The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1882-11-23
William Black and Hi
Method of Work.

If Mr.. William Black was an
Irishman, I should feel inclined to
pay tribute to his nationality by
saying that he is most at home
when he is out; which is an easy
way of saying it all the same. 1t is
difficult to tell where he Is most at
home-on the deck of yacht in the
northern seas; tramping the cliffs
at Brighton studying character in
the United States and astronomy in
Egypt; brooding over a favorite
landscape in an artists studio; talk
ing politics at the reform club; or
doing the honor of PASTOR house. /
have seen him under most Of these
conditions, and have always found
him the same pleasant. sympathetic
companion, the same thoughtful,
unostentations, quick-Witted gentle
man. Tightly built, 1.-THE of
limo, strong in the arm, capable
of great physical endurance, the
novelist is nevertheless below the
medium height. ShorS black hair,
a thick brown moustache, a dark
hazel eye, firm mouth, square
forehead, Black gives you the idea
OF compact strength-a small par
Gel, so to speak, well packed. You
might sooner take him for an artil-
lery officer who had seen service.
a yachtsman, or man who spent
most of his life in outdoor sports
and pastimes, than set him down as
an author, and particularly as a
| novelist.
Black might pass for member
of any profession except the cleri-
cal, and for any gentleman of the
time until you came to know him
well enough to talk to him famili-
arly, and then you would find, as
you always do in men who have
made mark on the current history
of the times, in whatever direction.
something extraordinary in his talk
and N his appearance. You would
first be impressed with the bead
like brightness of his eye, and it's
steadfastneSs; and then you would
probably be struck with the fact,
if you were travelling with him,
that every bit Of natural phenomena
going on around him is an object
Of constant interest to him; that he
knows the names of the birds YOU
see and their habits if you are at a
seaport, that he knows every class
of craft, and the name Of every rope
in its rigging; if you are talking of
art. or literature, or politics, that
he has strong, welcomed opinions,
and that he is perfectly frank and
open in expressing them; and, more
over, that if You do not want to
talk, he can be as silent as an
oyster.
1t is in these moments of quiet
that Black is busiest. His muse is
reflective. She INDUCES in long
periods of incubation. At these
times the novelist is possessed not
by one spirit, but by many, by
spirits both good and evil; and not
only by spirits, but by plots, and
not only by plots, but by words and
sentences.
f'My method of work." he says
in answer to my inquiries, lis,
l think, a pernicious one, and
| should be sorry to have it men.
toned if it were to lead any young
aspirants for literary fame to adopt
it. Every man has his own way OF
working, and mine, | repeat, is
most Objectionable, and way
warn any young man to avoid
From now until October in every
year l write nothing, hardly put
pen to paper except in the way of a
: private letter or to make an occa.
si0nal note. But | am at work on
my next novel. L put it into com.
plete shape, even to the very con
struction of some of my sentences
l often keep these in my mind fol
two and three months. I am thus
always ahead of my writing to the
last. Of course the method has this
advantage: you can work in
any incidents or circumstances
occurring in the interval that MAY
suit you, and you get familiar
with your characters; they become
as it were, part of your family, part
of your daily life, which to mt
seems the awful part of the bust
ness; worked in this way you have
your story continually on your men
tai shoulders, a Sindbad's Old Mar
of the Sea-
We are at the novelist's chamber,
overlooking the Thames embank
ment. 1t is April. The Afternoon
1 is warm, the atmosphere gray. Sit
ting with his back to the window
my host turns now and then as if tt
!. let his thoughts wander down tn,
!. river with the vessels that pass t,
/, and fro-now a numbering barge
now a penny steamer, now a tn,
towing along sort of aquatic pro
cession.
: do you make "a summary or preci
of your story before you begin t.
writer"
"Not on paper"
"Do you make notes of scenery
localities. atmospheric effects ?"
"Yes9; often very elaborate an
careful notes, and especially in re
gard to atmospheric surrounding:
If one does not correctly and com
pletely frame a character or an il
cident, with all the circumstance
of the time and place, one gets onl
> blurred page. For example, on
may say, 1T was a beautiful day
d. ~,-I,.t bind Of n bcouf ifu1 6oN,