The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-04-29
WORK OF BUILDING
 4 MODERN PLAY Augustus Thomus Tells of His Work for the Stage THERE ARE THREE WAYS MT. Thomas Builds Story From lmas- inative Characters Who Live
 and Act in His Mind
 for Months.
From the Kansas City Star

From the Kansas City Star.
 Would you like to write play? It's pretty difficult job, but think how many persons have become rich from it. Not so many years ago Augustus Thomas, au- thor of "The Other Girl" was a reporter for the Kansas City Times. Today he has money to waste-that is, if he has saved any of it-and all from writing plays. Here's what he says about his art:
 There are three ways of writing plays" said MT. Thomas recently. The first kind of writer starts out with a story he can get anywhere-it need not necessarily be his own-and then he sets to work to give life to that story. The second kind of writer is the one who finds or conceives a very strong situation and writes up to that and down from 1t. The third type is the one who starts with set of characters. or with one character, and lets them work out their own story
 And which type of man are you, MT Thomas?' asked the interviewer; which of the three methods do you employ in writing a play?'
 "The third, he replied laconically. q begin with a group of characters and let them live together for a while. and they make their own story. If the public is disappointed, Pm not for I have no idea how the thing will end. l haven't thought how it will work out-they develop their own story, you see. Under these condi- tions, if a man tried to bind his char acters by conventions, they would smell of the theatre.
 Play Is Completed
 How long do I think about my char acters? Oh. that depends sometimes year; sometimes two; sometimes not long CT than six months. The work of play Is all done when the writing is com menced That is the mere mechanical part
 After MT. Thomas has his dramas we'll in mind-when his dream people have lived together, have joys and sorrows, anu developed. through situations a plot, he sketches the story orally to the man ager for whom he is writing the piece. If this resume proves satisfactory he then writes a scenario, a composite picture of the piece, and then follows the play in detail, scene by scene, act by act, in regular sequence.
 "The division into scenes and acts? Oh, it isn't a question of division, but of construction. Scenes are a necessity
  can't measure them off with a, yard stick
 DOCS yoqr environment affect your work?"
 "Other things being equal it does not I can work and write anywhere. As for incidents which suggest my plays as a man gets along in life he draws on his own observations; every bit of experience, O. travel, is valuable to him and he never KnOWs when he Is going tO need if v
 The length of time for writing a plax after the mental construction is complete differs, of course. depending upon cir cumstances. MT. Thomas has been known to write an act in one night, while some- times he is busy on one as long as a month
 Do you like writing to order. or would you prefer to follow your own inclina- tion?'
 Likes Writing to Order.
 Yes, I like it." answered MT. Thomas thoughtfully, If I am writing it for an actor with a strong, inspiring personality, Thomas w. Ross, for instance. It Is great pleasure to write a play for him. His personality is so strong, so full of inspiration"
 While writing play for some par ticular actor must be a great guide to you in the matter of character work, do you not ind It a restriction that some times hampers you?"
 "Yes I do, of course, but one offsets the other; it's a compensating thing" replied the playwright.
 Asked f. when actively at work on one play, he gives thought to another, the dramatist replied:
 Sometimes an alien character comes to me, but I never allow 1t to obtrude too forcibly upon my imagination or to in- trude into the worA in hand I'm no great dab at psychology; they talk lot about the subjective mind; I don't know much about it." he laughed.
 Plan of Christening.
 When writing a play MT. Thomas does not give his characters literal names. He leaves the christening as one of the final ities. Iustead, he designates his hero as "A Man. his heroine as "A Woman" while secondary male character might appear in the first draft as His Friend" and the opposite female character as Her Friend" These names bear the same relation to the people they stand for as a modiste's dummy models do to the frocks which are draped and fitted upon them. They serve for the fittings and the drudgery.
 Do you get as much pleasure out of a big hit now as you did the first tme?"
 "Well. it Is different" he answered. At first the pleasure is like that felt in a successful stunt of any kind, but after a while you get used to it and look at 1t more as a plain business proposition
 Speaking again of his characters work ing out their own salvation" My Thomas, cited the case of "The Earl of Pawtuck- et.' which was written for Lawrence DOrsay.
 Naturally" said the dramatist, you take ar Englishman of D'Orsay's prO- nounced type. Then you associate him in your mind with girl. Next the question arises: Who is she?' What is she? and the story begins to work itself out
 MT. Thomas said that he is always look ing ahead about a year and keeps work ing ahead of the market at least that time