineation. He explains that the +heroine is lovely and the hero in every way a desirable +young man, and leaves it at that; forgetting +that the mere statement that she is +"winsome," or "wistful," or possessed of "clear +grey eyes that are the windows of her soul," does +not necessarily make her all these things. In the +majority of amateur MSS. the heroine, as she +depicts herself by word and deed, is a most colourless, +stereotyped nonentity; and by no means the +glowing, fascinating thing of originality and +beauty that the author's adjectives would have us +believe; and the hero is frequently no more animated, +no more human, than the elegant dummy +in a tailor's window.</p> + +<p>This may be taken as a fairly safe ruling: If it +be necessary for you to label your characters with +their chief characteristics, your writing is uncon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span>vincing +and weak. Their actions should speak +louder than your adjectives.</p> + +<p>One of the prominent novelists of to-day—who +is clever enough and experienced enough to +know better—has a trick of letting some one of +his characters make a semi-witty remark; after +which he adds, "And everybody laughed." This +last should be quite unnecessary. If the remark +be sufficiently laugh-at-able, it will be self-evident +that people smiled; if it is not sufficiently +witty to suggest a laugh to the reader, no amount +of ticketing will raise a smile, either in the book or +out of it.</p> + +<p>The same principle should be applied to the +presentation of one's characters. If they are to +have anything more than a mere walk-on part, +they should very quickly explain themselves. The +bald statement that the hero is a fine, manly +fellow means nothing in reality. What is important +is whether his actions and speech suggest a +fine, manly character. If they do not, no amount +of descriptive matter on the part of the author +will conjure up a fine, manly fellow in the reader's +imagination.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 85%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Some_Rules_for_Story-Writing" id="Some_Rules_for_Story-Writing"></a>Some Rules for Story-Writing</h2> + + +<p>In presenting a story it is essential that the +reader shall have some idea as to what it is +about. To start by keeping the reader +roaming along for a page or two among unintelligible +remarks, and references to unknown or unexplained +events, is to give him strong encouragement +to shut up the book without troubling to go +any further.</p> + +<p>There is something very exasperating about a +writer who gives no clue as to who anybody is or +what anything is; he is every bit as irritating as +the one who goes to the other extreme, and drags +the reader through the babyhood and school days +of the hero's parents.</p> + +<p>These are the opening paragraphs of a MS. +offered to me. It is quite a short story, hence +there was every reason why space should not have +been wasted on unintelligible preamble.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"It happened in this way: through the lions. No, +that isn't exactly right though; the lions didn't +really do it, would never have thought of doing such +a thing; but if I had not gone to see them, it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> +would never have happened. So, you see, they were +to some extent responsible.</p> + +<p>"I expect you are saying to yourself, 'What was +it that happened?' Well that is what I'm going +to write about. But first I must tell you that +one of my failings from childhood upwards has +been the habit of starting to tell my story right in the +very middle; and then I always feel so annoyed +when, after I've been chattering away for I don't +know how long, people look at me and say, 'Perhaps +you will try and be lucid and explain what +you are talking about!' It never seems to occur +to them that it is they who are so stupid. But I +will tell you at once about 'me' and then tell you +about 'it.' I'll begin at the very beginning, and +try to tell you everything in proper orthodox style."</p></div> + +<p>After much more of this description, it turns out +at last that the lions were celebrities at a dinner-party +where the narrator met the man she ultimately +married.</p> + +<p>That was all!</p> + +<p>It is foolish to keep the reader dangling in +suspense, unless the subsequent revelations are to +be sufficiently striking to warrant the suspense. A +long explanatory deviation from the actual theme +is seldom satisfactory or desirable, in a short story, +even when the theme is a big one (unless it be +absolutely necessary, in order to elucidate some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> +important detail): but it is inexcusable when the +subject is trivial and obvious.</p> + +<p>The more "body" there is in your MS. the +more it will stand digressive or dilutive passages; +the lighter your main theme, the less can you +afford to allow the reader's interest to be dissipated +over extraneous matter before you reach the +main theme.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p>Until you are an experienced craftsman, introduce +the important characters as early as possible. +The reader should know them as long as possible +if he is to take a keen personal interest in them.</p> + +<p>It is better not to describe your characters more +than is necessary for actual identification; they +should describe themselves by their actions and +conversation, as the story proceeds.</p> + +<p>To save the monotony of long descriptive passages, +that always hamper the movement of a +story, it is often possible to make one of the characters, +in the course of conversation, give the information +that the author is anxious to convey to +the reader. But in order to effect this, do not +fall into the error of making a character say things +that in real life there would be no reason for his +saying. You may want to convey the information +to the reader that the heroine's ancestors were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> +eminently respectable; but it would be bad art to +make her remark to her own parent (or a relative): +"As you know, mother dear, grandfather +was a distinguished general."</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p>Beginners imagine that the strength of a story +is in direct proportion to the way they crowd +together incidents, or multiply their characters. +But this entirely depends on the quality of the +incidents and the importance of the characters.</p> + +<p>The whole is greater than a part—always has +been and always will be; and if each individual +character is weak, and each episode is feeble, no +matter how you may elaborate your story, the +whole will be weaker than each part.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p>It is time-saving, when writing a story, to lay +the scene in some locality you know well, even +though you change the name and preserve its +incognito. It is most useful to have a fixed plan +of the streets and lanes and buildings and railway +station in your mind when writing.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p>Try to distinguish between a longing to voice +your own pent-up emotions, and a desire to give +the world something that you think will interest +or instruct them. Three-quarters of the love-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span>stories +girls write are merely outlets for their own +emotions; and picture what they wish would happen +in their own lives—with no thought whatever +as to whether the MS. contains anything likely to +interest the outsider.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p>Short sentences and short paragraphs are usually +an advantage in stories as well as in articles; they +give crispness and brightness to the whole. Whereas +long sentences and long paragraphs are both +stodgy to read and uninteresting to look at, (and +it must not be forgotten that the look of a page +sometimes counts a good deal with the public).</p> + +<p>I know that instances can be cited where celebrated +people have written long sentences and +ungainly paragraphs, and yet have been read. +President Wilson, in his most famous Note to +Germany, led off with a sentence of one hundred +and seventy-one words, while there were only +twelve full-stops in the whole message. But +President Wilson, at that particular date, scored +heavily over every other writer, in that the whole +world was eagerly willing to read anything he +wrote—even though he had omitted all stops and +capital letters!—whereas the majority of us, alas, +have to persuade or coax or beguile the public into +looking at our words of wisdom, and we have to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> +make the reading as easy for people as we can. +Otherwise they will not bother their heads about +us!</p> + +<p>People were willing to put up with President +Wilson's diffuse and "trailing" manner of writing, +because at the moment he was the mouthpiece +of the inhabitants of the United States. Any +one who is the mouthpiece of over ninety millions +of people can cease to worry about style—some +one is sure to read him no matter how he expresses +himself.</p> + +<p>But so long as we manage to avoid having positions +of such greatness thrust upon us, we shall +do well to keep our sentences terse and short, and +our MSS. broken up into paragraphs.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The +Question +of Polish</div> + +<p>There is much divergence of opinion as to how +far it is desirable to polish one's work. Personally +I think it all depends upon the work.</p> + +<p>Some authors put down their ideas +in a very rough form, and seem unable +to realise the possibilities of those ideas and +their development, till they see them on paper.</p> + +<p>Others are able to think in minute detail before +they put a line on paper.</p> + +<p>Some people can never leave anything alone, +and will tinker with half a dozen fresh proofs +(if they can induce the publisher to supply them).<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> +Others are more sure of themselves, or disinclined +to alter what they have written.</p> + +<p>The late Guy Boothby used almost to re-write +his stories, after they were set up in type; the +margins of most of the slip proofs being so covered +with new matter and alterations that they had +often to be entirely reset. So expensive did this +become, that at last I decided to keep his typed +MS. in a drawer for a week or two, and then send +it back to him, asking him to do whatever rewriting +was necessary before it was set up.</p> + +<p>Of course, writers may alter a good deal in +their first MS., before ever it gets to the publisher; +but my experience has been that the author who +worries his proof is the one who has previously +worried his MS. (and sometimes his family too)! +It is primarily a matter of mind-certainty, combined +with the question of temperament.</p> + +<p>One thing is undeniable: some writers will +polish their MSS. into things of beauty; others +will polish all the individuality and life out of +theirs. In the latter case, however, I am inclined +to think there was not much individuality and +life to start with!</p> + +<p>So far as the beginner is concerned, my advice +is Polish; most of us can stand a good deal of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> +this without losing anything worth keeping, or +coming to a bad end!</p> + +<div class="sidenote">To get +under way, +Start +where +you are</div> + +<p>Do not waste time in waiting for something +extraordinary or sensational to turn up, in the +way of a plot, or you may have to +wait a long while. Begin with some +everyday happening and invest it +with personality.</p> + +<p>If you can, avoid making your early MSS. love +stories. The <i>dénouement</i> of a love story is so +obvious: try to write something on less obvious +lines; it will be better practice for you.</p> + +<p>Study some of the many delightful books that +have been written in other than love motifs, yet +dealing with events of ordinary life; such as <i>The +Golden Age</i>, and <i>Dream Days</i>, by Kenneth +Graham; <i>A Window in Thrums</i>, by Sir James +Barrie; <i>The Country of the Pointed Firs</i>, by Sarah +Orne Jewett; <i>Timothy's Quest</i>, by Kate Douglas +Wiggin.</p> + +<p>Genius is shown in the ability to take simple +themes, and treat them greatly.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 85%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span></p> +<h2>About the Climax</h2> + + +<p>The most important part of a story +should be the climax (I use the word +climax in its modern sense, meaning the +terminal point where all is brought to a conclusion, +the <i>dénouement</i>, the final catastrophe). The +climax must be in the author's mind from the +very first sentence, and everything he writes should +be with this in view—<i>i.e.</i>, his own view, not that +of the reader; it must be his aim throughout the +story to conceal the climax from the reader till the +last moment. Nothing with an obvious solution +will hold the reader's interest.</p> + +<p>Every piece of writing should have some sort +of a conclusive ending—a satisfactory one if possible. +Writers sometimes make their fiction terminate +in an abrupt, unsatisfactory manner, which +is no real finish, and leaves the reader wishing it +had not all ended like that, and wondering if +there is more to come.</p> + +<p>When such defects are pointed out, the amateur +invariably replies, "But it must end like that, +because that is what actually happened." They<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> +forget that the fact a circumstance actually happened +is no guarantee that it was worth recording; +nor is the circumstance necessarily the symmetrical +finish to the story,—and a piece of writing +should be symmetrical, and in well-balanced design. +You cannot always detach an incident from +contingent happenings, and then say it is complete. +The larger proportion of our actions are +linked with, and interdependent upon, other actions.</p> + +<p>Therefore see to it that your story terminates +in a satisfactory manner. That which apparently +ends in failure to-day, may take a new lease of +life to-morrow and prove to be merely a stepping-stone +to new developments.</p> + +<p>It is not bound to be a happy ending (though +if there be a choice, happy endings are by far the +best, in a world that has enough of sorrow in its +work-a-day life); but it must be an ending leaving +a sense of right completion with the reader—the +conviction that this is the logical conclusion of +the whole.</p> + +<p>All great works of art leave behind them a +sense of fulfilment, the "something attempted, +something done," that is always the desirable +finale to the human heart and mind. We hate +to be left in a state of never-to-be-satisfied sus<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span>pension; +and we invariably reject and condemn to +oblivion the work that deliberately leaves us thus.</p> + +<p>Some people have an idea that it is "artistic" +to leave a story in a half-finished condition, or +with a disappointing ending, or a general feeling +of blankness. A few years ago there was a mania +for this type of story among small writers: those +who were not clever enough to produce originality +of idea, and at the same time get their work logical, +symmetrical and conclusive, would seize on +some miserable, or at any rate uncomfortable, +ending—drown one of the lovers the day before +the wedding; part husband and wife irrevocably, +and possibly kill their only child in a railway +accident in the last chapter—anything in fact +that would produce what one might call a +"never-more" finale. And then a certain section +of the public (who really did not like it at all, +but feared to say so lest they should appear to +be behind the times!) would exclaim, "So +artistic!"</p> + +<p>Yet it was anything but artistic; three-quarters +of the time it was logically and morally bad; +logically bad because it was seldom the true and +natural conclusion that one would have seen in +real life; morally bad because it is actually wrong +to manufacture and circulate gloom unnecessarily.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span></p> + +<p>I repeat again I would not imply that all endings +must be happy; great tragedies need tragic +conclusions; suffering is as much a part of real +life as joy; a certain course of action must inevitably +lead to a sorrowful ending, and there is no +getting away from the unalterable truth, "The +wages of sin is death." But the type of story to +which I am alluding is seldom great or tragic: it +is not even painful; it is more often weak and +washy, and ends with unsatisfactory incompletion +because the author fancied it was brilliantly +original!</p> + +<p>Always work steadily towards the climax, +speeding up the movement as you near the end. +Make big events come closer and closer together, +with less detail between, the nearer you are to +the conclusion.</p> + +<p>Do not anticipate your climax, and get there too +soon, and then try to make up the book to the +required length by adding on an after-piece.</p> + +<p>The climax should be such that it leaves in the +reader's mind a sense of absolute fitness, a certainty +that it was after all the one right ending—even +though it came as a great surprise.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 85%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="The_Use_of_Curtains" id="The_Use_of_Curtains"></a>The Use of "Curtains"</h2> + + +<p>When a story is presented in sections, +as in a serial or a play, it is advisable +to make each section end—so far +as possible—in such a manner that the reader is +set longing for the next part. Thus, while the +climax is generally the solution of a problem, a +"curtain" is usually a problem needing solution +(literally, a good place for ringing down the curtain, +since the audience will be on tenterhooks to +know what happens next).</p> + +<p>This arrangement is sound business as well as +a good mental policy. It is wise to make an instalment +leave some final, incisive mark on the +mind of the readers, if there is to be an interval +before the story is resumed, otherwise it may be +difficult for the public to recollect what went +before, and the thread of continuity will be lost.