The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-08-02
WRITING STORIES FOR BOYS,
LITERARY RECORDS MADE nv
AUTHORS UNkNOWN TO FAME,

F0riy-Th0usand word Novel Turned Om
In Thirty-six HOurs-Twenty No,r,s
! Manufactured in Forty weeks-Ru,cs
for Modern Dime Novel Writing
The task of putting into readable shave
stirring tales about Jesse James. Alkal
Pete. Gentleman Jim. Wild Bill, the Gold
King, the Boy Detective and other heroes
whose exploits thrill small boys Ia not
done by writers of the same heroic and fire
eating type as the chara cters portrayed
Men who write such stories need principally
a fertile imagination, a capacity for hare
work and the ability to turn ont Thousand.
Of words of readable stuff day to make
| them successful.
They have never rescued imperilled maid
! ems, tracked Indians and murCerr rs oyer
deserts and mountain trails, or recovered
lost fortunes. Many of them have neye,
seen live Indian or cowboy, have bare
speaking acquaintance with the detectives
at Headquarters and carry no six-shooter.
In their back pockets.
! More than one dime-novel publisbins
firm has made fortune at the business OF
providing literature for Young America
and that in the days when they paid writer
from SIS to $3.50 for story. Things arr
done differently now.
Each dime-novel publishing house en-.
ploys staff of writers, who receive regu-
lar salary. Besides the staff Of regular
contril utors, persons who can be depende,i
upon to turn in fixed amount Of copy eve.y
week, each publishing house has list OF
workers who can write story to order and
| at short notice.
When a regular writer falls i'll or takes
vacation, or when some special even,
happens which makes foundation for =
! plot for a popular novel one of these specia,
writer's is communicated with and is ORDERED,
| to dash of story on three or four DAYS
notice. Inspiration forms small part o.
| the dime-novel writer's stock in trade, for
nearly all his stories are written TO order
| In these cases the writer follows rlo'
suggested by the publisher and doe. moi
even select the title
Stories of sensational crime or adventure
in the daily newspapers that offer posi-
bility OF being dressed up into an inter
esting boys story are eagerly seized upon
by the publishers as the subjects for
novel This is particularly true il the
incident is Of national interest.
Anew years ago producer OF this class
Of literature made a record for himself
in the way OF rapid production, writing
10000 words Of copy in thirty-six h, urr
To do this he was compelled to go without
much sleep and to take his meals In bites
between sentences.
The necessity for such rapid work arose
| over an incident in the South American
| city where several sailors from the United
, States cruiser Baltimore were attacked
in the streets by mob. Through the
industry of this trained writer his pub
| fishers were able to put on sale two days
after news Of the event reached New York
a story in which the murdered boatswains
mate Of the cruiser was the hero.
When Admiral Dewey won his victory In
Manila Harbor, there were score Of stories
| in which that battle formed the chief event
| on the news-stands within a week And
20 It goes. A disastrous railroad wreck.
| thrilling escape from death. a national
catastrophe-all furnish material for the
| dime novel writer.
Many people who denounce such fiction
: as wholly bad may not know that the pub
fishers will not allow a suggestive sentence
OF line in the stories or a word that sny
boy or girl might not read The heroes NAV
perform some rather remarkable exploits
I and e1terminate good many bad people.
! but 1t is generally an outdoor life the writers
| tell about, the heroes are self-reliant men
or boys, and the bad people who get killed
deserve it. The moral of the stories must
be good. Virtue always triumpns and
vice ia overthrow.
F! Said a successful writer of boys stories
the other day:
We writer's Of dime novels do not al
tempt polished style of English. ne rule
and the pages we write are rarely re-read
or edited by ourselves. The publishers
want action. plot, incident, dialogue and
/ thrilling situations.
-in order to write successful dime novels
the author must possess at least super
fetal knowledge Of great variety Of sub
jects He must be able TO depict life in
the sums Of great city, or the free, rovinS
existence Of the cowboy on tho Weston
plains; he must l. y his scenes in Cuba q,
the Philippines without making any materia
e, error in the descriptive sections.
THAT the plot and incidents must be-
plausible Is rigid rule No matter how
! improbable the deeds of the hero seem
the author must be sure that what he doe
is not absolutely impossible nor absurd
! II Brandywine Pete sCalps an Indian il
the Black Hills in the morning and clean
out a faro bank in DeadwOod at nigh,
the story must explain satisfact orily how
ne made the journey from one point tu
the other in the time specified "
II often happens that the dime move
writer must take up a character created
by another individual and carry this hero
along through new adventures withou'
changing his habits or permitting him to
repeat himself in any of his daring Geed>
One central figure Is often carried alonE
through twenty or thirty numbers OF q
library. and while the same name NAV
appear on the title page of each separa'r
story. a dozen different authors may have
| contributed to the series. each one takinr
up the thread of the story where his prede-
cessor left off This is considered hard
work, but is one of the things that conc
to the professional dime-novel writer
A publisher who had created a romantic
Western adventurer with name tha'
proved popular with the boys. contractea
with one of his weekly writer's for serc
of twenty stories" said the man quoted
from above THE writer worked indus
| triously for thirty-two weeks. getting ou'
a complete story bimonthly. when h"
wPs token i'll.
THE publisher was in a auandary hu'
laid the case before one of his special writers
! who arranged to take up the work wher,
! the other left or and carry on the centra'
| charf cters unchanged. This man was en-
! ployed IN the day time, and could give only