The Washington herald., 1921-02-11

| motoring but that's been about the
extent of my exercise. I'm not
! going to let that situation occur
again. A man must have his exer-
else if he's to do his best work"
People always like to know how
authors get their plots. Short story
teachers often say, First outline
your plot carefully. then develop
your situations" But that isn't
the way Burgess works.
NEVER HAS 'PLoT,"
JUST WRITES STORY.
81 never plan a story" he saids
II can't work that way. Ny FIRST
job is to choose the title. Then
call in my characters and they do
the rest. Even when I've written
books. I have had no definite idea
of a plot when l began the story.
My bookwriting begins with the
title of the book, and the title of
the first chapter. The plot develops
as I write.
Once a publisher asked me for
synopsis of a book I was to write.
l shaved over the thing. The writ
ing of that synopsis was the hard
est work I ever did And / hadn't
written two Chapers of the book un-
til I was miles away from the sy-
nopsis. I'll never try another
Burgess believes that his most
popular character is Peter Rabbit
Others that are well-known from
Bangor to San Diego are Jumper the
Hare. Jerry Muskrat. Johnny Chuck
Old Mr.. Toad, Old Man Coyote, Long
legs the Heron, Prickly Perky. and
Buster Bear. This trip he has
:
gar Party"
MY first book. old Mother West
Wind was published ten years ago
last September" he said. THE
yearly sales of almost all my books
were almost half a million copies
in 1919 and 1920. In the ten years
just passed I have written about
5000 published stories"
His BIRD Book for Children" was
a best seller among juveniles all
last year, and the companion vol
umc, the Animal Book" published
November 49, had sold over $4,000
copies by Christmas.
Burgess is not a nature faker al
though he has made his animal
characters most attractive to chill
dren. He takes great pains to have
every detail in his stories absolute
ly accurate. SO far as natural his
tory and other rules are concerned
TRIES TO TEACH
MORALS TO YOUNGSTERS.
81 try to have my bedtime stories
teach moral lessons to children" he
says. IT'S easy to do that with ami
NAL characters, for children look
upon these creatures as we do upon
the child"
Burgess was born in Sandwich,
Cape Cod Massachusetts, and re-
ceived his education in the Sand
wich schools. His mother was left
a widow when he was a baby in
arms and by the time he was twelve
years old he was buying all his
clothes out Of the earnings Of his
odd jobs, such as moving lawns.
picking berries, shovelling side
walks in winter, driving cows, car
ryinE milk, running errands and
chopping wood.
Success is overrated," he says.
IT'S plain hard work and doing the
best that's in one"
When he graduated from the
Sandwich high school he knew the
meaning of work and was not
afraid of it, He had longed to go
to college, but his mother was
semi-invalid and he had to support
her. His literary talent was first
devoted to writing advertising mat
ter. His first commercial accom-
plishment was a paraphrase of the
poem Miles Standish." This brought
him fifteen dollars.
At twenty. Burgess secured a po-
sftion with a Springfield publishing
concern and there began the hap
piest days of his life, for as he says
he was then gradually able to do
what he had always wanted to do
write and create.
The bedtime stories, first pub
lished under the name of "Old
Mother West Wind" were inspired
by his son and were originally
written in the form of letters to the
lad.
F. w, G.