</p> + +<p>More than this, an editor, despite the usual +backwardness of his intelligence, realises the desirability +of securing readers for subsequent issues +of his periodical, no less than for the current +number. If each instalment of the serial termin<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span>ate +with some mystery unsolved, or some hopeless +entanglement needing to be straightened out, +or some problem that baffles everybody (most of +all the readers), it is much more likely that people +will rush to secure the next number to see how +things turn out, than if the instalment merely ends +with the hero indulging in a tame, lengthy soliloquy +on artichokes, and leaves nothing more exciting +to be settled than whether these same artichokes +shall, or shall not, be cooked for the +heroine's lunch.</p> + +<p>On more than one occasion I have had readers +write protestingly because an instalment of a +serial has left off cruelly "just when one was +frightfully anxious to know what would happen +next!" But that is the very place for an instalment +to end: good "curtains" are worth as much +to a serial as a good plot; and if a story lack good +"curtains," an editor thinks twice before purchasing +it for serial publication, even though it has +undoubted literary merit and will make a good +volume.</p> + +<p>Inexperienced writers overlook this necessity +for holding the reader's attention from section to +section, and sometimes offer an editor serial stories +without sufficient backbone or dramatic interest to +hold the readers' attention from the first instal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span>ment +to the second, much less for twelve or more +detachments.</p> + +<p>Or they crowd several excitements into a couple +of chapters, and then run on uneventfully for a +dozen or so.</p> + +<p>This does not mean that problems must crop up +mechanically at stated intervals, and the serial be +produced on a mathematical basis of one murder, +or mystery to so many words! But it does mean +that the author must see to it that his important +incidents are fairly distributed throughout the +work as a whole, and that each chapter ends at +the psychological moment. This gives an editor a +chance to break the story at places where the +excitement runs highest.</p> + +<p>Careful attention to balance will help the +writer to get the action fairly distributed. If the +MS. be examined as a whole, with this question +of balance in mind, the writer will be able to +detect if too much movement has been concentrated +in one part, with undue expanses of uneventfulness +stretching between.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Dickens +was an +Adept at +"Curtains"</div> + +<p>No one knew better than Charles Dickens how +to keep the reader on the <i>qui vive</i> for the next +chapter. Joseph H. Choate says in his Memoirs: +"As Dickens' books came out they were eagerly +devoured in America. <i>Dombey and Son</i> came +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span>out in numbers long before the laying of the first +Atlantic cable, and several numbers went over in +fort-nightly steamers, the most frequent +communication of that day. +In an early part of the story little +Paul was brought to the verge of the +grave, the last number to hand leaving him hovering +between life and death, and all America was +anxious to know his fate. When the next steamer +arrived bringing decisive news, the dock was +crowded with people. The passengers imagined +some great national or international event had +happened. But it was only the eager reading +public who had hurried down to meet the steamer, +and get the first news as to whether little Paul +was alive or dead."</p> + +<p>The late Dr. S. G. Green has told how, at the +day school he attended as a boy, "work was suspended +once a month on the publication of the +instalment of <i>Pickwick Papers</i>, which the head +master read aloud to the assembled and eager +boys. When Mr. Pickwick was released from the +Fleet Prison, a whole holiday was given, to celebrate +the event!"</p> + +<p>This is the type of serial story an editor yearns +for: one that will end with so dramatic a "curtain" +each month, that the public suspend all employ<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span>ment +in order to secure copies of the following +issue, and learn what happened next!</p> + +<p>Even the final sentences of an instalment with +a good "curtain" can be made to do wonders in +whetting the reader's appetite for more. But it is +advisable to see how they read in connection with +the words that inevitably follow. For instance, +there was a lurid serial in a daily paper which +ended one day with the words:</p> + +<p>"'Cat,' she cried, 'vile, odious, contemptible +cat.' To be continued to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"But," commented <i>Punch</i>, "could she do any +better than that even after she <i>had</i> slept on it?"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 85%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="On_Making_Verse" id="On_Making_Verse"></a>On Making Verse</h2> + + +<p>Most of us break out into verse at one +period of our life. Youth starting +out to explore a world that seems +teeming with new discoveries, generally tries to +voice his emotions in poetry—not because youth +has any special aptitude for this form of literature, +but because the poet has expressed, as no other +writer has done, the hopes and ideals, the craving +for romance and the thirst for beauty, that are +among the characteristics of our golden years. +And youth, wishing to voice his own emotions, +naturally selects the literary form in which such +emotions have already been enshrined.</p> + +<p>Verse-writing is a very useful exercise for the +student—as I have already stated in a previous +chapter; but until we are fairly advanced, it is +well to avoid regarding our efforts too seriously.</p> + +<p>To string together certain sets of syllables with +rhymes in couples, is an exceedingly simple matter; +but to write poetry is the highest and the +most difficult form of literary art.</p> + +<p>It is hard to convince the beginner that the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> +verses he has put together are not poetry—even +though they may be technically correct as to make-up, +which is by no means always the case. He is +inclined to argue that he has dreamed dreams, and +seen visions, and travelled far from the prose of +life; what he writes, therefore, must be scintillating +with star dust, if with nothing more heavenly.</p> + +<p>For the making of poetry, the dreams of youth +are valuable; take care of them, they are among +the precious things of life, and they vanish with +neglect or rough handling; but something more +than dreams is needful.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Study the +Laws +governing +Metrical +Composition</div> + +<p>If you feel you can best express yourself in +verse, make a comprehensive study of the laws +governing metrical composition. Such +knowledge not only enables you to +write in a shapely, orderly, pleasing +form, but it may also help you to +ascertain what is wrong, when something you have +written seems jarring, or halting, or lacking at +any point.</p> + +<p>To many amateurs, laws and rules suggest a +cramping influence; they feel sure they could do +far better work if unhampered by any restrictions. +In reality, however, the limitations such laws +impose are a gain to the poet, since they compel +him to sort out his ideas, to differentiate between<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> +essentials and non-essentials, to condense his +thoughts and measure his words. And if properly +carried out, all this should result in the reduction +of verbosity to the minimum, and a moderately +clear presentation of a subject—it does not always, +I know, but it ought to do so.</p> + +<p>I am neither enumerating nor discussing these +laws in this volume, since excellent books on the +subject have been published. I merely wish to +point out to the student the necessity for giving +the matter attention.</p> + +<p>Some people think the fact that the idea embodied +in their verse is good and ennobling, should +condone weak or faulty workmanship. But, alas! +in this callous world it doesn't, as a rule.</p> + +<p>The ideal verse is that which presents beautifully +a great thought in a small compass.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Ideas are +more +Important +than +Rhapsodies</div> + +<p>A poem should centralise on some +special thought or idea. Rhapsodies, +no matter how intense, do not constitute +poetry; every poem, be it ever +so short, should suggest some definite train of +thought. Haphazard statements or description +are no more permissible in a poem than in a novel.</p> + +<p>All nonsense verse, even, must have an underlying +semblance of a sensible idea, though when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> +you come to analyse it, it may turn out to be the +height of absurdity.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Moreover +the Ideas +should +be Poetic</div> + +<p>Not only must a poem contain a definite idea, +it must be a poetic idea, something that will lift +the reader above the prose of life. +Try to make him see beauty if you +can; and to hear beauty in the music +of your words. Poetry should be +beautiful and suggest loveliness, whenever possible.</p> + +<p>However simple and ordinary the subject of +your verse, try to carry the reader beyond superficialities, +to the wonderful and the unordinary +that so often give glory to life's commonplaces.</p> + +<p>Take a well-worn subject like the incoming +tide; how many people have been moved to write +on this topic!</p> + +<p>I could not possibly reckon up the number of +times I have seen "ocean's roar" rhyming with +"rocky shore." The writer who is nothing more +than a versifier is content with a description of the +sights and sounds of the beach; but the poet looks +further than this. Read Mrs. Meynell's "Song," +and you will better understand my meaning when +I say that the poet must endeavour to show us, +through the substance of things material, the +shadow of things spiritual.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span></p> + +<h4>SONG</h4> + +<h4>By <span class="smcap">Alice Meynell</span></h4> + +<p class="poem"> +As the unhastening tide doth roll,<br /> +Dear and desired, upon the whole<br /> +Long shining strand, and floods the caves,<br /> +Your love comes filling with happy waves<br /> +The open sea-shore of my soul.<br /> +<br /> +But inland from the seaward spaces,<br /> +None knows, not even you, the places<br /> +Brimmed at your coming, out of sight<br /> +—The little solitudes of delight<br /> +This tide constrains in dim embraces.<br /> +<br /> +You see the happy shore, wave-rimmed,<br /> +But know not of the quiet dimmed<br /> +Rivers your coming floods and fills,<br /> +The little pools, 'mid happier hills,<br /> +My silent rivulets, over-brimmed.<br /> +<br /> +What, I have secrets from you? Yes.<br /> +But, O my Sea, your love doth press<br /> +And reach in further than you know,<br /> +And fill all these; and when you go,<br /> +There's loneliness in loneliness.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 8em;"><i>By Courtesy of</i></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 8em;"><i>The Walter Scott Publishing Co., Ltd.</i></span><br /> +</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Amateur +Verse +usually +falls +under +these +Headings</div> + +<p>Putting on one side religious verse (which one +does not wish to dissect too brutally, since one +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span>recognises and respects the spirit underlying it, +despite its sometimes poor technique), amateur +verse usually falls under one of four +headings:</p> + +<p>1. Lovers' outpourings.</p> + +<p>2. Baby prattle.</p> + +<p>3. Nature dissertations.</p> + +<p>4. Stuff worth reading.</p> + +<p>The first of these explains itself, and includes +perennial poems entitled "Blue Eyes"; "Parted"; +"To Daphne" (or Muriel, or Gladys, or some +other equally nice person); "Absence"; "My +Lady"; "Twin Souls," etc. In these the following +are generally regarded as original and delightful +rhymes: Love and dove; mourn and forlorn; +girl and curl; moon and June; eyes and +skies.</p> + +<p>Without wishing to hurt any sensitive feelings, +truth compels me to state that it is rare for such +productions to have any literary value.</p> + +<p>The verses coming under the second heading are +frequently written by young girls, unmarried +aunts, and very new fathers; occasionally mothers +give vent to their maternal affection in this way, +but more often they find their time fully occupied +in attending to the little ones' material needs.</p> + +<p>Such poems (often entitled "Lullaby") are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> +usually characterised by an entire lack of anything +that could possibly be called an idea. They will +apostrophise the infant, and tell it how lovely it +is, begging it to go to sleep, and assuring it +that mother will keep watch the while—which no +up-to-date mother would dream of doing in these +busy, servantless days! But as to any concrete +reason why the verses were penned, one looks for +it in vain.</p> + +<p>I do not think such effusions serve any useful +purpose. They are not even desirable as an outlet +for the feelings, since there are better ways in +which one can work out one's affection for a +child—woolly boots, pinafores, personal attention, +and the like. Nevertheless every woman's paper +is deluged with MSS. of this type.</p> + +<p>The Nature dissertation is a trifle better than +the preceding, because it does offer a little scope +for looking around and noting things. But the +weakness here is this: the writers do not always +look around; they as often sit at a comfortable +writing-table indoors and amalgamate other people's +observations; and the outcome is a recital of +the obvious, with oft-repeated platitudes.</p> + +<p>The following are well-worn titles: "A Spring +Song"; "Bluebells"; "Twilight Calm"; "Sunset"; +"Autumn Leaves"; occasionally they take a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> +Wordsworthian turn, "Lines written on the shore +at Atlantic City" or "Thoughts on seeing Stratford-on-Avon +for the first time" (such a poem +naturally beginning "Immortal Bard, who—" +etc.).</p> + +<p>At best, the majority of nature poems, as written +by the untrained, contain little beyond descriptive +passages. This again results in a pointless +production that seldom embodies any idea worth +the space devoted to it.</p> + +<p>You may record the fact that the sun is setting +in a blaze of colour; but there is nothing sufficiently +remarkable about this to warrant its publication: +most people know that the sun occasionally +sets in this fashion. If the beauty of the sunset +affected you strongly, lifting you above earthly +things, and giving you a vision—dim perhaps, but +nevertheless a vision—of the Glory that shall be +revealed, then it is for you so to describe the beauty +of the sunset that you convey to your readers the +same feelings, the same uplifted sense, the same +vision of the yet greater Glory that is to be. When +you can do this, the chances are that you will +be writing poetry. But until you can do this, you +may be writing nothing better than fragments of +a rhyming guide-book.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span></p> + +<p>You may argue that not only did you feel an +uplift when you gazed on the sunset, but you re-experience +it as you read the poem +you wrote upon it.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">You see +the Scene +you are +describing: +the Reader +does not</div> + +<p>Possibly so; because to you the +lines conjure up the whole scene; <i>i.e.</i> +they serve to remind you of much +that is not written down. One word may be +enough to recall to your mind the overwhelming +grandeur of the sundown in every detail; but it +will not be sufficient to spread it out before the +eyes of those who did not see the actual occurrence; +neither will it reveal to them the uplift of +the moment.</p> + +<p>The novice so often forgets that his own mind +fills in the details of what he has seen, and makes +a perfect picture out of an imperfect description. +But the reader cannot do this; he has nothing to +help him beyond the written words. Therefore +the writer must take care to omit nothing that is +essential, nothing that will enforce the mental and +spiritual conception of a scene. And in order to +do this, he must analyse the scene, and ascertain +(if he can) what it was that aroused such deep +emotion within him. If he can tabulate these +items (sometimes it is possible to do so, sometimes +it is not), then he must give them special<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> +emphasis in his description, no matter what else +is omitted.</p> + +<p>Whether you are writing descriptive matter in +verse or prose, it is well to bear in mind that +memory helps <i>you</i> to visualise the whole scene, +whereas the reader will have no such additional +aid.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Poetry +should +Voice Worldwide, +rather than +Individual, +Need</div> + +<p>The primary object of the beginner, in writing +verse, is often to voice his own heart's longing; +whereas, if his verse is to be of interest +to others besides himself, it must +voice the longings of other people, +Poetry of the "longing" kind should +touch on world-wide human need, not +merely on an individual want, if it is +to waken response in the reader. Of course the +individual want may be a world-wide human +need: it very often is; but it is not wise to trust +to chance in this particular.</p> + +<p>Look about you, and see if your experiences are +likely to be those of your fellow-creatures. If so, +there is more probability that your work will +appeal to others than if you take no count of their +requirements and centre on your own.</p> + +<p>The poet, among other qualifications, has the +ability to recognise what humanity wants to say +but cannot, and is able to set it down in black<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> +and white, so that when the world reads it, it +exclaims: "Why, that is just what I think and +feel! Only I could never put it into words!"