The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1908-09-08
e. -
PAINFUL PART OF THE STORY
Jones Has an Idea--The Thing is,
How is He 70 Get Ii on Paper?
9 -
It's all very well having an idea for


OF writing story are the beginning
OF 1T, the going on with it. and the
finishing of it; and even when these
Iacts have been accomplished to the
satisfaction of the writer he still has
an arduous task to perform, which
IS TO sell it. There have been cases
on record in which the last feat has
never been accomplished at all.
To the young writer, like Jones,
for instance, the beginning of his
story appears the most painful.
Jones has his idea, his story skele-
ton, dancing in his brain, but he can't
get a holt on any of its limbs and
lay it fiat. 1t eludes him and laughs
him to scorn as he tries to put pa
per and ink flesh on it's bones.
Jones thinks of the various OPEN
fngs of stories he has read. The ros
mantle style. as adopted by Scott,
Dumas and G. P. R. James, comes to
his mind.
Two solitary horsemen were trav-
ersing lonely wood at the end of a
hot July day. The steeds picked
over the underbrush, and for an hour
or two the animals footballs were
the only sounds heard At length
Eyes of course) the elder horseman
was the first to break the silence
(The elder horseman always is the
first to break the silence.)
But there aren't any horsemen in
Jones story, and it's matter of in
difference to him who breaks the ST.
lence first
The New England style next oc-
ours to him;
Louisa called a hard, sharp
voice from the rear kitchen, you
come right in this minnit! Louisa!
Loo-ee-zer! Drat that gal, where is
she? Gallivantin' araound them
Hicks medders, reckon. Fer the
lan's sake, here she is naow.'
Jones realizes that this kind of
opening attracts attention from the
start and gives promise of interest
ing domestic trouble for Louisa. The
spelling of ''minnit," though unnec-
essary, has a strong local color, and
If Jones has young girl and a
cross stepmother in Concord, N. H..
for his principal characters he will
do we'll to ponder this opening But
he hasn't.
He thinks and thinks. All, here
is the society novel style:
Helen Van Mustard came down
the steps of Mrs. Gallashin's house
in the Seventies, near the park. with
compressed lips but cloudy eyes.
Home. julius" she said, as she
stepped into her limousine, and as
the well appointed machine flew
along the avenue, barely within the
limits of the law, she wondered
dumbly how she was going to right
herself with her recent hostess.
Helen felt convinced that the Count
ess Szlgzkzowski had cheated, but
how to prove it?
No, that won't do. There are no
oyer-moneyed people in Jones work,
spending twice as much as they've
got
Once upon time there was
Ridiculous. 1t sounds too much
like fairy story. Going to the 9TH
er extreme suddenly, Jones conceives
this start:
The thousands and thousands of
coincidents which occur in the daily
lives of the present century toiler
infallibly lead to the conclusion that
what we term accident or chance is
really only
Hang it! That leads nowhere BY
this time Jones has almost forgot
ten what his story is about.
Well, he must concentrate his
mind. Let him think. There's
man and a woman who marry and
who separate Immediately afterward.
Why? Now, why? oh, yes, because
they must meet again twenty years
later in order to threaten ruin to the
lives of the hero and heroine, one
of whom is the child of the woman by
subsequent marriage and the other
the child OF the man by subsequent
and bigamous marriage. And the
point is--the point is-well. what IS
the point9y
The point might be several things.
but Jones hasn't got that far vet.
All Jones wants to do is to begin his
story. but he can't decide whether
to begin with the marriage of the
parents or the lovemaking of the
youngsters and go backward when
he's in the middle of the narrative.
He might start this way
Esther yawned and threw down
her book The hammock felt uncom-
Portable to her shoulders and she
wished life held more novelty for
her. Oh for the medieval days OF
glory when knights came riding up
from the East and threw down gaunt-
lets. oh for the
Jones began to get nervous him
self now. One more try:
Well fer a newly married couple
them two is the most businesslike
parties as ever | SEEN" muttered the
sexton as he watched the ceremony
from the rear of the church. He
thought of the blushing brides and
the eager bridegrooms who had
stood up before the Rev. Amos Dain,
gerfield during the last fourteen
years of the latter's incumbency OF
the
Suddenly there was a mufied cry
and dark flash through the air.
Jone had lost-his reason and thrown
the hoftla Of ink at him solf Erro,n