Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1903-12-11
KING cF DIME NoyELIsTs.
Eugene T. Sawyer Tells How He
Constructed literature.

- A'etWSe I'll 49,. tie king OF ul1ne
hoVelists," is at present city editor OF a
newspaper here, and is a genial sadly
smiling gentleman" 1.-THE mildest man
nered man that ever scuttled a shin or
cut throat, says a San Jose, CAL
special to the Chicago Chronicle. He has
tracked and Slain more villains and res
cueu more neroines. we are Told, than
dumas himself. Ellis editions are nor
measured by thousands, but by carloads
Tie probably holds the championship for
story writing, with upward of. seventy
fve books to his credit" Mr.. Sawyer
when asked to outline his IDEA of the
junction of the dime novel replied:
10 man whose life is measured by
YARDS OF ribbon OF pounds of cheese. or
bounded by the four dingy walls of the
counting house dime novel is a reyela.
tion and delight. Most of nv readers
M M mere superS on the stage of life
N My are not not IN themselves picturesque
take out of themselves. the dime novel, 81
menta ,hTll per page the only real
tba :,a, that strut through the pages of
t ,,, yellow back are the only Interest
ing persons tna, they eyer hobnob with. No
negin thinking with the first word
sel down, and not before. OF course I
must must biegin with something that viii at.
be- e. something, like this: l''s'A ''seo -
4ielp. Help! Help! These words rsne.
h IN mic 1i}t the air on cold vember night
New ork; Scme one was ir dire nesd
but the whole country seemed ,Iesertai !:
90 Ard then immediately there was a row
on. . aiter winch the paragraph went
49,, twenty wears ago Empraim Gohsoo
Pot ne m and H fesp1I5ed citizen in New
ddhhush.tIer. was called the rrettiest girl IN
the village ETC. e'ti -
ing B af the sn dime the
magazines e zines have learned how necessary IN II
IS TO begin the plot with tho first 1,ord A.
~ nna +h 90 IL perhaps more artisticaIly, but
ny teslnnines. Tor instance in .Rnnsooa
arranaa, the California Detective 7 start
d,,r"e VIII have the money or YOU shall
.Gir in another ore T. thought ratber
Swear the defendant.
And in Tho Dead Mans rJ.,a, ~,
op.eenrIf M :. line was this: i'''iu tne
u rs case of mysterious disapnear-
opsner than good title, though the ititIa
ana the cover situation are what ms,,a, ne,
s ssa the ar, book. That last quotation Is
Car Matchless Method The m oajn
tltle was suggested to me by tho n,,hiisti
ers who thought it would sell veil pJp'i ari7
book" pm ''e quit up the whole
, The " ~ Carter" series BROUGHT their
a at s9o oo per novel, each book running to
n novels We're we're w sgds The he Log Cabin
500 apiece. Mr.. SAWYER confesses M
the writer Of dime novels is never 1i,re1,,
70 pscome rich. but he finds compensation
in this branch of literature, nevertb eIas q
He concludes. eeie''''
Il have a'ways been a reader as well as
a as writer ter, Of ia. dime novels though do not
means. I have read them since / was
n boy and still read them, now perha ne
from curiosity and. because of my knowl-
kind of fiction. 1t is. however only the
submerged tenth who hear cheap storias
have been in the book shops and seem
their nickels for the same tales their ovrS
elevator bows read. I have known III
erary men to confess that they had read
tales as bad as mine with interest and
"snch yarns are about as good a remedy
for brain, flag as you could find. They're
You can read The Pirate of the Caribees;
when your nerves forbid ethical discus
sions.
looks. OF course. I never made any claims
to literary quality and have never tried
for style My books were frankly pot
humor enough to know where they stand
Still, Louise Alcott did it once. I'm on q
bad. eminence: know. but though my
any depraved tastes. For dime novel
You require only three. things-a riotous
imagination, a dramatic instinct and
right hand that never tires. never re-
Uised a line or crossed out a word But
I doubt il everyone could write that way
offhand. as it We're. and turn out story
half done than a fox terrier could stop
in the pursuit OF rat.