The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1910-11-12
HISTORIAN OF GRAUSTARK
~ re ROWt\tE THE FIELD az
6EORGE BtRR M'Cf TGHEON.
lie Got aA1O for His ftrst Bosk. the Pub
ii<hers q quarter Mi,iion ''Rrews.
per'~ Nlllion>' an Experiment
Methods Of " orb Dramatlxrti Nm, els


who - making hiS hnm. at the Hotel
usual attempt To- break into fiction with
snort stories He went ahead and wrote
a novel during his spar. time ~hil- he
vas city editor nf a newspaper at Lafay-
cite lad and then put II away
hen he wrote another, and after try
,rs It on several publishers was glad
:. 4..ll u outright tn a Chicago firm for
s5g This was -Grsu-tark.' which. to-
s-rh,r with the play ada pied from IT,
n~tt.d the publishers. Mr. M"ntch.on
thinks. more than a quarter nj "A million
dollars
The first novel wrote called Poo
too : Gods said Mr.. Me- utchcon. III
~a> later published as Nedra
1 did not experiment with IN" short
story for some years after I started writ
ing aud have written only fv. or six
~ th.s. and nearly all of them wsr.
veddIed about b"for-. thew w-rs sold
| have come TO the conclusion that | am
NOT a short story writer To he able To
write a short story seems 10 require "A dif-
srent temperament from novel writing
Tri. there have been men able Ia do both.
but they are not numerous
4 have what I might call a certain
prlncipl. IN writing" continued Mr. Nc
Cutcheon IN answer 10 "a question. I
write first To entertain myself. then Ia
entertain the public and last Of all To
entertain the critics I don't think IL ~
necessary to surround oneself with a
CERTAIN atmosphere when writing !
can write a. we'll in a hotel IA I can at
nv own home and at NV own desk. bnt
cannot write with a typewriter
i know OF man who says ha can do
his best work while pounding a keyboard
as u enables him To concentrate his
thoughts II takes too much Of mine to
find the keys Just use an ordinary lead
pencil. and let il 60 al that. Then | read
over what have written and make cor
r-ctions anu annotatons and hand over
the manuscript to a person proficient with
the typewriter
Before writing on the novel itself ]
always make an outline. though this
not infrequently change ~ things suggest
themselves. No. don't set myself regu-
lar amount Of work to do each day. II
In useless ! write when I feel in the
humor. L try to accomplish at least a
little every day. but sometimes write five
minutes and then again I write all night
|, usually takes me eight or nine months
10 write book.
My first big payer ~ns Beverly.
The success of Graustark made a market
for this. retained the dramatic rights.
though I have not attempted 10 make a
play out 81 any OF NV hooks myself
Only three Of NV books have been drama
TIED
I. o r.
refer 10 novels Of tho GrarIstark' type a.
'Zenda stories A. "a matter NJ fact had
never read The Prisoner Of Zenda when
! wro,. Graustark. and Il I was infiu-
.nced by anything NJ all IL Was the Ara
ban Nights. But had read Stevenson =
Primo. Otto. and while I dom saw was
influenced by 1t. At the same time II WAS
Influenced hy any modern author ~ all
Il WAS Stevenson. inst A. every author
who 10 Intelligent IL Influenced hv what no
reads.
when ] wrote 'Br.wster's Millions
had 10 published under an assumed
name. Nv PRINCIPAL reason was to see
whether the hook would sell without the
reputation OF 'Graustark' to back il up
The public did not know for wear that
Richard Greaves. the name on the title
page. was myself.
About the time published Brewster's
Millions published The Sherrods
under my own name. Brewster's Mill
ions far outsold the other hook which
goes to show that YOU don't have to ha We
q name in order to sell a book that paople
will read IL they get the opport unity
DO you think that illist rat ions help TO
s~ll a book'-
4 suppose :h.y do. Personally. 7
would rather not have them. In England
many authors object to- havin their
novels illust rssed.-
DO you think that the publication Of a
hook seriallv hurts the sale Of tho com
pleted nov~l'-
1T depends upon the story hav.
had only one book tn at was published
@-rially. 'Truxton King n the novel
has the quality Of being able 10 hold the
attention Of the reader from month TO
month ia publication serially in not apt
to interfere with the sale Of IN. book
-Judicious advert isin z has a great deal
:" do with the sale Of a book. but AZ the
starr only fou must get IN. hook in
'roduced IN this wav. The rest depends
mon the hook itself. Then il IL adj
vert issd nv its loving friends. ~ it wer.
All The advertising in the world will not
holm Door hook.
Nv field IL romance. pure and simple.
- 4 Mr.. McCutchcon in an~wDr tn a
."-rIon. Then ! ind that the public
- irt"r"sf"d in m" novel that takos il
mo an unknown field This in ...sior
'"- N" author. who ia thus under no
"N'' cations tn maintain local color
!" confn@ a story To a certain small
no zhh"rhood that other people NAV
Ir"w about requires no mean skill and
"''' 4 man like Thomas Hardy would h."
Equal 10 ~ do not think people caro- to
road commonplace narrative unless u
- don" by "A finished writer and a humor-
- IN" Average reader likes scenes
fnHf ar" unfamiliar and characters 81
-" sort hA - unlikely 20 know in real life
"" or she likes for a hero Handsome
man VINO can accomplish all sorts on
fhinz= and heroine who IN beautiful
and p"rhapS of nohl" rank Tn" COM
mon plac" lie familiar
have never attempted To writ" about
~" B,lkans as they are. IL would ~
mf"Nsiba 10 make realistic Balkan
''"rv interesting. az you really could not
I - m beautiful princess or a handsome