</p> + +<p>When Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote the +"Sonnets from the Portuguese," she was writing +of her own love for one particular man. So far +she was dealing with her own experiences; and +if that had been all, the matter might have ended +there. But because uncountable women in every +land have loved in that same way, have thought +those thoughts, and experienced those identical +emotions, though they were not able to write of +them as Mrs. Browning did, her "Sonnets" found +an echo in hearts the world over: they voiced a +great human experience, a universal human longing.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The +So-called +"New +Poetry"</div> + +<p>One modern phase of verse-making has had a +very demoralising effect on the amateur. I refer +to the outbreak of shapeless productions—devoid +of music, beauty, +rhythm, and balance, and often lacking +the rudiments of sense—that developed +before the war, and has been with us +ever since.</p> + +<p>The followers of this cult advocate the abolition +of all law and order: each goes gaily on his own +way, writing whatsoever he pleases, no matter how<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> +crude, or banal, or incoherent, or loathsome; lines +any and every length; unlimited full stops, or +none at all; just what is in his brain—and what +a state of brain it reveals! This so-called "new +poetry" resembles nothing in the world so much +as the MSS. an editor occasionally receives from +inmates of lunatic asylums!</p> + +<p>Literary effusions of this type are on a par +with the cubist and futurist monstrosities that +have tried to imagine themselves a new form of +pictorial art.</p> + +<p>Unfortunately, the desire to kick over all laws +and rules, and everything that betokens restraint +and discipline, is no new one. Periodically the +world has seemed to be attacked with wholesale +madness, as history shows; and a pronounced +feature of each upheaval has been the attempt +of certain deranged imaginations to abolish that +order which is Heaven's first law (and which cannot +be abolished without wide-spread ruin), and +in its place to exalt the deification of self. The +years preceding every outbreak have invariably +been marked by excesses, licence and extravagance +of all kinds; while real art, wholesome living, +serious thinking, and steady, well-regulated work, +have been at a discount.</p> + +<p>Do not be misled by high-sounding statements,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> +that all the incoherency and carelessness and indifferent +workmanship exhibited in recent travesties +of Art was a groping after better things, the +breaking of shackles that chained the free heaven-born +spirit of man to miserable mundane convention.</p> + +<p>It was nothing of the sort.</p> + +<p>Rather, it was a form of hysteria that was the +outcome of the "soft" living, the feverish quest +of pleasure, the craving for notoriety at the least +expenditure of effort, the longing to be perpetually +in the limelight, and the absence of self-discipline +that was all too noticeable in the earlier years of +this century.</p> + + +<h4>THE LIMITATIONS OF YOUTH</h4> +<h4>By <span class="smcap">Eugene Field</span></h4> + +<p class="poem"> +I'd like to be a cowboy an' ride a fiery hoss<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Way out into the big and boundless West;</span><br /> +I'd kill the bears an' catamounts an' wolves I come across,<br /> +An' I'd pluck the bal-head eagle from his nest!<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">With my pistols at my side,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">I would roam the prarers wide,</span><br /> +An' to scalp the savage Injun in his wigwam would I ride—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">If I darst; but I darsen't!</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span><br /> +I'd like to go to Afriky an' hunt the lions there,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">An' the biggest ollyfunts you ever saw!</span><br /> +I would track the fierce gorilla to his equatorial lair,<br /> +An' beard the cannybull that eats folks raw!<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">I'd chase the pizen snakes,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">An' the 'pottimus that makes</span><br /> +His nest down at the bottom of unfathomable lakes—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">If I darst; but I darsen't!</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>The "new" poetry was a manifestation of the +decadence undermining pre-war Art.</p> + +<p>Do not be deluded into thinking that the aberrations +of ill-trained minds that sometimes flaunt +themselves before your bewildered eyes, in some +very "thin" volume of verse, or in some freakish +periodical, are art, or even worth the paper they +are printed on. They are not. Very probably +they would never have got into print at all, but +for the fact that those who affect the cult are, +for the most part, people with more money than +discrimination, who can afford to pay for publicity.</p> + +<p>Just as a certain type of eccentricity of action +may be the precursor of mental disease, so a +certain type of eccentricity of thought may be the +forerunner of moral and spiritual disease.</p> + +<p>Avoid unnecessary abbreviations: <i>th'</i> for the, +<i>o'</i> for of, and similar curtailments. These are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> +often mere mannerisms, and introduced with the +idea that they are distinctive: but they are not.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Some +General +Hints +worth +Noting</div> + +<p>Long lines are better for descriptive +verse than short ones.</p> + +<p>A stately metre, with well-marked +cadence, is best suited to a lofty theme. +This is illustrated in "The Valley +Song," by the late Mable Earle, which we reprint +by courtesy of the <i>American Sunday School +Times</i>.</p> + + +<h4>A VALLEY SONG</h4> + +<h4>By <span class="smcap">Mable Earle</span></h4> + +<p class="center"> +<i>"Because the Syrians have said, The Lord is God of<br /> +the hills, but He is not God of the valleys."</i></p> + +<p class="poem"> +God of the heights where men walk free,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Above life's lure, beyond death's sting;</span><br /> +Lord of all souls that rise to Thee,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">White with supreme self-offering;</span><br /> +Thou who hast crowned the hearts that dare,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thou who hast nerved the hands to do,</span><br /> +God of the heights! give us to share<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thy kingdom in the valleys too.</span><br /> +<br /> +Our eyes look up to those who stand<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Vicegerents of Thy stainless sway,</span><br /> +Heroes and saints at Thy right hand,<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thy priests and kings of glory they.</span><br /> +Not ours to tread the path they trod,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Splendid and sharp, still reaching higher;</span><br /> +Not ours to lay before our God<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The crowns they snatched from flood and fire.</span><br /> +<br /> +Yet through the daily, dazing toil,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The crowding tasks of hand and brain,</span><br /> +Keep pure our lips, Lord Christ, from soil,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Keep pure our lives from sordid gain.</span><br /> +Come to the level of our days,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The lowly hours of dust and din,</span><br /> +And in the valley-lands upraise<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thy kingdom over self and sin.</span><br /> +<br /> +Not ours the dawn-lit heights; and yet<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Up to the hills where men walk free</span><br /> +We lift our eyes, lest faith forget<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Light which lighted them to Thee.</span><br /> +God of all heroes, ours and Thine,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">God of all toilers! keep us true,</span><br /> +Till Love's eternal glory shine<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In sunrise on the valleys too.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Short lines, irregular metre and unusual construction, +are best for light or whimsical subjects. +"The Limitations of Youth," by Eugene Field, is +an example.</p> + +<p>To put it another way: when the subject is +dignified, the lines should roll along; when the +subject is light and airy, the lines should ripple +past.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span></p> + +<p>The more peaceful the subject, the more need +for mellifluent treatment.</p> + +<p>Stern or tragic subjects can stand rugged wording +and shape.</p> + +<p>Verses written for children, or on childish +themes, should be simple in construction, with +rhymes near together, and lines of not more than +eight syllables as a rule. 8.6's, rhyming alternately, +are the easiest to memorise, and therefore +the most popular with children.</p> + +<p>Examine the poems in Stevenson's <i>A Child's +Garden of Verses</i>, and note the simplicity of their +construction, the music of their rhymes, and their +clear, direct method of statement—the latter an +essential if children are to be interested.</p> + +<p>One of the reasons for the appeal that +"Hiawatha" makes invariably to children is its +direct form of statement, with few involved sentences; +and its eight-syllable lines.</p> + +<p>Eugene Field's poems on childhood themes, and +some of the passages in "The Forest of Wild +Thyme," by Alfred Noyes, are delightful examples +of the possibilities of 8.6 lines with alternate +rhymes.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p>Merely to break up prose into lines of irregular +length, is not to produce poetry.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span></p> + +<p>There must not only be beauty in individual +lines and phrases, but there must be beauty of idea +and form in the verses as a whole.</p> + +<p>At the same time, never sacrifice sense to sound.</p> + +<p>Young writers sometimes say to me, "I see so +much, and feel so much, yet I cannot put it into +words: the thoughts are beautiful while they are +inside my brain, but there seem no words adequate +to express them; I am baffled directly I try to put +them down on paper."</p> + +<p>Don't despair. Every poet has felt the same: +but let it encourage you to recollect that many +have got the better of the feeling, by hard work +and sheer determination. After all you have all +the words there are, and the most famous of poets +had no more than this to work with. We sometimes +forget that in the end, the greatest writer +that ever lived had to reduce everything to the +same words you and I are free to use.</p> + +<p>You may remember that Mark Twain once +went to a well-known preacher, who had delivered +a magnificent sermon, and, after extolling it and +thanking him for it, the humourist added, "But +I have seen every word of it before, in print!"</p> + +<p>The astonished preacher asked, indignantly, +"Where?"</p> + +<p>"In the dictionary," replied Mark Twain.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 85%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="The_Function_of_the_Blue_Pencil" id="The_Function_of_the_Blue_Pencil"></a>The Function of the Blue Pencil</h2> + + +<p>Just as we all know that a king would be no +king without a crown, and the Lord Mayor +of London would be but a mere mortal man +without his mace and his gorgeous gilt coach, so no +self-respecting editor is supposed to exist apart +from a blue pencil. And I admit it is a serviceable +article, but, personally, I prefer that it should +be used by the contributor. I do not want to +have to spend time in revising a MS., to get it into +publishable shape; neither does any other editor.</p> + +<p>The blue pencil stands for deletion. Practically +every writer needs to cut down the first +draft of a story or article. Some prune more +severely than others, but all experienced workers +reduce and condense before they finally pass a +MS. for publication.</p> + +<p>It is not until a MS. is completed—roughly—that +one can actually tell where it is balanced, and +where it is light-weight or top-heavy. Things +expand in unexpected directions as we go along; +developments suggest themselves temptingly when +we are halfway through, and then throw the earlier<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> +chapters quite out of proportion to the story as a +whole; matters that seemed of great moment when +we were in Chapter 2 have toned down to the +very ordinary by the time we have piled on ten +more chapters of stress and thrills and emotion.</p> + +<p>One cannot stop to adjust it as one goes along, +because no one can say whether the re-adjustment +itself may not be out of gear by the time the finale +is reached.</p> + +<p>Consequently, the best way is to go right on, +letting everything fall as it happens (but keeping +as near as you can to your original plan, unless +there is just cause for a departure therefrom). +When you have written "Finis," overhaul the MS. +from beginning to end, sparing neither your blue +pencil nor your feelings, if common sense, and +knowledge of your craft, tell you that certain portions +or sentences would be better omitted.</p> + +<p>It is neither an easy nor a pleasing task—especially +to the novice. The early children of +our brain seem of such priceless worth, that we +regard them with a certain sense of awe. "Did <i>I</i> +write that beautiful passage about the moon silvering +the tree-tops? Then it <i>must</i> belong just +where I put it. Cut it out? Certainly not! I +consider it the most exquisite paragraph in the +whole story."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span></p> + +<p>This is the way we look at our work when we +have not many published items to our name. +Later, experience and the training that comes from +practice, teach us to arm ourselves as a matter of +course with a blue pencil, ignore personal sentiment, +and look at our MSS. with a coldly critical +eye. Then we may discover that a sentence or +paragraph, though of undoubted merit and beauty—(we +need not deny it that much!)—does not +quite fit in where we originally placed it. Possibly +it is superfluous, in view of what follows +later; or redundant, in view of what went before; +or it may have lost life and colour with the passage +of time; or it may seem hackneyed, or weak, +(though we do not use such insulting words to +our own writings till we are fairly advanced). +But whatever the reason, if on examining a sentence, +it does not appear to serve any vital purpose, +take it out. If you think there is worth in +it, save it for a possible use at a later date in some +other MS., though, personally, I do not believe +in any sort of <i>réchauffé</i> of old matter, simply +because as time goes on we change in our style of +writing as we do in our tastes and preferences in +neckties. And what you write this year, will not +necessarily dovetail in with what you write in a +few years' time. Still, if you feel it would be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> +wasting flashes of genius to destroy it, and it +would be any comfort to you to hoard it—do so; +the main thing is to delete it from the MS. you +are revising, if there be any doubt about its value.</p> + +<p>A beginner's MS. usually needs to be cut down +to about half its original length. Hard luck, for +the beginner, I know, considering the way he will +have laboured lovingly over every sentence.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">MSS. need +to be +"Pulled +Together"</div> + +<p>Nevertheless, it pulls the work together if the +blue pencil be applied generously. Some articles +and stories appear to sprawl all over +the place (sprawl is not a pretty +word, but it is expressive). The +writer does not seem able to follow +up any idea to a logical conclusion, without interpolating +so much irrelevant matter that the main +theme is nearly smothered by the extraneous items, +and the reader gets only a confused impression of +what it is all about.</p> + +<p>Such work needs "pulling together," <i>i.e.</i> the +essential portions that should follow each other in +natural sequence need to be brought closer together; +and this can only be done by clearing +away the non-essentials that separate them.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The way +Phil May +made his +Sketches</div> + +<p>The late Phil May once showed me how he +drew his inimitable sketches, that always looked +so simple, oh <i>so</i> simple! to the uninitiated. First +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span>he made a sketch full of detail, with everything +included, much as other people make sketches. +When this was finished to his satisfaction, +he started to take out every +line that was not actually necessary +to the understanding of the picture. Finally he +had left nothing but a few strokes—yet, such was +his genius for seeing what to delete and what to +leave, the picture had gained rather than lost in +character, force, and comprehensiveness.</p> + +<p>The secret of the matter is this. By removing +everything that is not of vital importance to the +whole, (whether in painting or in writing), there +is less confusion of vision, less to distract the mind, +or switch it off to side issues.</p> + +<p>This does not mean that everything is better for +being given in bare outline. Undoubtedly certain +additions and decorations and descriptions can be +made to emphasise the author's meaning, to impress +a scene more vividly on the mind. We do +not want all our pictures to be modelled on the +lines of Phil May, clever as his work was. There +is room for endless variety. The author should +remember, however, that it is better to err on the +side of drastic deletion, rather than leave in matter +that is no actual gain to the picture, and only<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> +serves to distract and confuse and overload the +reader's mind.