The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-04-22
DULLES FOR THE
IN WRITING GAME.
Wrinkles That Viii Give the Young
est Author an Appearance
Of Age.
BY W. PETIT RIDGE.

by W. PETT RIDGE.
Few games can be played well and success
fully Without some knowledge of the rules
affecting them, and to each belongs a sepa-
rate set. The wise know this; the foolish
are not aware. -,,
The foolish, having acquired some dex-
terity In playing snap, sit down with conf
dence to engag e in their first game of bridge,
and, rising later from the chair, attribute
their losses to a want Of luck. The wise,
on the other hand, first study Bridge, or
How to Make a Fairly Honest Income
and Aces, or How to Wear Them With the
New Sleeves" and ~"Thoughtless Partners,
a Few Choice CALCULATIONS Of Contempt"
Thanks TO this preliminary course Of &udy,
the novice approaches the table with an
easy confidence which permits him to be
mistaken for an old and willy player.
l wish to point out that, similarly, the
greatest error any can commit who are
just beginning to write is to make 1t obvious
that they are just beginning to write. For
which reason here are some wrinkles which
shall give to the youngest an appearance
Of age.
Short stories are easier to write than
novels, and do not take 80 long; this Is
mainly because Of the difference in the
number Of words. In short stories 1t Is
unnecessary that a considerable space OF
| time should elapse, and you are thereby
saved the necessity Of altering gradually
the appearance Of your characters by
len%gthening skirts, introduction OF stand
up collars, touch Of gray In hair, trouble
with dentist.
As the people are at the first word Of a
short story, so they can be at the three thou
sandth; a change may be effected in the
heart, but the features need not alter.
The beginner will probably take love as
a motive for the early efforts. and l can
shut my eyes and see the first lines:
All was hustle and hurry at Euston
station. Doors Of compar tments were be-
ing closed; folk on the platform accepted
the appeals OF officials to stan back with
the air of those suffering from temporary
deafness.
Lady cartwright had ensoonced herself
In a corner seat Of a corridor carriage,
and was idly turning over the pages OF the
current number OF the Graphic. The
train was indeed on the point Of moving
when a we'll built figure suddenly ran
across from the booking Office and, grasp
ing the bras IS handle Of the door .
This is an elementary study, and l need
scarcely say how it should be dealt with. The
most popular method is to make the two
dislike each other intensely at first.
After Willesden junction she will glance
at the address on his valise, and discover.
with a start, that he is' the very person
she has been asked to meet at Westering-
bury Castle. If the writer cannot con-
veniently bring them into conversation In
any other way, there is no objection to a
| railway accident; a railway accident is as
good as anything for bringing people
together.
She may be allowed at this point to lose
her memory, unless such a procedure Is
likely to make the story too long. The
author must in a story Of this kind make
some preliminary inquiries, for, owing to
the requirements of the Board Of Trade,
| railway disasters can no longer be made to
occur without the exercise Of care, tnge-
nuity and trouble.
Also. the writer must learn his A, b, G.
A while ago a distinguished lady novelist
caused a passenger to book at Cambridge
for London, and to arrive at ~Paddington.
A story teller a year or two ago made his
heroine take ticket at Charing Gross for
Brighton, and she was in a hurry, too.
In more sentimental mood, the pen Of the
beginner will go naturally to the plot Of a
husband returning after many years OF
absence only to find his wife, assuming
the worst-or best-has married again.
In using this l recommend that the first
husbands name should not be given as
Enoch.
There is also in the inkstand the plot Of
husband and wife divided-the result OF a
chance word; nothing more-the two de-
Gliding to leave each other; farewell words,
a pressure Of the hand in the hall, a giving
I'D Of latchkey; at the last moment a little
hannelette robed child comes down the
staircase, one step at a time.
The best authorities favor allowing the
! y~ounest in efecting the reconciliation
| to say nothing; this in consequence Of the
difficulty Of converting children's talk
into the printed word without giving 1t the
appearance Of the conversation OF some
extinct race of red Indians. What's
90 a-doin' Of, daddee7" and other remarks
in similar dialect are calculated, as politi-
clans say, to cloud the point at issue.
The Herodian method Of causing tears by
vilful murder Of the first born is one to be
| aVOlQe0 on ACCOUNT Vi 10 ShcophSoo' tht
trend toward disaster is natural, for in
spite Of luxurious paragraphs concerning
incomes Of humorous writer's, the new pen
invariably starts in a direction that is bound
to lead to melancholy.
The new pen has such a relish Of the
chance OF creating trouble that it cannot re-
sist taking advantage Of the earliest oppor-
tunity. A story was sent to me the other
day for comment by a lady young enough &c
give her age after the signature; it measured
about four sheets Of foolsoap, and the Incl.
dents were Of such a nature as to put fresh
heart into any struggling undertaken, and
to make insurance offices revise their terms.
It must be the sensation OF a new power
which carries the new pen away, the fine
rapturous feeling that it can create life anc
cancel life. Even the practised writer may
sometimes run amuck, and the editor Of a