The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-01-04
in THE LITERARY FIELD
A DISCOURSE ON THE LAYMAN IN
LITERATURE BY ONE OF THEM.
The Fayorite Books of ChiIdren-w.
w. Jacobs's PersOnality-How
Poe Looked.

The Iayman in literature who to-day sets
forth to secure success must be specialist,
and equipped with all specialists knowl-
edge and apparatus, says Edwin L. Sabin,
in Boston Transcript His mechanical APP
titude must equal his literary tact His
wares must be presented typewriter, upon
paper fat or folded, not rolled. Of which
even the size is sometimes stipulated, and
must not exceed a certain number of words.
If .layman cannot command type
writer. he might as well go to hard labor;
he cannot hope, as many laymen do hope
upon buoyantly adopting the ''genteel' pro-
fession of writing" TO do without it-that
is, in the one instance without the type
writer, and in the other without working.
The day of the goosequill and the home
made ink is past.
In literary tact, which, greater than mere
skill, includes skill, he must be consum-
mate. The multitude Of periodicals offers
a wide field, but tends to confuse. Each
one in the multitude has its unique, special
notion as TO what IL wants-or, to be more
generally accurate, what it does not want
To meet this notion a manuscript must fit,
an editor himself puts it, ''as the glove
the hand
To satisfy the average editor of the aver
age magazine the layman must in fact
know by intuition what the editor has had
for breakfast the morning of the prospec-
tive encounter. And If negotiations are
transacted by mail, or by other methods
unseen, then intuition must be indeed
second sight, extending indefinitely into the
future.
The layman possessing the tact required
will ascertain very early that the st. Nicho-
las for instance. does not believe in sticks
being placed n naughty boys stockings at
(fhriGfmaC. Pr0xvn never
uses stories with scenes laid Il. c." that
MunSey does not want this tale because II
is too long, and that the Designer will re-
fuse the same because it is too short; that
each periodical has its lists of musts" and
OF must nots'-lists seemingly silly
enough. but nevertheless compiled with all
the canny policy that makes a faVOr1te
magazine.
Still. taking it for granted that the man.
uscript will not suit the first periodical to
which it is submitted, the array is so large
and so varied that eventually will 1t not
exactly fit, somewhere? True. provided
postage and patience hold out. and one
has the latest catalogue of current htera-
ture; but amid the thousand openings, what
the chance OF turning down the right?
l declare tbs worse than the game OF
ringing a cane.'' at the county fair.
The layman with luck rapidly FORCES
ahead of the layman with simply skill. 1t
is luck that impels the layman to send a
little boy sketch to an editor just at the
moment when that editor happens. to be
daft upon little boys; 1t isn't skill, for had
the instant not been propitious for little
would not have sold that laymans manu-
script.
Above everything else the layman who
to-day may reasonably trust to achieve his
goal must be specialist. He must confine
himself to one line of wares, and one only.
He must write of the cab, or the forecastle,
or the range, or the Northwest, or the
Southwest, or New York, RoSedale, or
indiana as differentiated from Ohio. He
must create his speciality. and hammer it
out no matter how thin, until his name is
its brand.
This is the age of specialists, and the
layman. must join the crowd. The world
of readers wants adventure, novelty, the
bizarre. the amazing. not merely the in
terestiRg; and this the editors are bound to
furnish.
Now, suppose that the layman has the
mechanical aptitude, and the literary tact.
and the bull-headed luck. and actually
lands on editor, with little boy story,
just at the time when that editor is partial
to little boy stories. Have you any license
No; the editor hits back-kind of cross
counters. 1.-THE magazine is overstocked" =
an excuse usually true, yet never accepted.
like the words of central, Lines >busy!'',
/ have read how editors, associate sedi-
tors second assistant editors. and office
boys sit in their respective sanctums, and
eagerly delve into each influx of mail
Clancy the joyful job. in this day of rapid
transitD hoping to discover a new STAR
fearful to skip a single envelope lest they
him not, squealing with happiness when
they even suspect him, firm, all-seeine.
compassionate; and reading, / have felt
my heart glow.
= But mathematics-eold, hard mathemat-
ics-intruded itself. so that one day L sat
down, and upon the back of regret slip
did some figuring. Given a monthly maya
zine, which receives six thousand manu-
scripts per year, and can use only three
hundred, how many excellent, altogether
acceptable manuscripts must be returned
as unavailable.
Heaven knows! Maybe none. yet very
likely more than several
Furthermore. in this era of names
amid this frantic rush after names. names.
names for table of contents-a table with
a French menu: reading well. perhaps
only ordinary hash-what chance stands
the layman when high prices a re numerous
enough to occupy every inch of space?
People there are, laymen there are, blind
enough to invefgh against their homage to
names. They affirm that they themselves
can write better stuff; and doubtless they
can, doubtless they do, and doubtless it
has the toughest Of times squeezing into
print. However, the other fellow had the
advantage; he was there with the goods
when they were wanted, and he has stayed
there ever since.