Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1886-11-26
HOW BOOKS ARE WRITTEN.

w. ID. IIowells, says the New York
World, works from a. m. to l p. IN.
dining at ,, and is at leisure the rest Of
the day. He writes about 1000 words
every day. With this stint he can turnI
out two novels and a great deal of mis- !
cellaneous matter in the course of the|
year. He is not satisfied without great
deal of revising, and sometimes rewrites|
a whole chapter. The manuscript of
"A Foregone Conclusion" was entirely
rewritten.
Henry James. Immediately after I'd
breakfast of coffee and rolls in his own|
room. sits down to his literary work. gen1
orally writing by the light of two candles
London mornings being so dark. IIe|
composes slowly and painfully, re-writ-
ing and retouching his work continually,
his artistic style being attained only att
the expense of real toll. lie works until
noon. and then goes to his club for lunch
BY regular application he manages to
produce good deal of manuscript.
Samuel l.. Clemens does not write in
his library: his humorous fancies are
evolved with more ease in the seclusion
of his private blliard-room. He makes
it an invariable rule to do a certain
amount of literary work each dav. and
his working hours are made continuous
by emitting the formality of lunch. He
is merciless toward his own productions,
and often destroys whole days writing
without conjunction. In this way he
often does piece of work over and over
again, but at other times the first draft is
satisfactory.
George W. Cable is very slow writer.
He averages perhaps 1000 words per day
and some days he does nothing but re-
wise and perfect his work. He goes to
his desk at "A. m. and writes until ..
m, with slight break for light lunch.
The poet Whittier confesses to never
having had any literary methods. He
writes when he feels like it. and has
neither the health nor the patience to
work his copy over afterward, usually
sending it to the publisher as originally
completed.
Elizabeth Stuart Phelps believes in the
value of Il workshop out of the house,
and has an old barn near her fathers
residence at Andover, whittier she often
retires when in the mood for writing
Being an invalid. she is unable to main
tain any regular system of work.
Louisa May Alcott never had study
any cosy corner answers to write in She
is not particular as to pens and paper
and an old atlas on her knee is all the
desk she cares for. She has the power
to carry dozen plots in her head at a
time, celebrating them whenever she i.
in the mood. Sometimes she keeps q
plot by her in this way for years before
it is put on paper. At times she lies
awake at night and plans whole chapters
word for word, and when daylight comes
she has only to write them off as if SHE
were copying. In her hardest working
days she used to write II hours in the
"A sitting steadily at her work and scarce
ly tasting food until the task was done
Very few of her stories have been writer
in Concord. She goes to Boston, hires q
quiet room, shuts herself up and wait,
for "an east wind of inspiration. which
never fails" In a month or so the boob
is done. She never copies and seldom
corrects.
Mrs. Frances ii. Burnett writes in d
den" at her Washington house. Early
III the morning she seats herself at the
table and writes until noon. The morn
ing stint of pen Ii Dor is vigorously insist
ed on. neither mood nor even health be
ing consulted. If she is in happy men
tai frame the hours are not needed. ant
the sentences flow freely from her pen
dusk sometimes coming before her manu-
script is laid aside. If, however, tn,
spirit does not exert itself in particu
larly prolific fashion, she devotes tn,
afternoon to recreation, drives, walk,
and social engagements. THAT Lass o
Lowrie's," pretty Polly Pemberton,
"The Fire at Grantley Mills" and "Th,
Fortunes of Philippa Fairfax" were al
written in about II months.