The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-08-07

sketch or outline of the story. This l
90, pen in hand, because ideas come TO
me only When I am Writing l cant
think while sitting idle. 1 write as
though 1 We're talking to myself dis
cussng the people, the scenes, the Incl
cents me sketch is a kind of chatty
letter addressed TO myself. which often
equals IN length the novel which is 10
spring from it. I then draw out the
plan OF the book the list of characters
and most elaborate scenario. Then
each character is studied in detail, the
scenes that are TO be described are Wis
ited and noted down, the incidents elab-
orately evolved.
rom four TO six pages of manuscrtDt
OF the size of a sheet of foolscaD cut in
naiI' Is my average daily production. I
write slowly and with some difficulty and
always think out my sentences so care
IuIly Jhal there are few, if any, correc-
uo's IN my manuscript I should say that
1'oO0 words Is my daily output Ii is not
much, but consider what that makes at
the end OF the year. When 1 have done
what L consider fair daily contribution.
throw down my pen, even if I am in the
middle OF a sentence. But the subject is
SO much in my mind that The next morn
ing l can resume the thread of my com
position, even without reading over anv
part of what precedes. And so, dav after
ddy, nave added to my work, and look
what number of volumes have resulted
from this method, slow and sure"
There are CERTAIN familiar forms In 1T
erary criticism that il seems to be very
hard to aViOd. For example Che Satrr-
day Review, bent 90 making a cordial
acknowledgment of the'Perennial charm"
OF MisssMary e. wilkins stories, is moved
10 add that Miss Wilkins has a some
what dangerous abundance" in her produc-
Of
and story writer's has come to be TO or
binary literary criticism what the domi-
hatng mother-in-Iaw Is to newspaper HUI
NOR; the first thing turned to whenever
the critic finds himself graveled for some
what to say. AS to Miss wilkins, 1t seems
TO me that for SO successful and popular
a writer, she has shown a rather excep-
tional self-Festraint. The fun list of her
BOOKS comprise scarcely more than a dOz-
en- titles, or about one a year for the
time she has been writing. Some of these
titles moreover, represent mere booklets;
and the l3nge.l OF her books is short in
comparison with the average English
novel. I don't know of any popular Eng
llsh novelist who puts out SO few books
as she, unless il is Mrs. Humphrey Ward;
and Mrs. Ward, while she publishes only
about once in two years. rarely publishes
a novel of less than the English three
volume dimensions. Miss Wilkins Dur-
lar way. 1t shows for itself that she is
particular about it; yet in the manu-
script, 1 have understood, she corrects
very little. She thinks out each story
rather fully before she begins 10 write;
and she especially does not begin unth
she has the climax and conclusion quite
exactly conceived. Thus, her method is
somewhat like Marion Crawford's, eX-
cept that he carries the method farther,
composing his stories SO completely in his
mind before writing them that the writ
ing becomes little more than copying and
is done as rapidly.
Another prize story contest has just
been concluded and the award made. 1t
was a contest conducted by the Mcclure
associated literary press. The first prize
-$30O-went 10 Mrs. Martha McCulloch
Williams. whose name is familiar, espec-
tally to the readers of Harper's Magazine,
though she has written for various period
icals. and a great deal Her story, entitled
"Jackson's Purchase, is a story of Tenn
essee She is a native of Tennessee, or il
not of Tennessee, atany rate of the South,
and much of her writing has been of
Southern subjects, scenes and people. She
lives now in New York, and has lived
there for number of years, and she
could tell If she cared to, a story Of liv-
ing solely by the pen that would make
self done it-and with a modest heroism
that Is very fine.
The second prize SOLVENT to a young
man of Beloit, Wis, Gilmore E. Peake
He submitted a story of a Yankee girl
who bore herself heroically, under hard
conditions, as a station agent in south
western Georgia. THE Promotion at
Rocky Ledge" is the title of II. and it is
practically Mr.. Peake's first literary ven
ture
1t was practically first venture also
that won the third prize-S100. This went
to Miss Marie S. Thil, on account of a
Colorado story entitled, In Gordon City"
Miss Thnl also lives in New York.
1 am told that over 1000 stories were
submitted in this contest and very few of
them, in the way they were written, were
positively bad. The common defect in
them, in all large lots of short stories,
was the absence of a story. They had
no plot; they were concerned, for the
most part, with some slight incident, and
ended with being mere sketches. They
came from all parts of the country, not
state or territory but was represented.
The large number came, however, from
the Middle West, and probably Kentucky
supplied more than any other one state.
E. c. Martin.