The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-08-07
LITERARY ADVISER TALKS OF
TEACHING STORY TELLING

hearing one anothers problems dle
cuss"d.
THAT recalls one OF the great disad-
~vantages in the situation of many peo-
pie OF talent In this country they are
so isolated. 90 without literary compan-
,onship. one OF my main functions IN
this work IL to furnish that companion
able attention that seems essential TO
good work. 1t is because IL Is so essen
tial that pretty much all the good. ar
,ist,c work i'm the world-stories, pic
lures. poems, what not-has been done
in groups by people who really worked
more for one another than In the thought
OF q bigger public.
The danger for the ambitious. intel
l,gent. industrious aspirant IL that he
will persist in trying to force his own
hand, without waiting on those inner
story spinning dreams which are the
root OF success.
The danger for some OF the most
gifted people Is that they find putting
these story spinniuSs into shape for
other people too tiresome and too blind.
They stumble and grow discouraged with
/ conditions. and here, In each case. is
where counsel and stimulus from an
other person comes in. II is amazing
how little we all as artists know about
our own processes or (Uhen Il IL quite
/ lltSHf oIl ~ 80 h'' NN''N
person, the companion. who can set us
right.
Without some such stimulation I ind
Il is often the people Of most talent who
are easiest discouraged. This notion
that willynilly talent carves its road
TO triumphs IL simply nonsense. The
talent that IL persistent and does drive
on against disbursement gets It's very
persistence from circumstances and corr
di,ions. Phidias must have been a
dominating lad to make all those sculp-
tors on the Parthenon work his way. but
II he had been born poor. in Illinois in
1850. he would not have spent that
power on sculpture, He probably would
not have thought OF such n hopeless
thing. A head as good as that would
he good for something possible. some
thing sustained by the life around.
people of talent are discoura ged be-
cause they nave put real feeling into
their effort. and, IL it IL despised. their
hearts more than their vanitles are
bruised. Make conditions favorable and
you have outpourings of talent not 9TH
erw!se. Look at the Dutch painters In
their great time. But the bumps on
Dutch heads have not changed In a few
hundred years! A little good sound
tradition is a great help toward those
favorable conditions. The best way u
get 1t is from fellow workers-and
am at least one fellow worker!
Il feel sure | don't pass on bad ira
ditions, bad doctrines, and these are very
easily come by. In a day that gets most
of its ideas from science and that gets
mighty mixed up trying TO apply scien.
tifc tests where they do not At.
How much should story tellers be
trained? Again, each case Is a separate
problem. Some people can theorizs al
over the field, turn around, forget II and
write n story which Is enriched uncon.
sciously by all that thought. Will
others. as ! intlmated In the beginning
this speculation kills the story tellins
faculty. II may be better never to say
a word to them beyond concrete sug'
g%estion: You made me sure John wa,
going to win out you must not disap'
point me.'-that, instead of quoting Il
the story teller Stevenson's great prin'
ciple that " your story Is going TO EN-
badly. 1t must end badly from the frs
line.
IT am apt to fest that no one sigr
In n beginner promises more than tn;
determination to tell some special stor>
II 1. takes all sumner This shows tina
love for his material, that desire to maxi
you feel about II as he does which II
real evidence OF vocation.
"All summer: ! think OF one partlcu
lar story that I, as an editor, saw ap
pear and reappcar among manuscript
for ten years. wrote a dozen letters
about It myself.
"The writer was writing and scllin'
other things In the meanwhile, max
ing quite a name, hut this hes
story OF all she could not get in
to shape worthy Of It's best quail
ties. Finally she achieved complete sue
cess. and II was n great pleasure to eacl
~ us. ! assure YOU. when, while ] w
at Golfers, 7 bought that beautiful stor
aud II was praised by tho public, Sh
had kept on working on II because sh
loved her people 80 much she had I
get thsm set forth so Ne could Low
'thsn tss."