Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1909-07-03

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out by twos and threes at a time. and
six explanatory and argumentative
l5letters had been exchanged between
author and publisher before the Anal.
| proof was passed.
All this trou BILE over a 5000 word sto-.
ry submitted by mail by an unknown
author, who had never: written anything
before and by magazine that receives
several hundred manuscripts month
and can command the best writers!
Why? Because the story was there
and S. s. Mcclure k11sw it, the Ff1omegti
he saw 1t, and slie rose ITO the ba III Ike
a pike .;,Iha author was vas. tal.e At all:s
finds n .I,js9 s3 = }
you sssss s's @sa ? yet
speak of'the story; Sin q manuscript"
the writer asked III Mcclure.
ut must be human and there must
be some notiveain 1.-THE answered
Immediately, ut may he fcleverly writ
ten; but so are advert sements. Adj.
venture and incident may be there, but
IL there is nothing human in it no.
laughter will ever shake the readers,
hand, no tear will ever fall upon the.
page"
Many readers who We're interviewed
expressed the same opinion in various
ways, insisting that it was this want of
the human touch that caused tthe rejec-s
ton OF 80 per cent of the stories sub
mitted to magazines. III
"a story must act on the readers
feelings as well as on his mind, re-
marked one. II must quicken his
impulses somehow. If it is n story of
adventure it should be able to carry
you along with it., just as the audience
used to hold on to the backs of the
seats in front; Of them when John B.
Cough described the stage coach tearing
downhill close to the edge Of the preci-4
nice with a drunken driver on the box.
"The habitual magazine reader re-
members story that has made him
feel long after he has forgotten those
that made him think" y,
Frank Munsey Classics stories SIM
ply by Their, commercial value and puts
pathos., first, love second, adventure
third and humor last.
ANY one can invent love plots and
adventures" he says, and some men
cannot put pen to paper without being
hunlorous; but the pathethic story is
always from the heart. and Il it Is
genuine It always reaches the heart of
the reader. Those are the stories that
are hard to find"
novice in authorship is sending his man
uscripts to the wrong place. The fur
Their he is from the right place in his
selection, the longer he will probably
have to wait for its return. This delay
and the repettion of refusals is one Of
the most disheartening things the bud
ding author has to contend with. hut
3 it is entirely his own fault, He may
imagine that all the editors haveico
spired against him. whereas there Is
nothing against him but his own lack of
judgment.
b II man had n patent churn TO sell
and went hawking 1t among the house
wives on the West Side You would
laugh at him and tell him TO take 1t
ITO the country and sell 1t to the FARM
.ers' wives. If he replied that the coun-
try was just the same as the city, all
houses and people, YOU would laugh
still louder at his folly. Yet the au
thor who sends his manuscripts to the
wrong place Is just as misguided.
The first thing that a new writer
usually does is to send his story off
to his favorite magazine or to the
magazine that he hears most highly
spoken of. Ali amateur actors want
to play Hamlet" from the start. The
high class well known magazines, like
Harper's, have to wade through more
trash than any others.
-. A story was submitted to me pri-t
.vately BY a friend of mine. said one
mt tuttiul Nao SNuI.e,
who did not know that i was employed
on a magazine. She thought It was the
greatest thing that ever happened. that
story of hers. Most authors think that
about their first attempts.
tshe was in doubt whether TO send
1t to Harper's or the Century. as she
did not want to offend either of them
by giving the other the refusal of it.
After reading it over, advised her 70
try 1t on the WaYerly Magazine first
and not to expect any pay for It.
She has not spoken to me since, but
I learned from friend of hers that
she sent 1t from one magazine to an
other for nearly two years, having TO q
copy 1t again once or twice when II
got sl.a,,by Tho funny part Of II w;ss
that she finally sent it To tho Waverley5
and they used It.
4 There is young woman in Brooklyn