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Beware the +Plausible +Imp</div> + +<p>There is a Plausible Imp who perches on the +top of every beginner's inkstand, and passes his +wicked little time assuring them all +that they are too clever to need hedging +about by rules, that their work +cannot be improved upon, and would only be +spoilt if it were altered in any way.</p> + +<p>Don't heed him! The beginner's work is never +spoilt by condensation; rather it is invariably improved +by cutting down. In the main, every +writer's work needs pruning, until he has had sufficient +practice to know what is not worth while +to put down in the first place—and one needs to +be exceptionally gifted to know this.</p> + +<p>If, on reading your MS. after its completion, +you feel your work is so good that it needs no blue +pencil—beware! You have not got there yet!</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style="width: 85%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span></p> +<h3><a name="PART_FIVE" id="PART_FIVE"></a>PART FIVE</h3> + +<h3>AUTHOR, PUBLISHER, AND PUBLIC</h3> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span></p> +<p class="blockquot">Everything resolves itself down, in the publisher's +mind, to the one simple question: "Is this MS. what +the public wants?"</p> + + +<hr style="width: 85%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="When_Offering_Goods_for_Sale" id="When_Offering_Goods_for_Sale"></a>When Offering Goods for Sale</h2> + + +<p>Supposing—that when you go into the +fishmonger's, he offers you a cod that is +slightly "off"; and, while apologising for +its feebleness, begs you to take it, as he has an invalid +daughter suffering from spinal complaint, +who needs a change at the seaside.</p> + +<p>Or—that the assistant in the men's hosiery shop +begs you to take half a dozen extra neckties, as he +is anxious to buy the baby a much-needed pram, +and his salary depends primarily on his commissions.</p> + +<p>Or—that the sewing-machine agent, when sending +around circulars, adds a devout hope, as a +P.S., that you will purchase a machine, since he is +anxious to increase his subscription to foreign missions.</p> + +<p>Or—that the incompetent dressmaker beseeches +you to take a garment that would fit nobody and +suit nobody, because she has a widowed mother to +support.</p> + +<p>"Preposterous!" you say. "Such things would +never occur."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span></p> + +<p>And yet this is precisely what is happening +every day of the year in the literary business!</p> + +<p>Here are some sentences from letters accompanying +MSS. sent to my office the week I am +writing this.</p> + +<p>"I should esteem it a great kindness if you +could stretch a point in favour of my story, even +though it may not be quite up to your standard +(and I can see, on re-reading, that it has defects); +but I am anxious to make some money in order to +take a friend in whom I am deeply interested to +the seaside for a much-needed change. She is an +invalid, and——" here follow copious details +about the friend.</p> + +<p>Another writes: "I must ask you to give this +every consideration, as I devote all the money I +make by my writings to charity."</p> + +<p>A third says frankly, "you really <i>must</i> accept +this story, as I need money badly."</p> + +<p>And for a truly nauseating letter, I think the +following is as objectionable as any I have received +in this connection:</p> + +<p>"My dear wife has recently passed away, after +years of acute and protracted suffering. My heart +was rent with sympathy for her while she lived, +and now the blank caused by her death is almost +intolerable. How I shall face life without her I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> +do not know; for she was indeed a help-meet in +every sense of the word, In order to divert my +mind from this well-nigh insurmountable sorrow, +I have written a story 'The Forged Cheque,' which +I feel is just the thing for your magazine. I ask +you to regard it leniently, remembering that it is +written with a breaking heart," etc.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Problem +of Youth</div> + +<p>Then there are other reasons advanced why the +editor should accept a MS., the youthfulness or +the inexperience of the author being +frequently mentioned.</p> + +<p>While it is no crime to be young, it is no particular +advantage when one is seeking to place a +story. Inexperience, on the other hand, might be +regarded as a distinct drawback.</p> + +<p>But in any case, the editor does not purchase +MSS. merely because they are the writers' first +attempts. However good they may be for first +attempts, or however promising they may be considering +the age of the writer, all that has practically +nothing to do with the editor's decision, +unless he is running any pages in his periodical for +the exploitation of immature work or juvenile +effort. And in these days of high-priced paper +and expensive production, very few papers do this.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The way +Phil May +made his +Sketches</div> + +<p>It is hard to make the amateur understand that +a magazine is first and foremost a business pro<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span>position, +as much as a shop or a factory. The +editor must make it pay; and in order to do this, +he must publish the type of matter +that his readers are willing to purchase. +Each magazine appeals to a +definite section of the public (or it +should do so, if it is to be a success). No one +magazine appeals to every human being. Some +want sensation, some want art, some want fashions, +and so on. And as it is impossible to include +everything in any one publication, each editor +aims to please a certain class of tastes—good, bad +or indifferent, according to the policy of his paper. +And he knows to a fraction almost, what will +suit his public, and what they will not care about.</p> + +<p>How does he know?</p> + +<p>It is part of his mental and business equipment: +the knowledge often costs him years of +study and observation; and it is one of the qualifications +for which he is paid his salary.</p> + +<p>And because he knows what his public will +buy, and what they do not want, he purchases +MSS. accordingly. It is immaterial to him +whether the writer needs money for charity, or to +support an aged relative, or merely to soothe a +bereaved soul: the only question he considers is +whether the public will want a certain MS. or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span> +not. He is not engaged by the proprietors to aid +charity, or to minister to the necessitous; his work +is to provide goods that the public will buy—just +like any other business man. And he is unmoved, +therefore, by irrelevant appeals.</p> + +<p>Of course he has other matters to look to as +well as the providing of goods the public will buy; +he helps to shape public opinion, for instance, and +raises, or lowers, the public taste. But so far as +the amateur is concerned, the point to remember +is the fact that an editor is in no way influenced +by the writer's need for pecuniary assistance. If +he were, his post-bag would be a hundred times +heavier than it is already, and it is quite heavy +enough as it is!</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A Publisher +is not an +Agent for +Philanthropy</div> + +<p>In the same way, only more so, a publisher is +concerned with the selling qualities of a MS. rather +than with the writer's private affairs. +He is running a business concern with +a view to some margin of profit. Presumably +he has a wife and family to +support, rent, rates and taxes to meet (in addition +to helping to pay for the war)—like any other +man. And he spends his days in the dim, fusty +airlessness of a publisher's office for the purpose +of making a living out of the books he publishes. +Therefore, he is not likely to be inclined to bring<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> +out a book, which his business experience tells him +the public will never buy, merely because (as one +sender of a MS. recently put it) "the moral of +my essays is really beautiful, and it will do people +good to read them, if even they do not bring in +profit. Read them yourself and you will see that +I am not exaggerating."</p> + +<p>Possibly the moral of a MS. is quite good: but +it may not be the particular brand of goodness +that the public is willing to purchase at the moment; +and the publisher knows it is hopeless to +put it on the market in that case.</p> + +<p>Equally it is useless to expect him to be influenced +favourably simply because your earnings +are ear-marked for charity. At the end of the +year, should he see that the money he paid for a +certain item was a dead loss, it would be no consolation +to him to remember that the author had +devoted the cash to a "Seaside Holiday Home for +Men on Strike" in which she was interested.</p> + +<p>Therefore spare him all such data. The less +you add to what he has to read daily, the better. +An accompanying letter is really unnecessary—only +it is useful to affix the stamps to, for the +return of the MS. if rejected.</p> + +<p>Profuse explanations are all beside the mark,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> +and give an amateurish, unbusiness-like look to a +communication. Whatever you may write about +yourself on your MS., in praise thereof, or in +extenuation, everything resolves itself down—in +the publisher's mind—to the one simple question: +Is this what the public wants?</p> + +<div class="sidenote">We think +we can +Judge the +Value of +our Work +better than +a Publisher +can</div> + +<p>Many a beginner is convinced his MS. would +sell, if only it were printed. It is natural that we +have a certain amount of belief in our +own work, more especially if we have +given much time and thought to it. +Moreover, <i>we</i> possibly see points in +it that no one else can; <i>we</i> see what a +we meant to put down, without in +any way realising how far our actual writing falls +short of the ideas that were in our brain. The +outcome of this partiality for our own writing, is +a certainty that people are not able to do us +justice if they do not think as highly of it as we +do.</p> + +<p>But the publisher is better able to judge of the +selling possibilities of a work than the author; it +is his business; he is at it all day long. He has +no personal feelings involved, his main concern +being to make a book a profitable concern; and +his experience teaches him pretty accurately what +the public will buy and what it will leave on his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> +hands. He may occasionally make a mistake +(though it is surprising how seldom an expert +publisher does make a wrong estimate, considering +how various are the MSS. that pass through his +office); but when he does, he more often errs on +the side of being over-sanguine, and giving the +author the benefit of the doubt, than in the direction +of turning down anything that might have +made his, and the author's, fortune.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A Consoling +Thought—no +doubt</div> + +<p>Some writers are convinced that the style of +their MS. was too good for the editor who rejected +it, and altogether above his intelligence. +This is a consoling thought, +no doubt; but unfortunately it does +not take one any further.</p> + +<p>I know that instances are occasionally quoted +(always the same instances, by the way), where +books that ultimately achieved some success were +declined by several publishers before they were +finally landed. But in some of these cases the +books in question were so very much off the beaten +track as to be verging on freakishness—and no one +living can guarantee a forecast of how the public +will receive a freak! Here and there one finds a +publisher who enjoys a gamble, and will risk a +little on such uncertainties; (sometimes he gets +his reward, more often he doesn't); but the ma<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span>jority +prefer a safer, even though less exciting, +course!</p> + +<p>One other matter may have contributed to the +refusals these MSS. met with—possibly they were +offered to publishers who did not handle that +particular type of work. Publishers usually specialise +in fixed directions, just as magazine editors +do. No one attempts to cover the whole range of +reading; a glance at any publisher's catalogue will +show this. A MS. turned down by one, as being +useless to the section of the public in which he +is interested, may be taken by another, who reaches +a totally different class of reader.</p> + +<p>Therefore do not despair, if your story does +not get accepted the first time of asking. There +may be a variety of reasons why that particular +publisher or editor did not want that particular +MS.</p> + +<p>But in any case, don't sit down at the first +rebuff and say, "What's the good of anything? A +genius has no chance nowadays any more than +poor Chatterton had!" (By the way, I have +heard several desperate, would-be authors mention +Chatterton and liken their own predicament +to his, but not one has ever chanced to be able +to quote me a line of his work!) There is no +need to feel that the bottom has dropped out of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> +the universe, because your MS. has been returned. +Try elsewhere.</p> + +<p>If it is declined by five or six different publishers, +then you may safely conclude that it is +not the kind of work the public will buy at the +moment; or it may be that your writing is not +sufficiently mature. In that case, put that MS. +aside, and tackle another, something quite fresh. +I never think it is worth while to try and re-write +or re-construct the rejected MS.—at any rate, not +till you are tolerably advanced. It really takes +no more time to write something entirely new.</p> + +<p>"If only I could get an introduction to an +editor, I am sure I could get my work taken." One +often hears this said. Yet there never was a +greater delusion than this idea that introductions +work the oracle. It would be a different matter if +an editor, or publisher, had a surfeit of good work, +and really did not know what to discard: in such +circumstances (which won't occur this side of the +millennium!) an introduction might help to secure +attention for an individual writer.</p> + +<p>But as it is, the editor is only too anxious to +purchase good work when it comes his way; he +does not wait for any introduction. If a MS. +strays into his office that possesses the qualities he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> +is looking for, he writes the author forthwith, his +one desire being to purchase the MS.</p> + +<p>Still, if you really feel you must be armed with +some such document, it is as well to be quite sure +that the introduction is a desirable one. Here are +two letters that reached me by the same post.</p> + +<p>The first was from Miss Blank, a stranger, who +said—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"My friend Mr. Dash, who thinks <i>very</i> highly of +my work, has <i>urged</i> me to let you see some of it, +as he thinks it is just the sort of thing you will be +glad to have for your magazine. He is writing a +letter of introduction. I shall be glad if you will +name a time for a personal interview, as I can +better explain"—etc.</p></div> + +<p>The second was from Mr. Dash, an acquaintance +of long standing, who said—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"There is a certain Miss Blank who is anxious +I should write her a letter of introduction to yourself—which +I do herewith. I know nothing whatever +about her, save that she seems to be a first-class +nuisance. I have never seen her, haven't a +ghost of a notion if she can write: probably she +can't. But she happens to be the sister of the +fiancé of the daughter of my mother-in-law's dearest +and oldest friend; and any man who values the +peace and happiness of his home endeavours to +propitiate his mother-in-law, especially when she +has mentioned the matter six times already. Therefore +I trust this introduction is in order."</p></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span></p> + +<div class="sidenote">Personal +Interviews +are seldom +desirable +as a +Preliminary</div> + +<p>The desirability of a personal interview with +an editor is another delusion to which the amateur +clings. As a rule nothing is gained +(but a good deal of time is lost) by +talking a contribution over before the +preliminary MS. is read. After all, the MS. is +the item by which the author stands +or falls. If it is good, and what the editor wants, +he will take it—and take it only too gladly; if it +is not good, or not what he wants, no amount of +preliminary conversation will secure its acceptance; +for no matter how delightful the conversation +may have been, he does not print that; it is +the MS. itself that decides the crucial question of +publication or no publication.</p> + +<p>In some cases a preliminary letter is desirable: +it may be advisable to ascertain beforehand whether +an editor is open to consider an article on +a doubtful subject. But if you wish to avoid +inducing a sense of irritation in his soul, do not +ask for a personal interview, since in all probability, +if he is as rushed as most editors are nowadays, +he will turn down the matter forthwith, +rather than spend time on talk that may lead +nowhere.</p> + +<p>It must always be borne in mind that these +are overworked, understaffed, hustling times in a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> +very complex age; and the newspaper and magazine +office feels this more keenly than any other +branch of the business world, simply because +periodicals must reflect the spirit of their day +and generation, and keep the readers in touch +with all that is going on,—and "all" is a large, +and constantly changing, order at present. This +means that the editorial offices are always more +or less in a state of tension; there is no time to +spare for interviews that may prove fruitless; the +day is seldom long enough to get in all that is +certain to be profitable to the paper.</p> + +<p>Therefore, say what you have to say by letter—and +say it clearly and briefly. The editor +forms his judgment by what you say, and if he +wants to talk the matter over with you, he will +soon let you know.