Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1896-08-27
dow COL. KING WRITES NOVELS
His Methods Delineated to an Eastern
Writer.

The June number OF the Nickel
magazine contains contribution by
Charles 7 Scott entitled. How Soma
Famous Authors Write, In which Capt.
Charles King is fayorably mentioned
in addition to reference TO Frank II.
Stockton. DR.. Edward Eggleston, Gen.
Lew Wallace and f. Marion Crawford
In speaking Of Capt King, Mr.. Scott
says Of an interview with Wisconsins
adjutant general:
Capt Charles King, the brilliant
writer Of such intensely interesting
American stories Of army life, Is u man
whose acquaintance is an honor. lie
is of soldierly physique and has a
clean-cut decisive-looking face; these,
with his frank, open nature, utterly
free from anything like affectation, and
an earnest, convincing manner OF
speaking, all go to make UP person.
ality mora char ming, II possible, than
that which shines through the pages OF
his books. While he was on one of his
occasional visits to New York, some
time ago, ! greatly enjoyed talk with
him concerning his work.
(Which OF my stories do consider
the strongest? 2 he said THAI Is a hard
question to answer II would seem 10
me like stretching point to say
thought any OF them strong. Some OF
them | have never read since the day
they were penned; some pore over
and wish / could have done better, and
others | wish | had not done at all. In
their favor. though, IL may be said
that they have done much TO make one
woman and three children very happy,
and have given them opportunities or
foreign travel, etc, which would have
been beyond us but for those modest
productions. How do | write? | have
no well defined rules or regulations Of
composition; ! work more as the spirit
moves, usually thinking out my stories
as ! go through the routine Of life,
gaining inspiration and fresh materials
from the discharge Of my duties md
contact with the world In general
used TO write entirely by hand. chat
was too hard work, but / never could
endure dictation; besides II occupied
too much Of my tImo, For anywhere
from 1000 to 5000 words constitute
good days work Being more Of sol-
der than writer, | have never de-
voted my life to literature, but still re-
tain my post In the army; therefore.
either writing or dictation could cut
into my duties too much, 50 ! called in
science to aid me by adopting the
photograph, which ! find a great relief
and a pleasure to use. Now whenever
am engaged upon book, If striking
thought, situation, bit Of dialogue, or
anything connected with my story
comes into my head, 90 as soon as
possible To the photograph and talk UNI
I'll exhaust that thought-vein. so on
by instalments, as It were, continue
talking I'd the machine until the book
IT. finished The tubes are afterwards
taken In charge by my typewriter, who
patiently listens to their story, and
transmits tt 70 paper by another of the
latest gifts OF scienco-the typewriter
after which | revise and add to II.
That Is very simple process Is II not2
am often reminded Of the old time la
Dor of writing, BY requests from auto
graph collectors, asking me 70 copy
paragraphs and pages-yes even chap
ters Of certain books which they par
ticular1r like. While / always answer
these letters their requests ! cannot
grant
What forms the basis Of story
for yon
"'That is most easily and concisely
answered by saying, my daily life and
my past experience in the army, COIL
pied with keen observation and 4 &C.
sire, long existent with me, to write