Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1909-05-28
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SELLING THE SHORT STORY.
The Young Authors Chances In the
Magazines.


" fifty magazines that are willing to
pay good prices for good stories. Among
them they use about $50 stories a
month and buy probably fifty more
which they will never use.
OF these 200 or 800 stories marketed
every month, about one in fifty Is first
class and about one in ten Is second
class. The others are purchased and
printed because the editor must have
something to fill in the spaces between
the front cover and the advertisements.
The editors of the better class Of
magazines are continually bowling for
stories. If they get a good story from
a writer, they follow him up with re-
quests for more. II they see good
story or two in another magazine they
write to the author and ask If they
cannot have something from him. They
are on the watch all the time for any
one who has the gift Of narrative.
These are the facts of the case, we'll
known to every one in the publishing
business. On the other side are the
theories beloved Of budding authors
who feel the germs Of genius within
them.
grievances against editors. The first
The authors of unpublished manu-
scripts seem to have two standard
is that editors will accept any old thing
If the writer has a name. The second
is that Gators will never tell an un-
known author why they refuse his sto-
ry.
The antagonism between the aspiring
author and the unsympathetic publish
er undoubtedly exists. What is the
real cause of it and whose fault is It?
With a view to getting at the truth Of
the matter the writer undertook to get
upon speaking terms with the editors
Of fifteen of the leading magazines pub
lished in America today. and also to
make some practical experiments Of his
own so as to test the truth Of the
charges continually made against the
we'll known editor by the unknown au-
thor.
The result Of these interviews seems
to prove pretty conclusively that If the
unknown author cannot get his story
published it Is entirely his own fault
and that the faults which lead to his
can be grouped under three
heads.
To begin with the most common fault
of all, the manuscript may be all right,
the situations we'll described and the
dialogue clever, but-no story.
In the next group Of failures are
those manuscripts in which the story
is there, but is not properly arranged
or told. This is fault which puts a
just in the balance. Wheth-
er the editor thinks enough Of 1t to
bother further with 1t Is largely a mat
ter of the humor Of the moment. 1t
is very much like the hesitation Of
person in buying something that is not
quite what he wants, but which could
be made to do by spending little time
and trouble on its alteration.
The third class Of failures is stories
which are all right, but are not suited
to the magazine to which they are sent.
This is the cause Of nine-tenths Of the
failures Of inexperienced authors.
One Of the most extraordinary delu-
sions of the novice in authorship is that
his manuscript is not even read. One
often hears Of pages gummed togeth-
er as the test, and so on. The reply to
this charge is that it is not always nee
essary to separate the yolk Of an egg
from the shell to find out that 1t is rot
ten.
II writer's only knew the eagerness
with which the publishers reader
scans every story that comes into the
office from a new source they would
quickly get over the idea that their
stories were returned unread. Many
of the writer's of established reputation
are written out, and the magazine ed
itor Is tireless in his quest for new
ideas, a fresh style, an unexpected
field. All he asks is that the new story
shall fit into the style Of architecture
on which his magazine is built
The one absolutely hopeless case Is
the writer who has no story to tell but
who can fill up fifteen pages Of type
writing with a mixture Of dialogue and
incident that leads nowhere. Several
of the editors interviewed spoke feel
ingly Of the time and trouble wasted
in wading through this sort of author
ship.
This sort Of writer" remarked a
reader for one of the best known mag
azines, reminds me Of young fellow
who applied for job in a carpenters
shop and brought a perfectly smooth
piece of board as a sample of what he
could do. The carpenter asked him
what it was for or what 1t fitted and
found that it did not fit anything but
was simply a beautifully smooth piece
of work, planed and sandpapered, top,
bottom and sides.
1.-The carpenter told the young fell
low to take it back home again and
tise and tenon joint in it, or an o. G..
panel on one side-anything to show
what the work on it was for"
Some people do not seem to under
stand" remarked another reader, that
the short story should be restricted to
a single incident. If it Is a story Of
adventure there must be only one ad-
venture. If it is love affair it must
be only one episode in the courtship.
If it is character sketch 1t must deal
with one trait Of character only.
There is no more common mistake
made by would-be magazine writers
than to imagine that a short story Is
a condensed novel. A short story
should be like fiashlight picture Of a
single stone being laid in wall. The
novel is a description of the whole
building from cellar to roof"
The rapidity with which reader can
judge story is the result of long prac-
tice. While it is true that an expert
can scan a story without reading more
than third of the words in 1t, he will