The Washington times., 1903-01-13

TO know the vast number Of stories or /
alleged stories that begin on some such
stereotyped formulas as these:
IT was night the moon rode
triumphant In the heavens, the span
gIed sky looked down with chill
splendOr- The leaves in the forest
rustled in q sort Of tremoT that was
omniOus OF the morrow on whose
eve Percival had now arrived
Or this:
The sun was setting in a bril-
liant sea of fame. The hills drank
in its gIories eagerly, and the river
that Iaved their feet seemed molten
mass as Cedric strobe 10 its brink
with sorrow in his heart
Or again:
Away back in the years that
have fed. things were different from
what they are today Washington
had not yet crossed the Delaware,
nor had the Alpine SHOWS resounded
o the tread CT Napoleon
In these unenlightened days be
fore the trolley car shot athwart the
trend of civilization, or the tele-
phone rang its mighty call TO COM
meTce, John Renwick was born
The Tendency to Imitation.
Formerly I read a great many manu-
scripts. and I always knew what this
sort of opening meant It meant that
there was no blood and brawn in the
story, nothing worth the reading
/ I have rarely seen an exception. 1t
showed that it was manner. not matter,
/ that the writer had submitted. and the
manner I knew 10 b., an imitation.
/ 1t is interesting TO note, as one has an
/ opportunity OF doing in the editorial
rooms CT a magazine, how universally
certain authors are copied at different
I periods Individuality and originality are
/ the rarest things imaginable with the
great army Of young writer's.
For a great many years, here in Amer
/ lea Dickens was the model Of the novice.
/ He was the innocent cause of indicting
upon the world more unutterable rubbish
than all the authors that preceded or
lsucceeded him.
Then came the rage for the Howells
school. a school in which all action and
plot were squeezed cut. And now the
romantic writer's who have forged to the
front in the last few years are the
models for beginners.
Dickens alone could write as Dickens
wrote. The imitators inevitably found
cred and fell by the wayside- Howells
was impossible to the tyro. for with
him style and deIfcacy Of handling were
the whole thing
There is one other class Of story tha'
. rarely pans out. Long experience has
demonstrated that It is hardly worth the
time to look it over though, as q matJel
of fact we maintain a bureau for read
; ing all manuscripts. good, bad and in
different
This particular class OF story is tn
one accompanied by a letter solemnl
avowire that the tale is a true one
: Notwi-h tanding the general belief
which Is doubtless correct, that truth i
: strange than fiction, truth in fiction
accepting the word Of these writer's
stands for mere driveL
I would not wish to be understood T.
hold that q true story cannot be good
It may well be better than pure inven
ton. but it rarely is The signifcan
, fact about the writers who send 4
: stories drawn from actual life is tha
= they have no imagination. and wtthou
imagination and fancy one cannot writ
4, fiction.
The essential thing in good nteratur
is to have something to say. and to sa
= It simply and clearIy-to say it wit
courage and conviction and in your ow
Individual way. Put fancy into it, in
tensity into It, honesty into it, ana 20
: will come pretty close to prcducin
- something that people viii wish to reat
The best way to tell your story is t
y plunge right into st, and let the atmos
phere take care Of itself. which it
- sure to do in good time. The close
you can write TO the way you talk, {
the way you should talk, the closer yo
will come to interesting the reader an
% to attaining a good literary style.
n If you try TO be literary you viii I
= nothing If you try to be simple al
= direct and earnest, you may be literar,
.a You cannot produce literature wit
the compass and the square. Meth,
If can the chemist give you a formula <
! it. It is not a question OF so much a
IS mosphere with certain other ingredient
Is TO a given quantity OF idea.
.r Literature must be in the theme 8
.e self as well as in The handling. YC
cannot write poetry about a rotten L
,e or found literature on q COW pasture.
1t Dictation and the Typewriting MachiI
If The practice Of debating 10 a steI
ID ographer and the use of the typewritiI
-H machine have done more 10 degrade ii
ID erary and journalistic STYLE than az,
thing else. Few men get the thoug
= aud quality and fiber into dictated ma
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