</p> + +<p>"But I always feel I can explain myself so +much better in a conversation—no matter how +brief—than in a letter." This is a frequent plea.</p> + +<p>The public, however, will judge you by what +you write, not by what you say; if you cannot +express yourself well in writing, you may speak +with the tongues of men and of angels yet it will +avail you nothing where the publication of your +MS. is concerned. If you cannot write about +it so that the editor can understand, the public<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span> +are not likely to be able to comprehend it any +better.</p> + +<p>Women are particularly prone to ask for an +interview, and this because they instinctively rely +to some extent on the appeal of their personality +in most of their business transactions. By far +the wiser course, however, is for a woman to express +herself so well in her writing that the office +simply tumbles over itself in its anxiety to make +her personal acquaintance. And I have known +this to happen on more than one occasion.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The +Irrepressible +Caller</div> + +<p>Nevertheless, men can also distinguish themselves +when making calls. The card of a stranger, +bearing a Nebraska address, was +brought to me one afternoon. He +urged that his business was of great +importance. Finally I saw him. He was a most +intelligent-looking American, and, like the majority +of his countrymen, was not long in coming +to the point. He said he had written some poems, +and promptly placed before me a sheaf of MS. +I told him I would look at them if he would leave +them.</p> + +<p>"Just you run your eye down these," he said. +I protested that I could not possibly do his work +justice if I skimmed it in any such manner. Then +he explained that these were not poems—the mas<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span>terpieces +would come later—these were press +notices of some poems he had had printed in a +Nebraska paper. I read a few; I had never even +heard of the majority of the papers that reviewed +his work; but he seemed to take himself very +seriously, one had not the heart to shatter his +illusions.</p> + +<p>Then he produced the bales of poems. He +watched me so eagerly I was obliged to read some. +I besought him to leave the rest with me, as I +could not decide so important a matter hurriedly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, but just read this one," he persisted. "Mr. +Blank of our city—never heard of him? You +<i>do</i> surprise me!—he says he considers it as fine +as anything your Percy B. Shelley ever wrote." +In a moment of abject weakness I said the poem +was fair. Then the heart of that man warmed +towards me; he told me of his hopes, his plans +and his aspirations, and I tried to sympathise with +them. I could not do less, since I owe America +much for kindness and hospitality it has shown +me on many occasions.</p> + +<p>When at last he rose, reluctantly (he had stayed +an hour and a quarter), I offered him my hand. +He took it with a hearty grip.</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm real glad to have known you," he +said. "It's been a genuine pleasure to have this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span> +talk with you, for you are, without exception, the +most informed and intellectual person I've met +since I've been in your country." I felt immediately +remorseful that I had grudged him the little +chat; he was evidently a discerning young man.</p> + +<p>"The pleasure has been mine," I assured him, +and inquired how long he had been in England? +"I landed at Southampton at ten o'clock this +morning," was the response. I smilingly tried to +disguise the sudden lapse of my enthusiasm. I +must have succeeded, for he next said:</p> + +<p>"And now I guess I'll go down and fetch up +my wife. She's been waiting in the street outside +while I came up to see what you were like. I +size it she'll just enjoy making a little visit with +you."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">MSS. +cannot +always be +Read as +Soon as +they are +Received</div> + +<p>It is only natural that an author should be keen +to know the verdict on his work, once he has sent +it out to try its fortune. But it is +useless to get impatient because no +news of it is forthcoming next day. +Sometimes weeks elapse, sometimes +months, before a MS. can be read. +But since the publisher makes no charge for reading +a MS. (and the reading costs money: some +one's time has to be paid for, and it is some one +who draws a fair salary, too), he must be allowed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span> +to do it at his own convenience. If he has not +asked you to send a MS., you cannot exactly +dictate how soon it should be read.</p> + +<p>Naturally, it is read as quickly as possible; this +is to every one's interest; but this does not mean +that it can be read the next day, or even the next +week. Other authors may have preceded you.</p> + +<p>The amateur who sends letters of inquiry before +one has scarcely had time to open the envelope, is +doomed to have his work rejected. No office has +time to write and explain that "the matter will +be considered in due course," etc., so the MS. is +merely returned.</p> + +<p>It seems impossible to make the average beginner +understand that his is not the only story offered, +and that things have to take their turn.</p> + +<p>Moreover, it is as difficult to please everybody +as it was for the old man with the donkey in the +fable. If MSS. are not returned immediately, the +editor is bombarded with complaints from one set +of aggrieved authors; if he is able to read them +at once, and he returns them quickly, he is the +recipient of uncharitable letters accusing him of +having discarded the MSS. unread.</p> + +<p>There is an interesting story of a suspicious +lady who prided herself on laying traps for the +negligent editor—pages put in the wrong order,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span> +others upside down, and suchlike devices with +which every magazine office is familiar. At last +she succeeded in proving that the monster who sat +at the receipt of MSS. in one particular publishing +house was a consummate rascal.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">Sir</span>," she wrote, "I have long suspected that +you basely deceive the public into believing that +you read their works, while in reality you return +them unread. But at last I have caught you hot-handed +in the very act. It will doubtless interest +you to know that I purposely gummed together +pages 96 and 97, very slightly, in the top right-hand +corner. Had you fulfilled your duty and done +the work for which your employer pays you a +salary, you would have discovered this and detached +the pages in question."</p></div> + +<p>The editor replied:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Madam</span>,—If you will take a sharp pen-knife, +and remove the fragment of gum between +pages 96 and 97, in the top right-hand corner, it +may interest you to discover my initials underneath."</p></div> + +<p>"Should all MSS. be typed?" is a question +often asked.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">If you +wish your +MS. to be +Read: +make the +Reading +Easy</div> + +<p>It is advisable to have them typed +if possible, as this enables them to be +read more quickly than if sent untyped. +Remember that your object +in sending a MS. to a publisher, or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span> +editor, is to get it read: therefore it is policy to do +all in your power to facilitate the reading.</p> + +<p>Owing to the widespread interest in literature, +and the universal desire to see oneself in print, the +number of MSS. that reach the office of any +general periodical of good standing, is immense; +and the eye-strain entailed in reading is very +great. It has therefore become necessary to ask +for MSS. to be typed when possible; though anything +that was clearly written, in a bold readable +hand, would never be turned down because it was +not typed. What is desired is that a MS. shall +be legible, so that it can be read with the least +amount of detriment to the eyesight. Whereas +some of the untyped work that is sent is a positive +insult. I have seen tiny, niggling writing, crossed +out and re-crossed out, till even the compositor +(who is a perfect genius for reading the utterly +illegible) could scarcely have made it out. And in +all probability, such a MS. would be not over-clean, +and would be <i>rolled</i> to go through the post.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Why +Editors +do not +Criticise</div> + +<p>"If you are unable to make use of my MS., I +shall be glad if you will kindly criticise +it, and tell me exactly what you +think of it."</p> + +<p>This request is frequently made by +senders of MS. And when they receive back their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span> +work without any comment they will write and say, +"At least you might have sent one word by way of +criticism. If you had only written 'good' or 'bad,' +I should have some idea why you declined it."</p> + +<p>I sympathise heartily with those who want advice; +I know how very difficult it is to get any +guidance or criticism that can be relied upon to +be disinterested. Nevertheless, I wish the student +could see the number of queries, and the amount of +work, and the heap of MSS. that arrive at the +office of any prosperous periodical; he would then +begin to realise how utterly impossible it would +be for MSS. to be criticised in writing. It would +entail an extra staff, and an expensive staff at that, +since such criticism is not work, like card indexing, +that can be relegated to a junior clerk. Indeed, +the sender of the MS. would probably be highly +indignant if any one but the editor did this work!</p> + +<p>When I explain to beginners that we have no +time to write criticisms on rejected work they +say, "But it wouldn't take a <i>minute</i> to write down +a few words, seeing that the MS. has already been +read."</p> + +<p>Unfortunately, it would take a great many +minutes. In any case it takes some time (if only +a little) to sum up concisely the merits and defects +of anything. More than that, experience has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span> +proved again and again that one little word of +criticism will lead to more letters from the writer. +And one has not time to read them! The children +of our brain are very dear to us; and so sure as +any one passes an adverse criticism on them, our +feathers stand on end, and we prepare to defend +our one little chick like the most devoted hen +that ever lived.</p> + +<p>Neither is it wise, I have found, to suggest a +little alteration with a promise of publication +attached. Two years ago I wrote to some one who +had only had one short story published, indicating +a new ending that would have improved her MS. +immensely, and made it possible for me to take it.</p> + +<p>"My temperament requires that it shall end as +I have written it. Kindly return my MS. if you +cannot use it," replied the lady loftily.</p> + +<p>I did so.</p> + +<p>Last week the same MS. came back to me—much +aged and the worse for wear—with a note +that the author did not mind if I altered the ending +as I had suggested. But two years is two years. +And in the interval, while the MS. was travelling +round to every other office, the subject-matter had +got out of date.</p> + +<p>It is never politic to be touchy if by chance<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> +some misguided editor does offer a word of +criticism!</p> + +<p>If you want your work published, and there +is no loss of principle involved, conform to the +publisher's requirements as gracefully as you can, +even though, in your heart of hearts, you consider +him woefully lacking in discernment.</p> + +<p>And you can comfort yourself, meanwhile, with +the thought that when you are safely ensconced +upon Olympian heights, you will even things up +a little, and get back all of your own. I know +one proprietress of several rejected MSS. who +vows that whenever she "gets there," she will sit +on the topmost pinnacle, and make all publishers +and editors (including myself) walk up to her +on their knees, dropping curtsies all the way!</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A Popular +Delusion</div> + +<p>I was making for my office one day when a +sportive-looking girl stopped me on the stairs. +"Just give this story to the editor will +you, please?" she began. "Give it +right into her hands, won't you; don't let any +underling get hold of it."</p> + +<p>I agreed.</p> + +<p>"And—I say—just tell her from me that she's +to read it <i>herself</i>, every word of it; I won't be +put off with some assistant tossing it aside half +read. I know their tricks."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span></p> + +<p>One very popular delusion is that there is a +conspiracy among the assistants in an office to +keep MSS., and especially good MSS., from the +eye of the chief! People will resort to all sorts +of devices with the idea of ensuring MSS. reaching +the editor's own hands. They are marked +"personal," and "strictly private," or "please forward, +if away"; and I had one endorsed, "Not +to be opened by any one but the Editor."</p> + +<p>Yet what is gained by all this, save a definite +amount of delay? In any well-organised office, +work has to follow a certain routine; MSS. have +to be entered up by clerks as received, the stamps +sent for return postage have to be checked and +duly noted by the proper department, etc. Why +delay the handling of the MS. for a few weeks +by having it so addressed that it may follow the +editor to the North Pole, and back, before it is +opened, if the endorsements were obeyed?—which +of course they are not.</p> + +<p>Let a MS. take its proper course. No one in +the office desires to suppress genius; on the contrary, +great indeed is the elation of any member +of the staff who discovers something worth publishing. +It is one great object of our business +lives.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span></p> + +<div class="sidenote">A Little +Tact and +how much +it is!</div> + +<p>If you feel you must call at an office in person, +remember that the display of a little tact is a desirable +accomplishment. When seeking +a post on his paper do not start +by telling the editor that his magazine +is poor stuff, and will soon be +on the rocks,—as I once heard a lady tell the +editor of one of the most famous monthlies in +existence. When he inquired as to her experience, +it transpired that she had had one story—and one +only—printed, and it had appeared in a child's +magazine.</p> + +<p>And it was another tactful caller who said, on +leaving, after having absorbed five and twenty +minutes of a busy assistant's time: "Well, perhaps +you'll explain these suggestions of mine to the +editor; though it would have been so much more +satisfactory if I could have talked to some properly +qualified individual."</p> + +<p>Occasionally, however, a caller contributes +something to the gaiety of nations, as in the case +of the lady who came to inquire after the welfare +of a MS. she had left with some one in our building +only the day before. (And, incidentally, she +wanted to alter a word in it, as she had thought of +one she liked better).</p> + +<p>I was passing through the Inquiry Office as she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span> +entered, and she straightway explained to me her +mission.</p> + +<p>"I will find out who took it," I said, "I do not +think you left it with me."</p> + +<p>"Oh no! it wasn't you," she replied emphatically. +"I left it with quite a nice-looking +person!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 85%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="The_Responsibility" id="The_Responsibility"></a>The Responsibility</h2> + + +<p>The responsibility attached to the business +of writing is greater than in any +other department of work. The influence +of the printed page is so far reaching, that no +writer can gauge to what extent he may be furthering +good (or harm), when he puts pen to +paper.</p> + +<p>You can calculate exactly an author's cash +value by his sales: but this does not give an equally +accurate estimate of his moral value.</p> + +<p>Who would dream of measuring the influence +of <i>Punch</i>, for instance, by the figures of its circulation? +No one can say how many people will +handle one single copy, or how many people will +find in that single copy bracing laughter and +healthy humour. The numbers printed each week +can only represent a fraction of its actual readers.</p> + +<p>And the same applies to a good many books: +they pass from one to another, are borrowed from +libraries, borrowed from friends (often without +being returned, alas!), and by varied routes they +penetrate to out-of-the-way corners of the world<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span> +where the authors would least expect to be able to +reach the inhabitants.</p> + +<p>The most famous preacher living has not the +possibilities of power that lie in the hands of +a popular writer; and the gravity of this responsibility +cannot be over-estimated.</p> + +<p>While this does not mean that we must take +ourselves too seriously, it does mean that we +must take our work seriously, and recognise that +it stands for something more than money-making, +even though money-making is not to be despised.</p> + +<p>To the beginner this may seem a weighty subject +and rather outside his orbit. But in reality +this point needs to be taken into consideration from +the very earliest of our literary experiments. We +must induce a certain attitude of mind, and keep +definite ideals before us, if our work is to shape +in any particular direction.</p> + +<p>And the probability is that you will have to +choose between good and ill when selecting the +theme for your first story. You will naturally +look around and study the type of fiction that +seems to be selling well, and perhaps you may +light on something peculiarly noxious, since there +is an assortment of such books being published +nowadays. The book in question may have been +designated "strong" (the word reviewers often<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span> +fall back upon, when they cannot find any adjective +sufficiently truthful without being libellous, +to convey an idea of a book's malodorous qualities!); +or you may have heard the book lauded +by people who make a boast of being modern, +up-to-date, or advanced. And as we none of us +aim at being weak, or old-fashioned, or behind +the times, it is not surprising if the beginner feels +that he, too, had better try his hand at something +"strong," if he is to get a reputation for ultra-modernity.