The Butte inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1901-1912, 1901-09-02
WAYS AND MEANS OF ATTRACT
ING READERS INTEREST.
NO TWO VOLUMES ARE ALIKE
Tricks of the Trade in Novel Writing
Are Not Turned According to
Rule-Books That
Sell.

|
book, but had forgotten just what
book it was he wanted and had stopped
| to chat bit.
What kind of starts::' asked the visit
or to the big building. Horse race
starts or railroad train straits, or what?"
This is library" replied the libra
rian. I'm therefore talking about book
starts. You see," he went on, by way
of explanation, II used to be in the news
| paper business before they reformed me
and made half way literary man of
| NE, and I've got to considering all books
| from the point of view of the old news
| paper man. When I first went into the
| business 1 had a boss who said to me,
| Now, look here. my son, whatever else
| you do start right. No matter how you
end a story start right. Catch the eye
| of the reader in the first paragraph.
Give him something that will arouse
| his interest at the first Then he'll have
! to read more. Then you've got him.
! And I always used to try to write
up to that advice when I was working
on the city staff. And today I'll swear
1 don't know whether he was right or
| not. Before I came here 1 would have
been willing to bet weeks salary any
| time that he knew what he was talking
about. 1t seemed such good, hard logic
to me. Now I'm puzzled, I've run across
| 50 many thousands of books in the
course of the years l have been here
| books that don't start right according
| to my notion-that I'm free to confess
my early theory has been a good bit
shaken.
For instance and the librarian
picked up at random, volume from
| the nearest shelf. 1t was handsomely
| bound, and it bore the stamp of pub
| fishing mouse that ranks class A. The
| librarian turned to the first chapter
and read:
cit was the first week in April. In a
garden of a villa in Tuscany no doubt
| lurked anywhere that spring had come.
The winter had been harsh, but the flow
ers had gained rather THAI lost in |,cauty
from the rigor which they had fought
against in the first months of the year:
and now they We're out in their thou
sands-roses, hyacinths, jacinths and ILL
lies of the valley
That" said the librarian, 'is a fair
sample of what 1 mean. Now, what
matter or interest does that opening of
a three hundred page novel call up?
None at all, to my mind Who cares
to know, at the opening Of a story, what
season it was? My old city editor used
to say: Never start story with a
reference to time or place, my son. If it
is necessary to inform the reader of these
details ring them in later. But make
them subsidiary: make them subsidiary.
And yet this book has had big run.
Now, here's another" picking up a sec
ond book, equally attractively bound,
and also bearing the hall mark of a big
publishing concern. This starts in the
way I used to be taught to start my
stories. Listen" and the librarian read
again:
"It was not until he sneered at me
openly across the board that I felt my
self control slipping from me. Lieu
tenant Allen seems to have poor
opinion of the Virginia troops" I said
as calmly as I could. "Egad, you are
right, Lieutenant Stewart" he retorted,
his eyes full on mine. "These two weeks
past I have been trying to beat some
Sc nse into the fools, and, pom my word,
tits enough to drive a mar. crazy to see
Them"
"Now, contend that reader who
goes over that introduction simply has
to read further to find out whether there
was further insult, an apology or a duel.
It's case of catching the attention at
the very first stroke of the pen.
Just listen to this for minutee. It's
another illustration of my theory gone
wrong. The man who wrote it was one
of the most successful masters of prose
and poetry we have had in a generation.
He's gone now, but his works are read
everywhere, read and re-read. Here:
OF tbo init
OF a mountain, overlooking a long mar
raw valley. whose scattering houses and
irregular farm plats, seen through the
clear air Of that high region. arprs red
scarcely gunshot distant, when in fact
they We're miles away. 1t was early
morning, the sun had barely cleared the
highest peaks in the east and the land
scape, albeit midwinter one, was
wonderfully rich in colors.'
"Now mayb.. THAT'S coed descr:' tior..'
said the librarian, great deal as if he
had his own opinion. I'm not saying
whether I think it is or not. Anyway,
even if it is good j,.cc': :.,n. it isn't the
sort of stuff that takes hold of you and
makes you eager to turn the page to
find out what comes next. All the same,
that book is a big winner.
Dumas had the trick of taking the
reader at the flood, so to speak. Remem-
her his start of The Three Musketeers?
Ran like this:
Ion the first Monday in April, 1926,
Meung Town seemed to be put upset
much as though the Huguenots had
come to turn it into Il new l:ocf Gle.
Many burghers, seeing women in flight
from the main street and hearing chill
dren cry on the doorsteps, fastened to
1on I,rAn or LOTT f,r
with a musket or a partisan before di-
recting their march to the Free Miller
Inn, where a mob was swelling every
minute, uproarious and f;iil OF curl ,sity.'
There's action for you." confided the
librarian. mo matter if he does give
you a date in the first line, the sentence
is so cleverly constructed that you think
only of the excitement. That was one
Of luuaas' tricks. Why he makes