The herald., 1913-07-10
How the
Story Ended
By F. A. Mitchell

chapters, the whole to be ready To-
publication within a week. | was writ
ing late one night when for a time
how long / know nOt-my facultie:
came to a standstill.
Ny next remem brance is that | wa:
walking in a grove, strange to say
with my heroine, Evelyn IIope-nO
only Evelyn Hope, the creature of my
imagination, but Evelyn Hope n rea
being. And she was talking to me.
"You are trying to compel me to mar
~ that SCotchman, and | wish you tC
understand that / won't do it,"
angus McGregOr is a fine fellow,
| replied. You must marry him. I've
written the story with that end in
view, and If you won't have him | shall
have TO tear the whole thing 10 pieces
Besides, there's no time for you tc
change your mind at this late date
The book Is advertised for the 1st OF
March"
81 change my mind! You might bet
ter state it you change my mind You
novelists collect lot Of us together
and undertake to make us do just what
you intend we shall do. Then when
we
"KickY
yes. that expresses it exactly. When
we kick you say, You've got TO do
as / wish you to do And we won't
that Is, unless your will comedies with
our own"
"Well, then, if you will be so obstrep.
orous, whom do you wish to marry"
She didn't reply to this right off. We
were passing through some long grass.
and she bent down and picked blade
growing higher than the rest and, put
| ting one end Of 1t in her mouth, said:
You profess to be novelist. A nov
| elist must understand the human heart
What do you know about the human
hearth?
Il thought / was well equipped in
that respect"
And you can't make your heroine
marry the man of her choice Fine in
stincts you have for divining how love
works"
I'm woman. l admit my most sue
cessful novel was one In which / made
up my mind as to the man l would
love were l a woman and then made
her marry the biggest chump in the
lot"
The woman knew better. At heart
he was a noble fellow"
'The fellow / was creating wasn't"
You novelsts tire me. The fellow
you were creating! Just as if you
could create a character
"Why notT
You set up a dummy and put this
into him and that into him. thinking
that this and that you have put in will
make him act so and so. but it doesn't
He goes off and does the other thing
while you stand gaping ut him. What's
the reason for your failure? Why. your
calculations are all wrong"
"I've violated what the playwrights
call the dramatic laws, you mean"
Nonsense. There is no such thing
as dramatic laws. II there were there
would have to be a mammoth dramatic
prison, for the characters would be
breaking the laws every day. No; your
trouble has been in not foreseeing the
thousands of influences through which
your characters will pass. One of them
commits a horrid murder. Your reader
yearns to see him hanged. He escapes
from prison the night before the hang
ing. Straightway your readers SYM
pathy goes with him and he hopes the
murderer will not be caught"
1--WE are wasting time in generaliz-
ing. You have told me that you won't
marry Angus, and yet you will not tell
me who is your choice"
Eyes, will. I'll have none of them"
"None Of them! Great heavens!
What shall l do? The printers are
waiting, the publishers are bounding
me for the end, and now you, my hero
inc, on whom have lavished so much
affection, tell me that you will neither
marry the man of my choice nor
"YOur choicew
"Well, who's been writing the story?"
"You. By the time you have written
a few more you'll discover that instead
Of writing a story the story writes
you"
"You don't mean it, But time is
pressing. Come. be good Fix it so
that I can finish the yarn and have
done with it."
"And you wish to know my prefer
ence?"
81 do"
i turned and looked eagerly in her
eyes. To my surprise, they fell to the
ground and a color rose to her cheeks.
With an infinitely sweet look on her
face she faded into another real living
being, my betrothed, who was bending
over me.
"Have I been Ill ?" l asked.
Every ILL.,"
How long?"
"a week"
Bring me the last chapter of my
novel"
The story was written in the first
person. In few hundred words
made the heroine in love with this
imaginary person who was telling It,
all the while keeping himself in the
background. Then hurried the manu-
script off to my publisher.
The book met with a great success,
nrn rosI