The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1901-11-02
DIME NOVELS FOR BOYS
HOW THE AVERAGE PENNY DREAD.
Full IS WRITTEN.

| " nv S6n stIfr6 On6 n week WI
Ease A Novel Written in Thirty-s
= dours - Rules the Authors Have
!, roiiow y Has Its Rigid Morality.
g 10 the romantic imagination of IL
. small boy the writer of dime novels
Oh the same heroic and fire-eating tyI
as me heroes he portrays, writes Wa
Ter l.. Hawley in the Washingto
star. The actual fact is so differer
.nat IL 1t were known, the resultaI
loss OF glamor would undoubtedly b
accompanied by corresponding d,
crease OF sales. The men who writ
dlme novels do not wear their hal
long. They carry no six-shooters no
Dowie knives and many of them neve
saw live Indian or cowboy. TIL
writing OF such literature is a bushes
rather than a profession, and the onl,
special qualification requisite to sue
cess are an imagination of great re
source and fertility, and an unlimited
capacity for hard and rapid work
Eacn publishing house engaged in the
business employs a staff of regular
writer's, paying those who do nothing
else salary, and to those who do
other work fixed sum for the manu-
script and copyright on each story.
mus is carried on the business of
embodyfng and re-embodying the good
OLD heroes. Alkali Ike, Gentleman Joe.
Big Foot Sandy, One Eye Pete. Dead
wood Dan, Dare Devil Dick, The Man
with the Iron Hand, The Boy Detec-
1--WE and all the other popular favor
ltes' VINO are still on duty, trailing In
dlans, hanging horse thieves, rescuing
kidnapped maidens, finding lost heirs.
recovering lost fortunes and in other
ways helping good people out OF bad
scrapes and leaving bad people Cling
Ing, weak and despairing, to yield
Ing twig, that holds them for one
thrilling moment suspended between
the edge of the cliff and the yawning.
rock-bound abyss a thousand feet
below"
In addition to the men who are en-
gagged to produce certain amount of
copy within given time in order to
supply the regular issues of the
libraries" each publisher has a list
oI men who can write story to order
IL short notice. They are classed as
extras" or specials" and are called
lpon when a regular writer is i'll, on a
Tacation or falls behind in the pro- |
iuctlon OF copy. These extra writer's
ire usually newspaper men employed !
IN some paper in the city or men en-.
'aged In some other class of literary
Vork~that does not fully occupy their
lme. Nine-tenths of all the so-caIied
blood-and-thunder" stories produced
re written to order. AS a rule the
uthor does not even select the title
I his story, and in many cases he is
ompelled to follow plot suggested
y the publisher or to use some Incl.
ent in real life as basis.
The publishers keep a close watch
pom the daily papers for stories of
ensatlonal crimes and adventure
lat may serve as incidents in the fic-
on prepared for the small boy, and
hen a great event or an incident of
atlonal interest occurs there is an
Scltlng race between publishers to be
lie nrst to put upon the market
me novel relating in some way to
re aHalr that is in the public mind. I
'lthln a week of Dewey's victory in l
anlla a score of thrilling stories in {
hlch that battle was the chief incl +
mt were on the newsstands. When il
e sailors of the United States a
user Baltimore were attacked in the n
reefs OF a South American city a "
years ago, and there was much e
Id talk of war, a publishing house e.
New York put on sale IS hours after f;
news OF the affair reached this &
untry, a. dime novel with the MUIR n
red boatswain's mate of the cruiser W
the hero. The author of the story r;
ote for SO hours without rest or F.
ep, producing 10000 words of COPY, a,
ich went to the printers sheet by O,
Get as he wrote it. This is prob Il,
y the record for rapid literary pro-
,tion. 1t often happens that a =.
tier OF such literature is called upon -
produce story of 10000 to $4,000 ". W.
rds in three days. ~
Writer'S of dime novels do not. as a =.
2, attempt polished style of Eng -
, ana rarely re-read or revise a -
e OF their copy. The publishers ~
It action. plot, incident, dialogue ~
thrilling situations. A successful M
ter OF dime novels must possess at
Il superficial knowledge of a great ''e'
ety OF subjects. He must be able PC.
Vrlte story of life in the slums of ~
reat city, one of adventure on the gu
tern plains, of war in Cuba or the
1ppines, without making any ma
II error in the descriptive sections.
rigid rule that the plot and in
Mt must be plausible. No matter ,
improbable the deeds of the hero -
be. the author must be careful to -,
q lmpossibilities and absurdities. -,
kali Ike scalps an Indian in the ~
X Hills in the morning and cleans -.
faro bank in Deadwood at night -
story must explain satisfactorily
ne made the journey from one u;,r,
to the other in the time speci-
e dime novel writer must also be -
to take up character created by 80.
Ter writer and carry the imaein,
individual along through other go,
zinc bis hah,.S neuie 90 WITHOUT that
peat himself in deeds of daring. So
en- happens that one central char oi'
is carried along as the hero w
gh 20 or 80 stories published in T III a. =
modern library" style of such ~ M
L. While the same name or nom 10 law :
line may appear on the title mage -
ach story, dozen different ,.ss"
rs perhaps contribute to the - ~
, each taking up the characters So..u
they were left by the preceding Ter
:, and carrying them on to new "'n