Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1911-01-06
The Argus Daily Short Story
A Newspaper Serial-By F. A. Mitchell.
Copyrighted. 1910. ~ Associated ry Press.

What we want" said the manag-
ing editor. Gin our serials is plot. We
must have our characters or some one
of them at the end of an instaIlment
hanging over a precipice n thousand
feet deep, to be rescued in the next,
tumbled overheard in midocean, left
to drown. rescued again, etc. And you
needn't bring it all out happily in the
end. Kill the hero if you like. There's
Tess of the D'Urbervilles, who was
strung up at the end of the story, and
the whole world read 1t and wept over
1t. Big sales, large profits"
You want it true to life. don't you?"
Truth is stranger than fiction. ~
you'll strike a plot that every one says
couldn't possibly have happened you'll
get a selling story. The critics will
call it rot but the people will want
TO read 1t. Try to do something
startling. Ny object is to put the
paper on its feet. Many a newspaper
has been made by an ingenious serial"
l had no confidence in the papers
being established by any serial could
write, however improbable I should
told me TO get out and do as he had
instructed. He had no more time to
talk about the matter. You know
what we want" he said; Ego and do
it"
/ puzzled for n considerable time
over plot, but could invent nothing
original. Then it occurred to me that
there is nothing original except in real
incidents that occur from time to time,
and even these repeat themselves.
After ell, the novel Heaton had quoted
had nothing startling in the plot. 1t
was the writing of it and the ira gedy
at the end. I determined to be con
tent with a commonplace plan and
rely on hanging somebody TO do the
rest. 1 would drag in all the horrid
details Of an execution, and l hoped
in this way to Serve the managing edi-
tors purpose to a limited extent. In
order to make the story more harrow
ing I determined that the man who
dangled at the end of n rope should
be the innocent victim of circum-
stances.
Haycroft was nay hero. Gwendolin
MOntcIaveries my heroine. They
nection TO n millionaire who was a
bachelor, and. since Haycroft was the
only child of several generations of
older children descending from the
miIliOnaire's only brother Tor sister.
for that matter, in case the million
aire died without will Haycroft would
inherit all his property. Pitbiado. the
william of the story, also loves Gwen
dolin, and / must invent some plan for
him to get Haycroft ont of the way.
It was very easy for me to kill the
rich man under suspicious circum-
stances-at least / had Pitblado manu-
facture the circumstances-whic went
TO show that Haycroft had poisoned
the old gentleman to get his money.
The ingenuity required was to weave
lot of circumstances that would con-
Wet Haycroft and yet he must be in
nocent.
Nothing very original about that. YOU
say. Well. IL there is any originality
in the matter at all ! didn't supply it.
Fate lays all the plots for stories. and
all we scribbIers do is 10 write them
up. Nevertheless. though | didn't
know IL. / was doing the biggest job
"a AiF mt Anu 10 SOd hAoH v U-4e
thought / was writing a blood and
thunder love tragedy was turning
bitterness and gall in a real household /
into great happiness.
The story was coming out. the in
stallments appearing once a week
had convicted the hero. and he was
waiting the result OF an appeal which
intended 70 have denied by a uIer-
CHESS Judge. ] was writing the de-
scription OF the hanging and intended .
as soon as IL was over TO drive the /