The San Francisco call., 1910-11-04
William J. Locke Waits Five
Minutes for Right Word
Noted Author Says
Speed Is Not Merit
In Story Writing
By ARTHUR L. PRICE

an equation based on those figures, IL
literature and newspaper stuff were
Commensurate. an inverse geometric
ratio might be evolved
That. of course. would be admitting
that they were commensurable. IT
would mean that the expurgated opin-
ions of a San Mateo supervisor could
be considered from the same angle as
the delightful philosophy and morals
of Marcus ordeyne.
Sometimes" said William J. Locke,
the author of The Morals of Marcus
Ordevne.f' - you must wait for five
minutes or so for the right word to
come"
with Locke the right word seems
invariably 10 have come, and 1T is a
word that is worth five minutes OF
waiting.
NEWSPAPER ENGLISH"
OF course II we newspaper suffers
waited five minutes for the right word.
with the night editor clamoring and
the copy desk fretting with its virile
vocabulary, we would lose our jobs.
Anyway. II we did use the right word
the superior copy desk would cut 1t out
and put in one Of its own. So we use
the wrong word most of the time, un-
fortunately. appease the impatient
night editor. silence the voluble copy
reader and stir the fastdious reader to
write erudite communications to super
cilious weeklies complaining of the ig-
nominy OF newspaper English"
That isn't to say that we would ever
find the right word il we waited II
times FIVE minutes for it and lost our
| Jobs six times every half hour. II
takes more than waiting TO clutch the
right word out OF the dictionary, and
in the newspaper game he does not
] serve who only stands and waits. That
may be the rule of literature.
LOCKE MAKING A TOUR
William J. Locke. most charming of
contemporary English writers. it may
be said-and here the right word comes
| from experience rather than from wait
! ing the sacred Ave enthusiastically de-
scribed his literary experiences at the
| St Francis yesterday morning over 10
! o'clock cups of coffee and cigarettes.
Locke, having written a number of
entertaining novels, which are the
more entertaining because he has writ
! ten them at the average rate of 500
words 10 the hour, with FIVE minutes
/ wait for the right word. is making a
/ tour of America with his publisher, and
| has tarried in San Francisco for sew
eral days. Now he will go to the
] !
sublime and then he will return to
| San Francisco for bit of the excitable.
He viii spend election night in the
midst of its metropolitan alarms.
WORK Is BALANCED
Il consider" he said. that IL I write
800 words an hour 1 am doing my work
| That is, working concentrated on the
| task You have TO wait for the word
| you have to balance the phrase. When
| once have written and finished pas
sage, then 1 consider that it is done
! I do not return to il often. But 1 bal
ance my work, or try to, as / go along
Probably the best training for {
young writer is TO write verse and teal
| ii up again. Through the writing OF
verse one gets the form, the crystal
line effect that must belong to litera-
| ture The rigid form of verse insists
in precision. The trouble with So
many OF the younger English writ
ers-" (Mr. Locke, the stranger, o.
traveller, within the gates of America
did not care TO discuss modern Ameri
can writers beyond paying a notabl'
tribute to the late Frank Norris.)
The trouble with so many of th'
younger English novelists is that they
lack form. A novel should have tina
same sense of form. of proportion, O.
| fitness, that belongs to noble architec
ture. There must be the light and
shade, the adaptability to its surround
ings. the work must not be lopsided.
MISS BRANDON A MODEL
In form, for instance. there is NJ
better model than Miss Brandon. Sh'
had the sense of plot, of construction
of balance, most highly developed. Sh'
should be read and studied for tina
sense.
Naturally there may be varying
forms of styles, as there are varyin,
types of architecture. There is the aus
tere type of story like Hardy's Tess o
the D'Urbevilles,' and there is the NOR
more fanciful sort-what is an exampl
; of the fantastic, delightful tale-his fin
gers snapped at the air for the righ
title well there is Stevenson
lodgings for the Night
They are different types of story, bu
the sense of proportion is there. th
architectural sense. that makes for bal
: ance. The story must be built up 81
that all the parts conform, you see
There must be that technique that goe
into architecture.
SHOULD STUDY CLASSICS
IN his course OF training the younge
writer should study the classics"
The ancient or the English?"
The English classics will teach th
There IS to choose from all that glori
Gus army from Chaucer to washington
Irving. There one can find the sense o
} using the right word, can catch th
sense Of the fitness OF the word, tn
perfect balance. And, too, he mus
watch and study life and human ex
perience.
The writer must have the sense o
form. must balance his sentences-ther
is where the training in writing vers
may be applied
sIf / write 800 words an hour I con
slider that I am finishing my work"
NOT GOOD TRAINING
In newspaper work we have to d.
from 1000 to 1900 words an hour"
explained in palliation (there goes fiv
minutes OF valuable time) OF our Of
| fenses.
mo, newspaper work is not goo
training for literature" said Locke.
The author might be becoming de
moraiized by his American experience
: for he had a.word TO say in extenua
ton of the use of slang. He laughe
TO have recalled a paragraph he wrot
in one Of his books in denunciation o
, slang.
But slang might have its uses" h
: said, like a discordant note in music
, it will serve to make an effect"
Your heroes" 1 said. ARE of a diff
, ferent type from most heroes, les
masterfuI, less dominant"
. mot just that" corrected Locke
esDifident then"