The Osceola times., 1882-05-20

| 1; is also work of nature, since every
part ought to result from and be subser-
Went 10 the whole, still, in another, the
novel is the last thing that ought TO be
allowed to say of itself like Topsy,
rspects growed." Except in one sense.
II an authors personages sre strongly
and clearly defined to his own mind, he
knows that, in whatever situations he
places them, they must think, act and
speak in certain way. Events develop
character, but character also moulds ac-
ton and events. Viewed in this light, a
really human novel "writes itself"
STYLE of composition, though to some
it comes naturally, does not come TO all.
When | was young, AN older and more
experienced writer once said to me :
"Never use two adjectives where one
will do; never use an adjective at all
where a noun will do. Avoid italics
notes of exclamation, foreign words and
quotations. Put full stops instead Of col
ons make your sentences as short and
clear as you possibly can, and whenever
you think you have written particular
ly fine sentence, cut It out.
More valuable advice could not be
given to any young author. 1t strikes at
the root of the slipshod literature Of
which we find so much nova lays, even
in writers of genius. To the latter, in.
deed, it is a greater temptation; their
rapid easy pen runs on as the fancy
strikes, and they do net pause to consid-
er that in a novel, as in picture, breadth
is indispensable. Every part should be
subservient to the whole. You must
have foreground and background and
a middle distance. If you persist in
working up one character, or finishing
up minutely one incident, your prospec-
tive will be destroyed and your book be.
comes a mere collection of fragments
not a work of art a; all. The true artist
will always be ready to sacrifice any pot
detail to the perfection ofthe whole. /.
Sometimes, allow, this is hard. One
gets interested-novel-w writers only know
how interested-in some particular char
acter or portion of the plot, and is temp
ed to work out these 10 the injury of the
rest. Then there usually comes a flat
time, say about the second volume, when
the first impetus has subsidized, and the
excitement has not yet come, yet the
story must be spun on somehow, If only
to get to something more exciting. This
may account for the fact that 80 many
second volumes are rather dull. But a
worse failure is when the third volume
dwin,les down, the interest slowly di.
minishing to nothing. Or else the story
is all huddled up, everybody married or
killed somehow-not as novelists try to
do it. Comfortably" but in hasty, un.
satisfactory manner, which makes read
ers wonder why the end is so unworthy
of the beginning.
Either mistake is fatal, and both COM
mcn'y proceed from carelessr sss or
from the lack OF that quality without
which no good work is poss ble-the in.
finite capacity of taking trouble. Look
at my manuscript" said voluminous
writer once to me- there is hardly a
single correction in it, and this is my
first draught. ! never copy, and rarely
alter a line" 1t would have been un-
civil to say 50, but | could not help
thinking that both author and public
would have been none the worse if my
friend had altered good many lines
and recopied not few pages.