The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-12-10

whole chain of facts and construct story
on them. But there is always a character
which Is the chief foundation of the tale.
ard the story is never a mere account Of
actual occurrences. Real life and life in
fiction are very different. The romance OF
life is hardly ever as complete as fiction is
required to- be. We often find that charac-
tiers in life which have heroic possibilities
drop into the commonplace. Stories. of
real life rarely have any satisfactory con-
clusion. but novel must have one.
HIS METHODS OF WORK.
"When | am writing history. as In my
ava Roma. or an historical novel / gath
er together all the books which / need to
inform me concerning the period about
which / am to write. and I read a great
deal / have a library of about 5000
volumes at my home largely works OF
reference, TO which am adding constant
IL. and I have access to the Vatican Ii
b. airy. The Vatican contains not only a
amber of special libraries Of books and
manuscripts on all subjects, but il has also
a very fine reference library. / usually
read twice over everything 1 want The
first time make notes. which are merely
certain things when I need them. Then
with my reference books about me begin
to write. reading everything over again. 1
go over my manuscript a great many
times. When the story is in proof make
very few changes. but read it several times
for the sake OF making it as accurate as 1
can"
do you like short-story writing?"
ct have no talent for il. 1 have writ
ten few short stories. I have always
believed that IL must take about as much
labor to produce a short story as long
one, but that It required a different sort
OF TALENT
do you read much felton,
VERY little. / read a great deal, but
have not much time for fiction. 1 do my
best to read the more important novels of
the day, but that is all. Before 1 began
writing I had a positive distaste for fic-
ton and had read very little of it, Since
i became a story writer have read the
classics of fiction very carefully as mat
ter of study
I asked Mr.. Crawford If he would tell
me the story of his first novel.
'"fhat was Mr.. fsaacs,'" he answered
ST had been in India a couple of years ed
iting little paper. When came to Amer
lea did hack-work for newspapers. had
an uncle-the weil-known Uncle Sam
Ward, who was always encouraging me to
write. In my Indian experience 1 had
known a man named Jacobs, a diamond
merchant, whose career had been-and aft
EDWARDS continued to be-wonderfully ro-
mantle. One evening I told my uncle. in
the course of conversation, some of the
things which Jacobs had told me about
himself. He insisted that 1 should write
the story Of them and made me sit down
then and there and begin the narrative.
When I had completed it continued the
story by drawing on my imagination and
making my hero fall in love with an Eng
lsh girl: so I made a novel out of what
my uncle had originally thought might
make a two-number sketch for some maya
zine. He took the manuscript straight TO
the Macmillans. had no idea that they
would publish 1t and while they were COM
ing to a decision wrote DR.. Claudius' for
my own amusement. So it happened that
when Mr.. Isaacs' was published and
proved a success I had another book ready
for publication"
Mr. Crawford believes that every man
who succeeds in literature must serve a
hard apprenticeship.
II have known wha 1T was to have
very hard time he 81 d. .and 1 have had
10 consider very seriously the question Of
earning a dollar day; think the man
who is to succeed in literature must be-
gin by earning his living with his pen. 1t
is a singular fact and one that may not
have attracted your attention that this has
not been true of the poets. Goethe was
well-to-do Tennyson had modest for
tune Walter Scott. when he was young
man and had sufficient income, was
poet His difficulties began soon after he
had turned his attention to prose fiction
and the men who held his obligations lit
orally turned him into literary machine.
WRITERS POORLY PAID.
Mr. Crawford said he believed literary
workers to be the poorest-paid OF all men.
THE amount OF time and effort We expend
an producing books" he said, would, II
applied to any business. build up fortune.
And we, who generally so i'll rewarded,
are not even permitted TO enjoy in our old
age the product of our labor. The greatest
possible length of copyright in the United
States is forty-two years. In England IL
IS even worse. There the limit is twenty
five years after which the writer loses
ali rights in the product of his brain and
only seven years after his death If he dies
on the day of publication. In any other
business, as man becomes older his bust
ness brings him In an increased income.
With us the income generally decreases
with years. and after a time tits taken from
us altogether by the expiration OF the copy
right period. / have signed a petition,
which is TO be presented to Congress, urging
the passage OF a law making copyright
perpetual / believe that such a measure
should have limitations. For instance,
think 1t should be obligatory for the own
ers OF the copyright TO renew il at stated
intervals Otherwise the ownership of a
copyright would become clouded, or the alb
sence OF any evidence of that ownership
might prevent the reproduction of a book
through the inability of publishers to find
the owner. IL copyright is not made per-
petual Ii should be made to extend fifty
years beyond the life of the writer. That is
the rule in France. and in Germany there is
a similar provision of the law, except that
the term is a little shorter. In fact, the
whole world Is ahead OF US in this particu-
lar. excepting England I copyrighted my
first book in England i'm 1sS2. Ii will not be
very long before 1 shall lose my English
rights in that book
There is a completed novel of Mr.. Craw-