The Washington herald., 1918-04-17

something for publication on how
you do your work? Something OF
your system and moods7 Something
of your sources of material and
the manner of developing it?"
These are matters of more mys-
terry to me than they can be to
any one else. and Of more anxiety.
1t is an unending puzzle to me
that / ever get any work done at
all, for q more systemless system
probably never resulted in the man.
ufacture OF SO much goods. or. rath-
er. bads.
People tell me that they are
amazed at the amount OF my output.
And so am ]. other writers ask
me II I work twenty-four hours a
day and 81 ! never sleep or rest.
My own impression OF myself is
that I am an uncomfortable loafer.
proersstinator, and butterfly OF
pleasure.
No Regular Heurs-
In the first place. have no regular
hours for work and all sorts of dis
fractions and tasks seem TO postpone
my writing 20 the eleventh hour. That
is the reason do so much night work.
undoubtedly. When rise in the morn
ing with a guilty sense OF having vast
ed the previous week. determine TO
begin Immediately after breakfast.
But there are the morning papers and
the letters. and as live on a farm
there Is much wandering about to be
done, much pretended knowledge to be
shown in the matter of crops, chick
ems, milk, and flowers. There are
many dogs that have to be petted and
the saddle horse / brought from Texas
who Is whinnying to be ridden: there
are letters 10 be answered or post
poned, and before I know it It is luhch
time. 1t, is ridiculous TO attempt TO
write in the afternoon, so / dawdle
about until after dinner. vowing to go
to my desk at once.
But there are cards to be played and
the piano to be massaged, and when
the children are home from school
they have TO be entertained until their
bedtime. 1t Is usually literally the
eleventh hour when / drive myself TO
my desk.
When there I am probably drawn
away by the attractions OF some OF
the books or magazines. Or by the can
tankerous unwfllingness OF my char
acters to behave. Often ] give mp in
disgust and write nothing at all for
days. Eventually. in desperation. the
writing ft is begun and It may last
for a few hours or for a week. 1
write all my fiction IN longhand. 4
cannot use a typewriter because near
ly everything is crossed out and inter
lined dozens OF times. the final result
hair inf which &c
the chaos of an insane mird. and
prostration to any one out a Typist
experienced in exploring a wilderness
and reading Sanskrit.
Writes All Night.
Sometimes / write all night, and
the rising sun finds me at work.
Sometimes 1 give up at or 3 O'Clock
and get up at sunrise to begin again,
writing more or less thereafter for
days and nights until / have finished
"A short story l am on or an install
rent Of the serial which an anxious
editor is telegraphing for.
L use no stimulants, for the reason
that / have never found any except
| work Itself. When that is going well
| IL is impossible to sleep. When my
brain wants TO sleep I so to sleep in
| the midst Of a sentence. ] never
drive myself artificially. except that q
! promise to deliver a piece OF work by
\ a certain time always eNerts a very
| strong compulsion, and 1 have never
| yet failed to keep a date. though
have had some appallingly close
| shayes.
The great stimulant for me is my
| intense interest in all forms OF life
| 1 keep my interest fresh by having
| always several irons in the fire
| When my enthusiasm for my noVel
\ flags. l take up a short story. and
when that wears me out l find re-
| creation in a return TO the novel OF
a play or to some other from OF eN-
| preston. such as the composition OF
music or TO some social activity, such
as a theater or a concert or a dance
or cards.
i am an omnivorous reader Of lit
| erature in many languages and Of the
newspapers and magazines of the day,
/ try to keep glancing at the sciences
and the arts, and it is my main regret
that have only one life to live and
| that | cannot know more about every
| thing.
| In my literary work my religion IS
| first to understand people as well as
| ! ran. TO rid myself as far as possible
| Of prejudices and to educate my SYM
| paJhy TO the utmost. Fiction is tC
| me as earnest a science as chemistry,
| / am trying always to analyze hUma
| beings into their elements and theiI
\ elemental moods. and then expert
| mentally to synthesize these charact-
ers into typical combinations in typi.
| cal environments. / try desperately
| TO imagine my characters real beings
Once they become real to me l an
fascinated by their individual traits
dialects. gestures. passions, faults
| glories, sorrows, and joys.
Aims to Tell story.
/ / realize that my first oblisation to
| the reader is to tell him a story. II
| is no easy task to tell a story. aspe-
| cially when one tries 10 let the char
\ acters work it out for themselves.
never write story in the first per-
| son, never use the word 81" in a
work of fiction except in the dialogue
of one of the characters. The dia-
Iogue of the characters is a matter OF
the utmost Importance TO me. because
in actual life no two people talk alike.
and the living speech of living people
is one of the most complicated things
in the world. Very few authors pay
much attention TO the differentiation
Of their characters in the matter OF
dialogue Any number of the most
highly praised authors use exactly the
same forms of expression for all their
characters and for themselves. This
Is to Inc A great falsehood to reality,
1t indicates a startling tone-deafness
to human conversation. Whenever