Los Angeles herald., 1910-12-11
By Meredith Nicholson

many people complain that the story
unfolded in the play is not the Vanity
Fair of Thackeray. So it would al
ways be with any big novel that might
be trimmed to fit the requirements of
the stage.
"I have an idea that all of us who
write, write about what we can. I'm a
fatalist when 1t comes to this. Certain
ideas take hold of a writer and he
must, as the slang phrase has it, get
it out of his system The most eXas-
perating criticisms are those that ask
why the writer hasn't written some
thing else than the thing he
has just done. Ones personal
friends, whose intentions are the
kindest, are prone to wish you
wrote essays or poetry or almost any
thing, it would seem, than the thing
you are doing. 1 used to write verse
with considerable diligence but it never
had any distinction; there are lots of
better poets than am-scores of them.
never in my life wrote anything de-
liberately for money. AS for essays,
to those people who like to commend
me to more frequent gambolingS in
that field of literature, l should like to
say that the essay, even more than
poetry, must wait for inspiration.
expect to have a book of essays one
VI LuGSG Oeiy D. puN l. elAA1 III ~ iAUAAy y
about it. Essays, like verse, are good
deal a matter of personal indulgence.
Publishers are not anxious to print
either and as the writer must do these
things for his own pleasure he may as
well make them the recreation of his
leisure.
'T have always felt humble when
asked for my method of writing. I sup
pose L ought to have method, but
haven't. The best thing that ever hap
pened to me was my training in a
newspaper Office. I began newspaper
work when l was about 18 and l kept
at it for fifteen years. I believe that
newspaper work is a good preparation
for any work-for law or medicine or
business, in that it drills the faculties
in quick appraisements, promptness,
and the ready employment of the ma
terials at hand. The most valuable
man on a. newspaper is the accurate
and trustworthy reporter. 1 have held
practically every position there is on
newspaper, but if were going back to
it again l should prefer being re-
porter. The gathering of every bit of
news is in itself a fresh adventure, re-
quiring judgment, persistence and tact.
Indiana? Yes, 1 expect to make my
own state the scene of ali my work in
future. [ set the scene of my first
novel; ne MALI NllelllCGg III OllttlAcls
and The Lords of High Decision dealt
with Pittsburg and Pennsylvania. The
Siege of the Seven Suitors' has to do
with New York and WestcheSter
county. 1 spent summer near Ka-
tonah--had the whooping cough there,
and have whooped on all the hills I
describe. But the more l travel the
more l find to interest me at home.
Even the sheerest romance can be car
ried through here on the Wabsh-at
least l may modestly claim to have
done something toward demonstrating
this in The House of a Thousand
Candles which was only fairy story
with pistols. Nothing has amused me
more in my excursions in authorship
than the fact that that yarn has been
translated into half a dozen languages.
But Edward Eggleston's 'Hoosier
School Master paved the way for me
there.
Right here in Indianapolis see
dozen stories every time 1 walk the
streets. / am not vain enough to think