</p> + +<p>Quite a number of novices choose unpleasant +topics because, and only because, they fancy such +themes show advanced, untrammelled thought, +and "a knowledge of the world." They forget +that of far greater importance than the extent of +the writer's ability to defy the conventions, is +the moral effect of a book on those who read it.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Wider +Views are +Needed +when Characterising +Literature</div> + +<p>I use the word "moral" in its widest sense. It +is unfortunate that we have got into the habit of +pigeon-holing literature—and especially +fiction—in very narrow compartments. +When we speak of a book as +"good," or "helpful," or "uplifting," +we usually mean that it contains +specific religious teaching in one form or another. +Yet a book may be very good and helpful and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span> +uplifting without a single sermonic sentence, or +anything approaching thereunto.</p> + +<p>In the same way, when we say that a novel is +undesirable or immoral, we generally mean that it +deals with one particular form of evil: yet there +are books having little or nothing to do with promiscuous +sex relationships that are pernicious and +unhealthy in the extreme, and possibly all the +more dangerous because their immorality is not +of the kind that is definitely ticketed for all to +see, and beware of, if need be.</p> + +<p>Everything tending to lower the tone of the +soul is immoral; everything that debases human +taste is unhealthy; everything that gloats on unpleasantness, +for the mere pleasure of gloating, is +as devastating as poison gas; everything that +preaches a doctrine of hopelessness, that spreads +the black miasma of spiritual doubt over the mind +is bad—fiendishly bad.</p> + +<p>But do not misunderstand me: I would not +seem to imply that only fair things should be +chronicled. There are certain facts of life that +must be faced: sin cannot be ignored—but it must +be recognised as sin, not be touched up with tinsel, +and placed in the limelight, to look as attractive +as possible.</p> + +<p>Poverty, grime, sickness, gloom cannot be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span> +banished from every horizon; but they need not +be dwelt upon exclusively without any alleviation, +to the shutting out of all else. The wave of +so-called "realism" that has swept over fiction of +recent years has been a very injurious element in +modern literature. It is bad from an artistic point +of view, since it is one-sided, unbalanced, and not +true to life itself, which invariably provides that +compensations go hand in hand with drawbacks.</p> + +<p>Some people speak of "realism" as though the +only realities were sordidness and crime; whereas +the earth teems with lovely realities—beauty of +spirit, beauty of character, beauty of thought, no +less than beauty of form and colour.</p> + +<p>The slum at first glance does not look a pre-possessing +subject; yet read "Angel Court": the +writer who is a real artist can find gold even here!</p> + +<h4>ANGEL-COURT</h4> +<h4>By <span class="smcap">Austin Dobson</span></h4> + +<p class="poem"> +In Angel-Court the sunless air<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Grows faint and sick; to left and right</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The cowering houses shrink from sight</span><br /> +Huddled and hopeless, eyeless, bare.<br /> +Misnamed, you say? for surely rare<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Must be the angel-shapes that light</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">In Angel-Court!</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span><br /> +Nay! the Eternities are there.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Death at the doorway stands to smite;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Life in its garrets leaps to light;</span><br /> +And Love has climbed that crumbling stair<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">In Angel-Court.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 8em;"><i>From "London Lyrics," by permission.</i></span> +</p> + +<p>Those who acclaimed these recent books of so-called +"realism" as works of exceptional genius, +did not see that, far from being any such thing, +they were, in most cases, preliminary manifestations +of a hideous malady, which has since culminated +in all we understand by the word Bolshevism.</p> + +<p>To dilate on ugliness, coarseness, harshness, +without showing the counteracting forces at work, +and to dabble continuously in dirt without showing +the way to cleanliness, is not art, no matter +how accurately every detail may be portrayed: +it is merely systematised brutishness.</p> + +<p>Even themes with a rightful motive may be +exceedingly harmful under some circumstances. +Studies of dipsomaniacs, drug-victims, and the +like, may be necessary as matters of psychological +or medical research, just as studies of any other +diseases are necessary; but they should be issued +as such, and not put forward in the guise of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span> +fiction intended for all and sundry among the +general public.</p> + +<p>I have enlarged on this matter, because there +has been a great tendency on the part of amateurs +lately to revel in descriptions of crudity and repulsiveness, +with never a thought as to the effect +of such literature on the reader. At no time is +it desirable to circulate indiscriminately, much +less as fiction, reading matter that can only induce +morbidity, neuroticism, depravity, doubt, or depression. +But in an age like the present, when +most of the civilised world is bowed beneath an +overwhelming weight of sorrow, shattered nerves +and physical weakness, it is positively criminal to +manufacture pessimism, gloom and horrors, and +scatter this type of literature broadcast without +any sense of the appalling responsibility attaching +thereunto.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Qualities +which +cannot be +Dispensed +With</div> + +<p>There are three qualities which all authors +should aim to incorporate in their writings if they +are to be a blessing rather than a +curse to humanity: these are cleanness, +healthiness and righteousness. +They may be introduced in many and +various forms; and are often to be found in wholesome +laughter, spontaneous gaiety, good cheer, +breathless adventure, revelations of beauty, as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span> +well as in direct appeals to the higher nature. +Anything that will arouse sane emotions, and +divert the mind from self, is to be welcomed as +a benefaction in this world of many sorrows.</p> + +<p>The late Charles Heber Clarke—better known +to the public as "Max Adeler"—enjoyed great +popularity at one time as a humorist. He was a +man of strong religious convictions; and there +came a day when he ceased to write his humorous +pleasantries, seeming inclined to regard them +as so much wasted opportunity. On one occasion +however, a clergyman whom he met while travelling, +on discovering his identity, grasped his hand +and said, "You have made me laugh when there +seemed nothing left to laugh about; you have +helped me to get over some of my darkest days. +I owe you more than I owe any other man in the +world."</p> + +<p>"And when he had finished pouring out his +gratitude," said "Max Adeler," (who told me +this himself), "I began to wonder whether, after +all, one might not be doing as much good in the +world by making people smile and forget their +troubles, as by preaching at them."</p> + +<p>To help humanity God-ward is the greatest +privilege we can aspire to; but this can be done by +other means besides the writing of hymns and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span> +commentaries. Everything that tends to lift +humanity from the low-lands of sorrow or sordidness +or suffering, and to point them to the +great Hope; everything that will aid them to live +up to the best that is in them, and to strive to +recapture some long-lost Vision of the Highest, +will be helping in the great work of human regeneration +that was set on foot by the One who +came to give beauty for ashes.</p> + +<p>While only a few are entrusted with the message +of the prophet or the seer, we all can specialise +on whatsoever things are lovely and pure and +of good report; and we shall be of some use—if +only in a quiet way—to our day and generation +if we can help others also to think on these things.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Goodness +does not +excuse +Dulness</div> + +<p>But one point must not be overlooked—and in +saying this I am summing up most that has gone +before: If a book is to succeed, it +must be well written.</p> + +<p>Because a certain number of highly +unpleasant books have succeeded, and +a certain number of highly moral books have +failed, beginners sometimes consider this as an +indication of public preference. What they forget, +or do not know, is this: The nasty book succeeded, +in spite of its nastiness, because it was +well and brightly written; while the moral book<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span> +failed, in spite of its goodness, because it was +badly written and superlatively dull. If the moral +book that failed had been as well written as the +nasty book that succeeded, it would not only have +done as well as the nasty book, <i>it would have done +a great deal better</i>.</p> + +<p>All but a small degenerate section of the public +prefer wholesome to vicious literature—but nobody +wants a dull book! And the amateur writer +of good books often overlooks this latter fact.</p> + +<p>Therefore, bear in mind that it is not sufficient +that you make a book clean and healthy and good; +you must endeavour to make cleanness as attractive +as it really is, and healthiness as desirable as +it really is, and God-ordained Righteousness the +most satisfying of all the things worth seeking.</p> + +<p>When you can do this, you will find a fair-sized +public waiting, and anxious, to buy your books.</p> + +<p>You will not know what good you may be +doing—it is never desirable for any of us to hear +much on this score, humanity is so sadly liable to +swelled head! But occasionally some one in the +big outside world may send you a sincere "Thank +you." When this comes you will suddenly realise, +though you cannot explain why, that there are +some things even more worth while than the +publisher's cheque.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style="width: 85%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a>INDEX</h2> + + +<p class="blockquot"><small><br /> +A<br /> +<br /> +Abbreviations to be avoided in verse, <a href="#Page_247">247</a><br /> +<br /> +Abstract qualities to be gauged, <a href="#Page_25">25</a><br /> +<br /> +Alexander, Mrs., <i>Burial of Moses</i>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a><br /> +<br /> +Allen, James Lane, and local colour, <a href="#Page_176">176</a><br /> +<br /> +Allingham, Wm., poem by, <a href="#Page_170">170</a><br /> +<br /> +Allusions, hackneyed, <a href="#Page_155">155</a><br /> +<br /> +Amateurs, what they need to cultivate and avoid, <a href="#Page_47">47</a><br /> +<br /> +Amateurs, two classes of, <a href="#Page_139">139</a><br /> +<br /> +Amateurs copying unawares, <a href="#Page_203">203</a><br /> +<br /> +Amateurs and marriage offers in stories, <a href="#Page_209">209</a><br /> +<br /> +Amateurs' lack of first-hand knowledge, <a href="#Page_198">198</a><br /> +<br /> +Ambiguity, avoid, <a href="#Page_157">157</a><br /> +<br /> +American writers and local colour, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a><br /> +<br /> +Ancient facts undesirable except in text-book, <a href="#Page_149">149</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Angel Court</i>, Austin Dobson, <a href="#Page_290">290</a><br /> +<br /> +Anthologies, verse, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a><br /> +<br /> +Antiquated expressions, <a href="#Page_52">52</a><br /> +<br /> +Arnold, Matthew, <a href="#Page_75">75</a><br /> +<br /> +Article, settle object in writing it, <a href="#Page_147">147</a><br /> +<br /> +Articles that are not wanted, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">big subjects to be avoided, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"How to ——," editors overdone with, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">which fail, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">useful divisions, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ruled by form, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on subjects already dealt with, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">study type of, in magazine you are writing for, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">must be sent to editors in time, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">must be topical, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">starting in the middle, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Artist and detail, <a href="#Page_100">100</a><br /> +<br /> +Artist's fragments, an, <a href="#Page_167">167</a><br /> +<br /> +Artistic atmosphere, <a href="#Page_178">178</a><br /> +<br /> +Artistic training and literary first attempts, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98-100</a><br /> +<br /> +"Atmosphere," healthy and otherwise, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">as a time saver, <a href="#Page_180">180</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Atmospheric purpose of story writer, <a href="#Page_89">89</a><br /> +<br /> +Audience, settle on your, <a href="#Page_126">126</a><br /> +<br /> +Austen's, Jane, old-world "atmosphere," <a href="#Page_184">184</a><br /> +<br /> +Author's aim to help readers God-ward, <a href="#Page_293">293</a><br /> +<br /> +Authors must have something in their heads to write down, <a href="#Page_11">11</a><br /> +<br /> +Authorship compared with dressmaking, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_7">7</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +B<br /> +<br /> +Baby prattle in amateur verse, <a href="#Page_239">239</a><br /> +<br /> +Barclay, Mrs., <i>White Ladies of Worcester</i>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>The Rosary</i>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Barrie, Sir J., and dialect, <a href="#Page_195">195</a><br /> +<br /> +Barrie, Sir J., short stories, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Window in Thrums</i>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Beautiful thoughts do not guarantee beautiful writing, <a href="#Page_98">98</a><br /> +<br /> +Begin in the middle, <a href="#Page_147">147</a><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span><br /> +Be natural, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a><br /> +<br /> +Benson, Dr. A. C., <a href="#Page_65">65</a><br /> +<br /> +Big subjects to be avoided, <a href="#Page_154">154</a><br /> +<br /> +Birrell, Augustine, <a href="#Page_65">65</a><br /> +<br /> +Blackmore and local colour, <a href="#Page_174">174</a><br /> +<br /> +Blue pencil to be used by writer rather than editor, <a href="#Page_252">252</a><br /> +<br /> +"Body," needed in writing, <a href="#Page_123">123</a><br /> +<br /> +Bolshevism in literature, <a href="#Page_291">291</a><br /> +<br /> +Booksellers as readers, <a href="#Page_118">118</a><br /> +<br /> +Books that shriek, <a href="#Page_38">38</a><br /> +<br /> +Books which survive. Why? <a href="#Page_29">29</a><br /> +<br /> +Boothby, Guy, and proof corrections, <a href="#Page_223">223</a><br /> +<br /> +Boudoir stories, <a href="#Page_206">206</a><br /> +<br /> +Brain misuse, nature's revenge for, <a href="#Page_36">36</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>British Weekly</i>, for style, <a href="#Page_56">56</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Broad Highway, The</i>, "atmosphere" of, <a href="#Page_184">184</a><br /> +<br /> +Browning, Mrs. and Christina Rossetti, <a href="#Page_76">76</a><br /> +<br /> +Browning, Mrs., "Sonnets from the Portuguese," <a href="#Page_244">244</a><br /> +<br /> +Browning's <i>Paracelsus</i>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"rough-hewn" method, <a href="#Page_70">70</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Bryant and Longfellow, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a><br /> +<br /> +Bullock, Shan F., and local colour, <a href="#Page_174">174</a><br /> +<br /> +By-gone models of amateurs, <a href="#Page_209">209</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +C<br /> +<br /> +Cable, George, <a href="#Page_176">176</a><br /> +<br /> +Cabmen, article on, <a href="#Page_113">113</a><br /> +<br /> +Callers on editors, <a href="#Page_274">274</a><br /> +<br /> +Canton, William, <a href="#Page_42">42</a><br /> +<br /> +Caricature is not characterisation, <a href="#Page_142">142</a><br /> +<br /> +Carlyle's "rough-hewn" method, <a href="#Page_70">70</a><br /> +<br /> +Cataloguing instead of art, <a href="#Page_140">140</a><br /> +<br /> +Causes of actions to be studied, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br /> +<br /> +Central idea, necessary to story, <a href="#Page_79">79</a><br /> +<br /> +Character delineation needed in love-stories, <a href="#Page_215">215</a><br /> +<br /> +Characterisation is not caricature, <a href="#Page_142">142</a><br /> +<br /> +Characters in story, values of, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">should not be multiplied unduly, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">should explain themselves, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">to be introduced early, <a href="#Page_219">219</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Chatterton, <a href="#Page_269">269</a><br /> +<br /> +Cheap books, the flood of, <a href="#Page_38">38</a><br /> +<br /> +Chesterton, G. K., paradoxes