The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1897-02-18
Suggestions For Story Writers.

Suggestions For Story Writers.
3. +. Andrews writes for The Cos
mopo1itan some useful hints for the
great American army of persons young
and old who would like to be successful
novel writer's It is certain there is q
need just now Of somebody who can
write novels. The ranks Of the authors
whose fame is already made are thin
ming rapidly, and thus far there appears
none to take their places.
70 begin, Mr.. Andrews mentions the
two classes into which works Of fiction
are divided-the romantic and the real
istic. The realistic school Of novelistsl
depicts life as it is, or thinks it does
The romantic school paints life as it may
be. TO this we on our own account
would like to add third class-tha
which represents life as it ought to be.
The novelist who should successfully do.
this would be sure Of immediate and !:
lasting fame. Humanity is dead tired
OF the repu1sive and painful scenes
which SO called realistic writers paint ! !
for us. 1t is likewise dead tired Of that
kind of romance on which the 16-year-
old girl is SO fond Of feeding her silly
and morbid imagination The great
success Of Bellamy's Looking Back
ward and one or two other stories
with a like motif is proof that the race
wants, even in fiction, something hap
pier, brighter and better than it has
| known.
Mr. Andrews tells US that the three
principal ingredients of a novel are plot,
incident and character OF these the
most important is character. The novel
is1 must have every one of the person
ages wrought out into character of his
own. It will not at all do for a writer
to follow the mere type in this matter,
as typical old maid or typical poll
tician. He must struggle with his mind
and produce a type Of his own. Thack-
cray and Dickens were the most success
full character painters
Furthermore, the novelist must not
follow real life too closely in his char
acter painting or in his incidents, says
Mr.. Andrews. And he is quite correct.
i We have observed that the most success
full characters i'll a story are not those
4 who really have existed, but who might
exist almost anywhere The most sue
i cessfM Incidents are not those which
really have happened, but those which
might happen. Mr.. Andrews says one
theme never wears out-that of love be-
Il tween the sexes. And yet the most sue
cessful novels recently have been those in
4 which either occult or economic ques-
tions have first place in Importance
s, In the sixth century Of the Christian
era a chronologist named Dionysius es-
tablished q system of dating the years
and centuries which has been followed
/ ever since. He was the first to systema-
tie the reckoning of time from the birth
of Christ Later investiga cations, how
Il ever, and more accurate ones, denonstra
4 ed that he had fixed the birth Of Christ
q four years later than he should have
done In the textbooks of chronology,
!, therefore, the curious fact is recorded
( that Christ was born four years before
Christ-that is, four years before the
commencement of the Christian era.
Teachers do not always stop to explain
{ that this happens because Dionysius
!, made a mistake IN his dates. That being
the case, The Outlook points out that
we are actually already living in the
twentieth century. Instead of being the
year 1897 Of the Christian era, this is
!, really 1901 of that era
The very rich should not be taxed at
any higher rate than the poor, but the