, 1885-01-16
CHEAP
WRITERS WHO rNoITE SENTIMENTAL
NONSENSE FOR THE PAPERS.


New York Commercial Adverffser.1
The im~prcssionable mis- who dotes on
himsy love tales often imagines the ~concoctor
OF the sentimental nonsense to be a hero,
and feels that one OF LIES longings would
b. satisfied II she might claim acquaintance
with him 1t Is safe TO assume that very
few persons actually know what manner of
beings spoil ink and paper in building sensa-
tional stories for cheap publications In this
country there are nc publications exactly
corresponding to the English penny mum
bors," which dish up love romances OF 50
many yards in length; but there is a some
what more expensive variety OF hnlf-dime
hbaries that answer tho purpose admirably.
The writer's OF cheap sensational stories in
the weekly papers and in bound volumes are,
for the most part. journalists who take this
method of padding out their incomes. They
generally get into it by accident. and finding
it remunerative. stay there. 1t requires lit
erary ability OF some order to be a successful
writer OF cheap stories. The author must
write with the utmost rapidity, composing
the lines and the plot as he proceeds. The
pay for the composition OF a romance of
from 35, 900 to 40, 600 words is about 800,
and a practiced writer Of fair ability in this
line will finish a story in ten days. II he does
nothing else. Ordinarily these stories arc
written in from three weeks to q month, and
serve to occupy odd hours. The men who
do the work are anything but sentimental
They are usually good fellows who AVE the
heartiest contempt for the stuff they are pro-
ducing, their only motive being money. All
the metropolitan papers have one or two men
addicted to the imposition Of flash literature
upon the public. They are more usually in
the editorial rooms than in the reportorial
department, for in the latter place there is
- ~ - A. 49, - Ill.,
with romance, however well paid. The
men who write stories and nothing else are
few; among them broken down Newspaper
men who compose their trash in a garrett
1t is difficult to get recognition ns a writer
OF cheap literature, for each publisher has
favorites and accepts their work before that
OF strangers Consequently many aspiring
boarding school girls, who compile ~agonizing
love stories, wholly or mainly hlched from
their favorite authors, have their hopes
crushed and their pride wounded when they
submit the fruits OF their labors TO the stony
hearted publisher.
There Is another kind of tale in the many
story papers that runs through eight or a
dozen numbers, and ends each installment
with the aggravating I be continued in
our next" The writers Of these productions
are mainly women, and usually hailing from
DOHlOu y u II q IA NAA WIN
more cheaply than mon, and they are more
persistent in petitioning publishers. These
stories usually pay their writer's from 500
to $3.50 apiece, but the demand Is limited. A
still higher paid class Of stories are worth
from $500 to $1,000. The writer's whose
names are oftenest seen are salaried, one
man on The Ledger being paid $4,000. This,
however, is an exceptional case, and the
writer Is paid for his name.
The short column and two-column stories,
some of which are very clever, are paid for
at from IS to $40 each, but 1t is next to i'm
psssible to get them accepted, as all period
icals nave stocks Of stories on hand. The
writer who branches out into the fash liter
ature business has certain ~thumb-rules
to learn, which once being mastered end
his work mentally easy and physically la
borious. II Is all like turning the crank or
showing the plane all day. These stories will
be seen to DO built like New York houses,
upon one plan They have tho lurid begin
ming, each chapter ends with a more or less
Illogical tableau, and the whole winds up
with a fash and a bang. Tho varying emo
lions Of love, hate, revenge, sympathy and
s~elhshness are Jung upon, the more unreal
they are the better. All the heroes are hand
some, manly, noble, wealthy, or about to DO
wealthy; all the heroines are lovely, accom-
plished and affectionate; all the villains are
stamped by the same die.
The plot generally develops as the writer
proceeds. The opening chapter commences
with a dark, gloomy and rainy night; mys-
tory shouds everything; or a murder is
brought to the readers attention in the first
paragraph. In any event, the requisite1thfng
Is to elevate the readers hair and chill his
blood at tho start. This accomplished, he
or she is good for the whole story, and will
buy every number TO the end. One point
must be attended to, namely, that virtue
shnn be triumphant and the william foiled.
At least one murder to the chap
ter Is the regular allowance, I'M
less the scene Is laid in the west.
when blood may flow on every page
A polyglot dictionary of expletives is handy,
for every foreigner should be made TO swear
politely in his mother tongue. If these points
be attended to. a little practice will enable
the amateur to write flash romances.