of, <a href="#Page_165">165</a><br /> +<br /> +Children, mistakes of writers for, <a href="#Page_127">127</a><br /> +<br /> +Chimney-pot, evolution of the, <a href="#Page_43">43</a><br /> +<br /> +Chimney-pots, Ruskin's chapter on, <a href="#Page_44">44</a><br /> +<br /> +Choate, Joseph H., on Dickens, <a href="#Page_231">231</a><br /> +<br /> +Choose topic from your own environment, <a href="#Page_200">200</a><br /> +<br /> +Clarity, aim for, <a href="#Page_161">161</a><br /> +<br /> +Classics, our purpose on reading them, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a><br /> +<br /> +Clarke, Charles Heber, <a href="#Page_293">293</a><br /> +<br /> +Cleanness should be made attractive, <a href="#Page_295">295</a><br /> +<br /> +Cleverness must not be obtrusive, <a href="#Page_109">109</a><br /> +<br /> +Climax, do not anticipate, <a href="#Page_228">228</a><br /> +<br /> +Climax in article, <a href="#Page_147">147</a><br /> +<br /> +Climax, never lose sight of, <a href="#Page_89">89</a><br /> +<br /> +Coleridge's <i>Kubla Khan</i>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a><br /> +<br /> +Colloquialisms, avoid, <a href="#Page_195">195</a><br /> +<br /> +Condensation, need of, <a href="#Page_106">106</a><br /> +<br /> +Condensation never spoils beginner's work, <a href="#Page_257">257</a><br /> +<br /> +Contrasts, incidents inserted in stories as, <a href="#Page_86">86</a><br /> +<br /> +Copy, universal tendency to, <a href="#Page_202">202</a><br /> +<br /> +Copying unrecognised by amateurs, <a href="#Page_203">203</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Country of the Pointed Firs, The</i>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a><br /> +<br /> +Craddock, Chas. Egbert, and local colour, <a href="#Page_176">176</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Cranford</i>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a><br /> +<br /> +Creating an "atmosphere," <a href="#Page_185">185</a><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span><br /> +Creation and copying, <a href="#Page_203">203</a><br /> +<br /> +Criticise your own work, <a href="#Page_129">129</a><br /> +<br /> +Criticism, editors have no time for, <a href="#Page_9">9</a><br /> +<br /> +Crockett, S. R., and dialect, <a href="#Page_195">195</a><br /> +<br /> +Curtailment of sentences may be carried to excess, <a href="#Page_50">50</a><br /> +<br /> +"Curtains" are sound business, <a href="#Page_229">229</a><br /> +<br /> +"Curtains," Dickens', <a href="#Page_231">231</a><br /> +<br /> +"Curtains" necessary for serial publication, <a href="#Page_231">231</a><br /> +<br /> +Cut down your MSS., <a href="#Page_253">253</a><br /> +<br /> +Cynic really gets nowhere, <a href="#Page_30">30</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +D<br /> +<br /> +Dante, why we read, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a><br /> +<br /> +David and Jonathan, <a href="#Page_155">155</a><br /> +<br /> +Defects overlooked by fame, <a href="#Page_124">124</a><br /> +<br /> +Delay in editorial decision on MSS., <a href="#Page_276">276</a><br /> +<br /> +Delete superfluities in your MS., <a href="#Page_254">254</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Dénouement</i> as a surprise, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a><br /> +<br /> +Detail, knowledge of, imperative, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">study of, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">too much, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Devices to reach editors, <a href="#Page_283">283</a><br /> +<br /> +Dialect an extra mental strain on reader, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">requires exceptional skill, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Diary form of story, <a href="#Page_191">191</a><br /> +<br /> +Dickens, Charles, an adept at "curtains," <a href="#Page_231">231</a><br /> +<br /> +Dickens, central ideas of, <a href="#Page_79">79</a><br /> +<br /> +Diffusiveness, <a href="#Page_106">106</a><br /> +<br /> +Divine discontent, <a href="#Page_197">197</a><br /> +<br /> +Dobson, Austin, <i>Angel Court</i>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a><br /> +<br /> +Does the public want it? The publisher's question, <a href="#Page_267">267</a><br /> +<br /> +Dog, the real, <a href="#Page_19">19</a><br /> +<br /> +Doll heroines, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Dombey and Son</i> in U. S. A., <a href="#Page_231">231</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Dream Days</i>, Kenneth Graham, <a href="#Page_224">224</a><br /> +<br /> +Dreams of youth valuable, <a href="#Page_235">235</a><br /> +<br /> +Dressmaking and authorship, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_7">7</a><br /> +<br /> +Dull book not wanted by anyone, <a href="#Page_295">295</a><br /> +<br /> +Dulness not necessary to goodness, <a href="#Page_294">294</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +E<br /> +<br /> +Earle, Mabel, <i>Valley Song</i>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a><br /> +<br /> +Eccentricity will not secure permanent interest, <a href="#Page_122">122</a><br /> +<br /> +Editorial routine, <a href="#Page_283">283</a><br /> +<br /> +Editors do not purchase MS. because first attempt, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">have no time to criticise and advise, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">only buy what pays to publish, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">take time to read MSS., <a href="#Page_276">276</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unmoved by irrelevant appeals, <a href="#Page_261">261</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Emotionalism, <a href="#Page_184">184</a><br /> +<br /> +Emotions of author not always interesting, <a href="#Page_220">220</a><br /> +<br /> +Ending, a happy one best, <a href="#Page_226">226</a><br /> +<br /> +Entertaining, every book should be, <a href="#Page_128">128</a><br /> +<br /> +Environment and circumstances to be studied, <a href="#Page_19">19</a><br /> +<br /> +Environment, your own, as your subject, <a href="#Page_200">200</a><br /> +<br /> +Every generation allows special characteristics of speech, <a href="#Page_49">49</a><br /> +<br /> +Exclusive information necessary, <a href="#Page_45">45</a><br /> +<br /> +Extracts, lavish use undesirable, <a href="#Page_161">161</a><br /> +<br /> +Expressions, antiquated, <a href="#Page_52">52</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +F<br /> +<br /> +Facts, ancient, to be omitted, <a href="#Page_150">150</a><br /> +<br /> +Facts needed, <a href="#Page_21">21</a><br /> +<br /> +Fame overlooking defects, <a href="#Page_124">124</a><br /> +<br /> +Farnol, Jeffrey, and old-world "atmosphere," <a href="#Page_184">184</a><br /> +<br /> +Feeding the brain with snippets, <a href="#Page_37">37</a><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span><br /> +Fiction, monotonous character of MSS., <a href="#Page_80">80</a><br /> +<br /> +Fiction, "strong," <a href="#Page_287">287</a><br /> +<br /> +Field, Eugene, <i>Limitations of Youth</i>, <a href="#Page_249">249</a><br /> +<br /> +"Fiona Macleod," <a href="#Page_171">171</a><br /> +<br /> +First attempts rarely acceptable, <a href="#Page_102">102</a><br /> +<br /> +First attempts in literature compared with art and music, <a href="#Page_4">4</a><br /> +<br /> +First-hand knowledge, need of, <a href="#Page_198">198</a><br /> +<br /> +First-person limitations, <a href="#Page_188">188</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Forest of Wild Thyme</i>, Alfred Noyes, <a href="#Page_250">250</a><br /> +<br /> +Form as applied to articles, <a href="#Page_136">136</a><br /> +<br /> +Formless fragments, <a href="#Page_167">167</a><br /> +<br /> +Fragments, <a href="#Page_166">166</a><br /> +<br /> +Framework of story, <a href="#Page_82">82</a><br /> +<br /> +Freak writings cannot be forecasted, <a href="#Page_268">268</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +G<br /> +<br /> +<i>Garden of Verses, a Child's</i>, R. L. Stevenson, <a href="#Page_250">250</a><br /> +<br /> +Genius, mistaken ideas of, <a href="#Page_4">4</a><br /> +<br /> +Genius scarce, <a href="#Page_13">13</a><br /> +<br /> +Gloom manufacture is wrong, <a href="#Page_227">227</a><br /> +<br /> +Glow-worms as a hat-trimming, <a href="#Page_153">153</a><br /> +<br /> +God-ward help in literature, <a href="#Page_293">293</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Golden Age</i>, Kenneth Graham, <a href="#Page_224">224</a><br /> +<br /> +Goodness does not excuse dulness, <a href="#Page_295">295</a><br /> +<br /> +Gosse, Dr. Edmund, <a href="#Page_65">65</a><br /> +<br /> +Graham, Kenneth, <i>Golden Age</i> and <i>Dream Days</i>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a><br /> +<br /> +Grandmothers in amateur fiction, <a href="#Page_210">210</a><br /> +<br /> +Gray's <i>Elegy</i>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a><br /> +<br /> +Green, Dr. S. G., and <i>Pickwick Papers</i>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a><br /> +<br /> +"Grip" needed for selling, <a href="#Page_117">117</a><br /> +<br /> +"Grit" necessary in a novel, <a href="#Page_122">122</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +H<br /> +<br /> +Hackneyed phrases, <a href="#Page_155">155</a><br /> +<br /> +Healthiness, authors should aim at, <a href="#Page_292">292</a><br /> +<br /> +Healthiness should be made desirable, <a href="#Page_295">295</a><br /> +<br /> +Hearn, Lafcadio, and local colour, <a href="#Page_174">174</a><br /> +<br /> +Heroine, the rose-petal, <a href="#Page_209">209</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Hiawatha's</i> appeal to children, <a href="#Page_250">250</a><br /> +<br /> +"How to ——" articles overdone, <a href="#Page_154">154</a><br /> +<br /> +Human characteristics to be studied, <a href="#Page_18">18</a><br /> +<br /> +Human heart, pivot of great stories, <a href="#Page_28">28</a><br /> +<br /> +Hysterical "atmosphere," <a href="#Page_184">184</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +I<br /> +<br /> +Idea, original, lost, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ornate language cannot cover lack of, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">starting, forgotten by amateurs, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the central, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Ideas and words, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">as varied as human nature, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">more important than rhapsodies, <a href="#Page_236">236</a></span><br /> +<br /> +"Imaginative writing," <a href="#Page_162">162</a><br /> +<br /> +Immoral fiction, <a href="#Page_288">288</a><br /> +<br /> +Improbabilities, <a href="#Page_162">162</a><br /> +<br /> +Inaccuracy in detail fatal to success, <a href="#Page_23">23</a><br /> +<br /> +Incidents should not be crowded, <a href="#Page_220">220</a><br /> +<br /> +Income expected without training, <a href="#Page_4">4</a><br /> +<br /> +Indefinite style to be avoided, <a href="#Page_150">150</a><br /> +<br /> +Ingelow, Jean, <a href="#Page_75">75</a><br /> +<br /> +Inner workings of mind and heart to be studied, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br /> +<br /> +Interest readers, the need to, <a href="#Page_116">116</a><br /> +<br /> +Interviews with editors undesirable, <a href="#Page_272">272</a><br /> +<br /> +Introductions to editors useless, <a href="#Page_270">270</a><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span><br /> +<i>Invisible Playmate</i>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a><br /> +<br /> +Involved sentences, <a href="#Page_159">159</a><br /> +<br /> +Isolation foolish for an author, <a href="#Page_31">31</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +J<br /> +<br /> +Jacobs, W. W., and local colour, <a href="#Page_173">173</a><br /> +<br /> +James, Henry, long sentences of, <a href="#Page_165">165</a><br /> +<br /> +Jewett, Sarah Orne, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Country of Pointed Firs</i>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Journalists as models for the amateur, <a href="#Page_57">57</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +K<br /> +<br /> +Kernahan, Coulson, <a href="#Page_65">65</a><br /> +<br /> +Keynote of story, <a href="#Page_79">79</a><br /> +<br /> +Kipling, Rudyard, and local colour, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">short stories, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"The Recessional," <a href="#Page_75">75</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Kipling's "Cat that walked by itself," <a href="#Page_142">142</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">varied styles, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Know your characters, <a href="#Page_29">29</a><br /> +<br /> +"Kubla Khan," <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +L<br /> +<br /> +<i>Lady of the Decoration</i>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Lady of the Lake</i>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a><br /> +<br /> +Landscape painting, <a href="#Page_178">178</a><br /> +<br /> +Language, pleasing, <a href="#Page_71">71</a><br /> +<br /> +Learning must not be obtrusive, <a href="#Page_108">108</a><br /> +<br /> +Leave off when finished, <a href="#Page_147">147</a><br /> +<br /> +Length of story must be considered, <a href="#Page_134">134</a><br /> +<br /> +Letters, story in the form of, <a href="#Page_193">193</a><br /> +<br /> +Life ever offering new discoveries, <a href="#Page_29">29</a><br /> +<br /> +Literary student at disadvantage compared with students of arithmetic, <a href="#Page_6">6</a><br /> +<br /> +Literature, an elusive business, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">good, what constitutes it, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">intangible, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Little, Frances, <i>Lady of the Decoration</i>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Little Women</i>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a><br /> +<br /> +Local colour and American authors, <a href="#Page_174">174</a><br /> +<br /> +Local colour subordinate to personality, <a href="#Page_28">28</a><br /> +<br /> +Locality should be known to story writer, <a href="#Page_220">220</a><br /> +<br /> +Longfellow, Bryant and Swinburne, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a><br /> +<br /> +Lovers' outpourings in amateur verse, <a href="#Page_239">239</a><br /> +<br /> +Love-story difficult for amateur, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a><br /> +<br /> +Love-story, need for character delineation, <a href="#Page_215">215</a><br /> +<br /> +Love-stories outlets for girls' emotions, <a href="#Page_221">221</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +M<br /> +<br /> +Magazine is a business proposition, <a href="#Page_264">264</a><br /> +<br /> +Main theme should make universal appeal, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br /> +<br /> +Major, Charles, <a href="#Page_184">184</a><br /> +<br /> +Mannerisms not tolerated, <a href="#Page_164">164</a><br /> +<br /> +"Mark Twain" and preacher, <a href="#Page_251">251</a><br /> +<br /> +Marriage offers in amateur stories, <a href="#Page_207">207</a><br /> +<br /> +"Max Adder's" humour helpful, <a href="#Page_293">293</a><br /> +<br /> +Men and women as they really are, <a href="#Page_29">29</a><br /> +<br /> +Mental "atmosphere," conveying our own, <a href="#Page_187">187</a><br /> +<br /> +Mental food needed, <a href="#Page_12">12</a><br /> +<br /> +Mental indigestion, <a href="#Page_37">37</a><br /> +<br /> +Metrical composition, laws to be studied, <a href="#Page_235">235</a><br /> +<br /> +Meynell, Alice, "Song," <a href="#Page_238">238</a><br /> +<br /> +Minor details in stories, two purposes of, <a href="#Page_86">86</a><br /> +<br /> +Mitford, Miss, <i>Our Village</i>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a><br /> +<br /> +Modern English seldom used by amateur, <a href="#Page_48">48</a><br /> +<br /> +Modern style gained by reading modern stuff, <a href="#Page_54">54</a><br /> +<br /> +Modernity of style desirable, <a href="#Page_50">50</a><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span><br /> +Money-making should not alone be object in writing, <a href="#Page_148">148</a><br /> +<br /> +Monotony fatal to success, <a href="#Page_120">120</a><br /> +<br /> +Moral books should be as well-written as nasty ones, <a href="#Page_295">295</a><br /> +<br /> +Morley, Viscount, and prize poem, <a href="#Page_73">73</a><br /> +<br /> +Motif important, <a href="#Page_81">81</a><br /> +<br /> +Motives that prompt actions, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br /> +<br /> +MSS., proportion of accepted, <a href="#Page_3">3</a><br /> +<br /> +MSS. rejected, reasons why, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a><br /> +<br /> +MSS. should be typed, <a href="#Page_278">278</a><br /> +<br /> +Music and art compared with literature, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +N<br /> +<br /> +Nature dissertations in amateur verse, <a href="#Page_239">239</a><br /> +<br /> +Nature and mind, effects of nutriment, <a href="#Page_11">11</a><br /> +<br /> +Nature's revenge for misuse of brain, <a href="#Page_36">36</a><br /> +<br /> +Negatives, double, <a href="#Page_159">159</a><br /> +<br /> +New reliable matter will find acceptance, <a href="#Page_46">46</a><br /> +<br /> +Newspaper leading articles for style, <a href="#Page_54">54</a><br /> +<br /> +Notes of observations, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a><br /> +<br /> +Novel, "grit" necessary for, <a href="#Page_122">122</a><br /> +<br /> +Novel, three-volume, <a href="#Page_132">132</a><br /> +<br /> +Novel, wedding need not be chief aim of, <a href="#Page_80">80</a><br /> +<br /> +Novelty desirable, <a href="#Page_120">120</a><br /> +<br /> +Novice must train himself, <a href="#Page_6">6</a><br /> +<br /> +Noyes, Alfred, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +O<br /> +<br /> +Object, be sure of your, <a href="#Page_127">127</a><br /> +<br /> +Observation saves from pitfalls, <a href="#Page_22">22</a><br /> +<br /> +Observation to begin just where you are now, <a href="#Page_32">32</a><br /> +<br /> +Obvious not the whole of the story, the, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br /> +<br /> +Old-fashioned style not wanted to-day, <a href="#Page_52">52</a><br /> +<br /> +Old-world "atmosphere," <a href="#Page_183">183</a><br /> +<br /> +Omar Khayyám, pessimistic "atmosphere" of, <a href="#Page_184">184</a><br /> +<br /> +One-sided view of life due to isolation, <a href="#Page_31">31</a><br /> +<br /> +Other people's brain-work not acceptable, <a href="#Page_46">46</a><br /> +<br /> +Originality necessary, <a href="#Page_46">46</a><br /> +<br /> +Originality not peculiarity, <a href="#Page_164">164</a><br /> +<br /> +Original work is rare, <a href="#Page_202">202</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Our Admirable Betty</i>, "atmosphere" of, <a href="#Page_184">184</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Our Village</i>, Miss Mitford, <a href="#Page_185">185</a><br /> +<br /> +Out-doory "atmosphere," <a href="#Page_185">185</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +P<br /> +<br /> +Padding stories, <a href="#Page_85">85</a><br /> +<br /> +Painting, three-part basis of, <a href="#Page_132">132</a><br /> +<br /> +Peculiarity not originality, <a href="#Page_164">164</a><br /> +<br /> +Peculiarity will not secure permanent interest, <a href="#Page_122">122</a><br /> +<br /> +Pedantic style, avoid, <a href="#Page_161">161</a><br /> +<br /> +People, study of, needed, <a href="#Page_30">30</a><br /> +<br /> +"Personal" marking does not carry to editor, <a href="#Page_283">283</a><br /> +<br /> +Personal outlook of readers, <a href="#Page_119">119</a><br /> +<br /> +Pessimism manufacture is criminal, <a href="#Page_292">292</a><br /> +<br /> +Pessimistic "atmosphere," <a href="#Page_184">184</a><br /> +<br /> +Pett Ridge and local colour, <a href="#Page_173">173</a><br /> +<br /> +Phil May's methods, <a href="#Page_255">255</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Pickwick Papers</i> and school holiday, <a href="#Page_232">232</a><br /> +<br /> +Picture palaces <i>versus</i> reading, <a href="#Page_39">39</a><br /> +<br /> +Pigeons in war, amateur article on, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a><br /> +<br /> +Plato, why we read, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a><br /> +<br /> +Plausible imp, the, <a href="#Page_257">257</a><br /> +<br /> +Plots, making, <a href="#Page_108">108</a><br /> +<br /> +Plots, well-worn, <a href="#Page_204">204</a><br /> +<br /> +Poems for comparison, <a href="#Page_76">76</a><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span><br /> +Poems should have some definite thought, <a href="#Page_236">236</a><br /> +<br /> +Poetic idea in every poem, <a href="#Page_237">237</a><br /> +<br /> +Poetry anthologies, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a><br /> +<br /> +Poetry leads to good prose, <a href="#Page_72">72</a><br /> +<br /> +Poetry, reading aloud, <a href="#Page_74">74</a><br /> +<br /> +Poetry, the so-called "new," <a href="#Page_244">244</a><br /> +<br /> +Point, necessary to a story, <a href="#Page_214">214</a><br /> +<br /> +Polish, <a href="#Page_222">222</a><br /> +<br /> +Preliminary studies for perfect work, <a href="#Page_101">101</a><br /> +<br /> +Press dates are long before publication, <a href="#Page_150">150</a><br /> +<br /> +Proposals in fiction and real life, <a href="#Page_212">212</a><br /> +<br /> +Psychological bearings to be noted, <a href="#Page_24">24</a><br /> +<br /> +Publisher better judge than author, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">not a philanthropic agent, <a href="#Page_265">265</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Publisher's requirements must be conformed to, <a href="#Page_282">282</a><br /> +<br /> +Publishers specialise in fixed directions, <a href="#Page_269">269</a><br /> +<br /> +"Pull together" your MS., <a href="#Page_255">255</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Punch</i> and a "curtain," <a href="#Page_233">233</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Punch</i>, influence of, <a href="#Page_286">286</a><br /> +<br /> +Purpose, all writing should have a, <a href="#Page_128">128</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Q<br /> +<br /> +Quiller-Couch, Sir A., <a href="#Page_65">65</a><br /> +<br /> +Quotation marks, <a href="#Page_161">161</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +R<br /> +<br /> +Reader's choice, rather than yours, for the reader, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a><br /> +<br /> +Reading, aloud, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">helps you to judge the worth of information, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">loss of the power of, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and nibbling, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">necessary for historical stories, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Read only what you can read thoroughly, <a href="#Page_40">40</a><br /> +<br /> +"Realism" in fiction, <a href="#Page_290">290</a><br /> +<br /> +Reliability essential, <a href="#Page_46">46</a><br /> +<br /> +Return of MSS., <a href="#Page_277">277</a><br /> +<br /> +Reviewers, <a href="#Page_118">118</a><br /> +<br /> +Rhapsodies do not constitute poetry, <a href="#Page_236">236</a><br /> +<br /> +"Rich sonority," <a href="#Page_54">54</a><br /> +<br /> +Righteousness, authors should aim at, <a href="#Page_293">293</a><br /> +<br /> +Rives, Amélie, and local colour, <a href="#Page_176">176</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Rosary, The</i>, heroine of, <a href="#Page_210">210</a><br /> +<br /> +Rossetti, Christina, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and Mrs. Browning, and Tennyson, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></span><br /> +<br /> +"Rough-hewn" method, <a href="#Page_70">70</a><br /> +<br /> +Routine in editors' offices, <a href="#Page_283">283</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Rubáiyát</i>, pessimistic "atmosphere" of the, <a href="#Page_184">184</a><br /> +<br /> +Rules, established, save our wasting time, <a href="#Page_130">130</a><br /> +<br /> +Ruskin's "Chapter on Chimney-Pots," <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defects overlooked, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Poetry of Architecture</i>, <i>Queen of the Air</i>, <i>Preterita</i>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Sesame and Lilies</i>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tangents, <a href="#Page_137">137</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +S<br /> +<br /> +Schools for literature needed, <a href="#Page_5">5</a><br /> +<br /> +Scott's <i>Lady of the Lake</i>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a><br /> +<br /> +Secondary matter in story, <a href="#Page_85">85</a><br /> +<br /> +Seeing yourself in print should not be alone the object in writing, <a href="#Page_148">148</a><br /> +<br /> +Selection, instinct for, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a><br /> +<br /> +Self-expression, craving for, <a href="#Page_9">9</a><br /> +<br /> +Selling, the essential of book production, <a href="#Page_119">119</a><br /> +<br /> +Sensational, the demand for, <a href="#Page_38">38</a><br /> +<br /> +Sentences should be short, <a href="#Page_221">221</a><br /> +<br /> +Serial publication necessitates "curtains," <a href="#Page_231">231</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Sesame and Lilies</i>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a><br /> +<br /> +Settle your chronological starting point, <a href="#Page_145">145</a><br /> +<br /> +Shakespeare language not necessary to amateur, <a href="#Page_50">50</a><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span><br /> +Shakespeare and spiritual values, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">why we read, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Sharp, Wm., <a href="#Page_171">171</a><br /> +<br /> +Shaw, Bernard, cynical scintillations of, <a href="#Page_165">165</a><br /> +<br /> +Shelley's <i>Cloud</i>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a><br /> +<br /> +Short sentences an advantage, <a href="#Page_221">221</a><br /> +<br /> +Short stories need same rules as long ones, <a href="#Page_90">90</a><br /> +<br /> +Shrieking books, <a href="#Page_38">38</a><br /> +<br /> +Skimming, danger of, <a href="#Page_36">36</a><br /> +<br /> +Slang indicates ignorance, <a href="#Page_62">62</a><br /> +<br /> +Slang, monotony of, <a href="#Page_61">61</a><br /> +<br /> +Slangy style, avoid, <a href="#Page_161">161</a><br /> +<br /> +Smile, making people, <a href="#Page_293">293</a><br /> +<br /> +Snippets of reading, <a href="#Page_37">37</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Sonnets from the Portuguese</i>, Mrs. Browning, <a href="#Page_244">244</a><br /> +<br /> +Sound, refined and otherwise, <a href="#Page_69">69</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Spectator</i> articles for style, <a href="#Page_55">55</a><br /> +<br /> +Speeding up our sentences, <a href="#Page_49">49</a><br /> +<br /> +Spiritual values to be noted, <a href="#Page_24">24</a><br /> +<br /> +Spiritual values and Shakespeare, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a><br /> +<br /> +Stale material, <a href="#Page_45">45</a><br /> +<br /> +Start where you are, <a href="#Page_224">224</a><br /> +<br /> +Starting-point, chronological, to be settled, <a href="#Page_145">145</a><br /> +<br /> +Steel, Mrs. F. A., <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a><br /> +<br /> +Stevenson, R. L., <i>Essays</i>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Garden of Verses</i>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Story, "atmospheric" purpose of author, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">balance of, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">assessing values of characters, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">climax never to be lost sight of, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">contrasts, examples of, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cut out irrelevant particulars, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dovetailing incidents, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">framework of, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">get well under way early in, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">historical reading necessary for, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">keynote of, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">length of, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the minor details, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the three-part basis, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">incidents, select those that matter, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in form of diary, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in form of letters, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">over-crowding with detail, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"slap dash" method of writing, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">told in clear manner most popular, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">written in first person, limitations of, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">written in third person usually best, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">secondary matter in, <a href="#Page_85">85</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Stories by masters, nothing merely a "fill-up," <a href="#Page_86">86</a><br /> +<br /> +Stories, short, need same rules as long ones, <a href="#Page_90">90</a><br /> +<br /> +Strauss' sound monstrosities, <a href="#Page_68">68</a><br /> +<br /> +"Strong" fiction, <a href="#Page_287">287</a><br /> +<br /> +Style, avoid indefinite, <a href="#Page_156">156</a><br /> +<br /> +Style of writing should vary, <a href="#Page_104">104</a><br /> +<br /> +Subjects must be of interest to readers, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">not repeated by editors, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unable to be studied should be avoided, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Successful books must be well-written, <a href="#Page_294">294</a><br /> +<br /> +Swinburne and Longfellow, <a href="#Page_76">76</a><br /> +<br /> +Sympathy needed to write convincingly, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +T<br /> +<br /> +Tact necessary to contributors, <a href="#Page_284">284</a><br /> +<br /> +Taylor, Ann and Jane, <a href="#Page_124">124</a><br /> +<br /> +Tennyson and Christina Rossetti, <a href="#Page_77">77</a><br /> +<br /> +Tennyson's "Break, break, break," <a href="#Page_171">171</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Flower in a Crannied Wall," <a href="#Page_171">171</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Tennyson's poems for reading aloud, <a href="#Page_74">74</a><br /> +<br /> +Thinking, formless, <a href="#Page_171">171</a><br /> +<br /> +Third-person narrative usually best, <a href="#Page_188">188</a><br /> +<br /> +Thought transference, <a href="#Page_59">59</a><br /> +<br /> +Thought, beware of labouring a, <a href="#Page_160">160</a><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span><br /> +Thoughts, difficulty of writing them down, <a href="#Page_98">98</a><br /> +<br /> +Three-part basis of story, <a href="#Page_132">132</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Timothy's Quest</i>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a><br /> +<br /> +Topicality, keep an eye on, <a href="#Page_150">150</a><br /> +<br /> +Training for authorship imperative, <a href="#Page_5">5</a><br /> +<br /> +Training yourself, <a href="#Page_140">140</a><br /> +<br /> +Travellers, publishers', as readers, <a href="#Page_118">118</a><br /> +<br /> +Typed MSS. most likely to be read, <a href="#Page_278">278</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +U<br /> +<br /> +Ugliness is not art, <a href="#Page_291">291</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Uncle Tom's Cabin</i>, central idea of, <a href="#Page_79">79</a><br /> +<br /> +Unpleasant topics, <a href="#Page_288">288</a><br /> +<br /> +Unseen that counts, the, <a href="#Page_24">24</a><br /> +<br /> +Using two words where one will suffice, <a href="#Page_50">50</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +V<br /> +<br /> +<i>Valley Song</i>, by Mabel Earle, <a href="#Page_248">248</a><br /> +<br /> +Verse, abbreviations to be avoided in, <a href="#Page_247">247</a><br /> +<br /> +Verse, amateur, <a href="#Page_239">239</a><br /> +<br /> +Verse anthologies, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a><br /> +<br /> +Verse-making, laws of, to be studied, <a href="#Page_235">235</a><br /> +<br /> +Verse must voice world-wide need, <a href="#Page_243">243</a><br /> +<br /> +Verse, worth reading, amateur, <a href="#Page_239">239</a><br /> +<br /> +Verse-writing a useful exercise, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">leads to good prose, <a href="#Page_72">72</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Vocabulary of average person, <a href="#Page_60">60</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +W<br /> +<br /> +Wax-Figure characters, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br /> +<br /> +Wedding need not be chief aim of novel, <a href="#Page_80">80</a><br /> +<br /> +Well-worn plots, <a href="#Page_204">204</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>When Knighthood was in Flower</i>, "atmosphere" of, <a href="#Page_184">184</a><br /> +<br /> +Wholesome literature preferred by public, <a href="#Page_295">295</a><br /> +<br /> +Why, every, hath a wherefore, <a href="#Page_160">160</a><br /> +<br /> +Why some books survive, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a><br /> +<br /> +Wiggin, Kate Douglas, <a href="#Page_224">224</a><br /> +<br /> +Wilkins, Mary E., and local colour, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a><br /> +<br /> +Wilson, President, 171-word sentence, <a href="#Page_221">221</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Window in Thrums, A</i>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a><br /> +<br /> +Wister, Owen, and local colour, <a href="#Page_176">176</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Woman's Magazine</i> offered unsuitable subjects, <a href="#Page_153">153</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Woman's Magazine</i> at press some weeks before publication, <a href="#Page_150">150</a><br /> +<br /> +Wooden-horse heroes, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br /> +<br /> +Word, value of a, <a href="#Page_66">66</a><br /> +<br /> +Word-picture, fragmentary, <a href="#Page_169">169</a><br /> +<br /> +Word-picture study, <a href="#Page_104">104</a><br /> +<br /> +Word-pictures, need to select incidents for, <a href="#Page_141">141</a><br /> +<br /> +Words, greatest writers had no more than we, <a href="#Page_251">251</a><br /> +<br /> +Words, subject should regulate choice, <a href="#Page_158">158</a><br /> +<br /> +Words, use simple, <a href="#Page_67">67</a><br /> +<br /> +Words, using two when one will suffice, <a href="#Page_50">50</a><br /> +<br /> +Write as you actually speak, <a href="#Page_48">48</a><br /> +<br /> +Writing difficult to reduce to set of rules, <a href="#Page_8">8</a><br /> +<br /> +Writing is hard work, <a href="#Page_204">204</a><br /> +<br /> +Writer's influence greater than preacher's, <a href="#Page_287">287</a><br /> +<br /> +Writing a serious responsibility, <a href="#Page_287">287</a><br /> +<br /> +Writing that lasts, <a href="#Page_25">25</a><br /> +</small></p> + +<hr style="width: 85%;" /> +<div class="notebox"> +<p class="blockquot"><b>Transcriber's Note:</b> Obvious misprints +and punctuation errors have been corrected silently.</p> +</div> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LURE OF THE PEN***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 36837-h.txt or 36837-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/6/8/3/36837">http://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/8/3/36837</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will 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