Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial. (Wilmington, Del.) 1878-1928, 1922-11-01

! fiction lately you VIII be glad 10 Hno"
that methods OF measuring imagina-
ton are being evolved. How to induce
all the writer's and would-be writer's
20 test themselves ia. OF course, apo'h-
er problem, as yet unsolved. Il
In recent yeara there has appeared
a yaat literature designed TO snow
that anybody who is so inclined can
turn out fiction. The result 81 'ns
teaching has been that magazine ON
cea are flooded with neat stories care
fully put together by rule ana care
fully conforming 20 the psyenoioss
Of reader and editor, as the TEXTBOOK
advised.
Thus scarcely fiction writer in
tho country remains Ignorant OF the
established fact that editors amor
blue ribbon bogya on manuscript. il
ls widely understood that a rolled
manuscript would be coldly return
cd unread Also, few If any fiction /
manufacturers arc unaware that /
happy ending Ia as necessary to a |
) story as a anappy beginning. Editors,
writer is told. acquire the habit OF !
reading tho first page and the last
J Of a story. II they are aroused from
their apathy the interior of Il manu-
script may be expired. Such beliefs !
have become tradition among the vast |
, circle OF fictloneere.
/ The creative faculty. being more
elusive, has been passed over vaguely
, by most textbook writer's. II is as
aumed that a certain amount OF imagi-
, nation goes with the desire TO create
. characters and plots. Nevertheless
rnoet Of tho fictioi. writer's who never
n land simply lack q flexible imagiDa-
ton. They are encouraged by friends
r and by their own Judgments TO weave
stories when they havs no inventive
i talenta or when their ina gina,ions
A run along stereotyped lines
q II must be admitted that OCCASION
ally Action writer's attain success IN
spite Of this defect. A charming
J.. style. knack Of writing from the
humorist's viewpoint. may raise the
moet hackneyed plot out Of the ord-
nary. Generally however. the gift
II style or Lumor goes with an orIgi-
nal and imaginative mind
The problem Of classifying tho
Imagination from a literary stand-
y point attracted Or. Edwin Slorson
g and DR. June Downey. Dr. Siosson
's Is an editor, author. and teacher Of
,, journalism. Dr. Downey Is 81 writer
% and professor Of psychology at the
60 University Of Wyoming. Using as
S Se subjects college students. mainly
10 these Interested in creative writing.
II a variety Of tests were made.
Tests from the Agony Column.
~ For teet material DR.. Slosson went
p first Of all to the personal column ri
lv the London Times The personal col
~ umn In THE particular paper ~ nota-
an bic for its unusual messages, and is
sf popularity known az the agony col
~ umn". Lovers who cannot write or
ne get together exchange cryptic endear-
II ments. business firms eend signals
~ In code. Mothers beg estrangsd sons
". to return home. and people OF pecti-
no lar talents advertise here hoping that
y. some render may need their services
h. Most OF tho messages are only for
the persOn to whom they are address
r. ed, and the general reader must guess
I, Mt the meaning. Such message as
I'd "Golliwog.--The gold is gone.--Wa4
he ing, might refer 20 an attempted
I'd burglary. or business deal. or Il
on might be a lovers sentimental way
at OF saying that trouble making
Of blonde had passed out OF his life.
Ter DR.. Downey tried n series Of thes.
III. Items on students asking them .
nd construct a story from n given per
all sOnal and classified the results accord
he Ing TO grades OF imagination. w
nd quote her divisions OF imagination
all here because = may be OF interest T
the reader TO classify his own creativ
r faculty.
.ge The divisions are: % the liner
Sc. imagination; 20 the stereotype
in Imagination; 90 the melodramati
,h" Imagination: ~ the Eenerallzln
ing imagination. 90 the particularizin
sse imagination; (6) the ingenious or in
snt ventive imagination.
or The last class contains persons VIII
construct an unusual and interestin
IN situation from n hint such as tn
personals give. They avoid the Oh
ted vious conclusion which the stereOtyp
ON ed imagination selzes upon. The
imagination is stimulated easily. The
ies do not reject the plot germ IN per
II. sonal as trivial or meaningless. as N
pa inert mag nation does.
nv The generalizing type Of magma
cry ton Is not specific enough for fcttc
the and the results. on paper are apt {
pa be distractions. This sort Of imag
nd, nation usually accompanies the scier
tific turn Of mind.
ow The pRrtlcularizins imagination, O
3. the other hand, Is OF real assistant
her to fiction writing. The pers.n WI
notes the little things that distinguis
lie people and situations has fiction ma
II terial II he can use It skillfully. Whe
=. the fifth and sixth types are combine
OF the posessor has a promising equil
act ment for creating stories.
The individual who regards hin
lose self as lacking in imagination ma
D. be encouraged BY the fact that III
yer faculty can 20 some extent be d
so veloped. In recent book on &
acy subject. Drs. Slosson and Downey e
.ore plain their experiment in training
cen well as testing the creative tmagin
ame ton. They point out that certa
ect. famous artists deliberately stimulat
their creative Impulse by devices:
YER Many OF the minor eccentriciti
}. 2. OF genius appear 70 be the outcome
ks accidental discoveries OF ways OF i
creasing brain activity. Rcusse
CITY and Shelley were given to exposing {
+ barred head 10 the hottest of midd
lern sSrs; and Whitman wrote much
Isia his Leaves Of Grass while pro