The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1883-11-29
How Norelists Work.

'Your new novel, suppose, Mr..
Howellsp' was asked, after an apology
tor the untimely interruption.
"Yes, it is the opening of il, " was the
reply, pointing to the MS. ut will
deal with American characters. but it is
somewhat premature to say anything
more about it at present. You see l
have only reached the sixty-seventh
page"
The reporter glanced at the half-writ-
ten stake" of copy. The chirography
was of moderately fine, free, running
variety, with plenty of space between
the lines.
my working hours" continued Mr..
Howells, in response to inquiries. ''are
from nine q. n. to one p. m. dine at
two D. m, and am man of leisure for
the rest of the day. On an average. /
cover about twelve of those half sheets
in course of q morning; there are times
when do more work, as in supplying
the concluding chapters of Modern In
stance / turned out some twenty-five
pages per day, but that is exceptional.
One of the pages, l should say, might
make q stick (twenty lines) of Herald
nonpareil. You see, write very delib-
erately, indeed; yet do great deal of
revising, changing words. making ellis
ions, insertions, etc. Sometimes l re-
write whole chapter, and have on
occasions condensed q chapter into q
paragraph. The manuscript of "A
Eoregone Conclusion was entirely re-
written, and in some respects, I think,
its workmanship is better than that OF
my other books"
.'Can you tell me whether it is Gus
tomary or not for the writers of maya
zine serials to have their stories finished
before the publication is begun"
at is, assuredly, always very desira-
BILE to have story pretty well COM
pleted before any of it goes into the
printers hands. There are like to be
many passages one wishes to retouch
and improve, and often some considers
BILE alterations to be made at the last mo-
ment, in order to preserve the harmony
and symmetry of the work. For my
own part, am generally at least six
numbers in advance of publication, and
always have my story well under con-
troll before allow any part of it to 60
to the publishers"
"What is the custom with the En-
glish novelistsP"
~ am inclined to think that, as a
general thing, they keep fewer manu-
script chapters between the pen and the
press than is the case with us, and this
fact probably accounts for the uneven
character of many English novels that
have first appeared serially. l was
speaking about the matter with an En-
g1ish novelist whom met in London.
He agreed with me as to the bad effects
of hurriea work to catch editions. He,
moreover, said that it was always his
intention to have his story completed in
advance, but that, as a matter of fact,
he never did so. He would take con-
tract to furnish story at given time,
but it frequently happened that the
publisher would make early announce
ments, and then come to him with an
urgent request for the opening chapters
for q certain number, and the INSTALL
ments once begun, there was no with
drawing"
al should think, Mr.. Howells," said
the reporter, ''that after the completion
of long novel you would find it very
necessary to take much more time for
rest and recreation than you are wont
to grant yourself"
swell, have always been believer
in the.gospel of work for myself, as well
as for other people. l fail to see that
long terms of intellectual inactivity are
beneficial. 1t seems to me that they are
injurious instead. There is always a
reluctance about turning to work again,
and the day appointed for the resamp-
ton of the pen is apt to be postponed
with more freedom than profit. After
a long vacation writer feels very much
like the man who said he never wanted
holiday so much as the day after he
had had one. prefer properly to ap-
portion my work and recreation, and
take them together as far as practical
BILE. "-BostOn Herald.