Evening star., 1931-12-08

Much to his dawning astonishment--
for he is not astonished all at once
he finds that the idea has passed from
him.
The big. beautiful idea that he could
never forget, that was much too fine to
be forgotten. has taken to itself wings
and has flown away as silently as those
Arabs that Longfellow wrote about.
1t Is sort Of variation of the old saw
Hbout prizefighters, ''the bigger they are
the harder they fall"
Intriguing ideas. the basic material of
many sorts OF writing, must be put
down in black and white at their incep-
ton, If one wants to hold onto them.
Our Famous Authors fifth point
really should be his second. Never think
that any idea, no matter how small OF
however slight 1t seems, is either small
or slight
Small ideas, like little aeorns. have a
surprising way of growing into great
oaks Of thought. At least, mighty from
the standpoint of him or her who writes
and, happily, in the eyes of some who
read.
Get the idea down on paper, then 1t
Is safe.
1t cannot run away, but will remain
in snug harbor there, waiting for its
owner to elaborate it-that is, to write.
The injunction to write in longhand
as much as possible, and preferably with
a pencil, Is the result of much expert
ence.
Perhaps not every writer would agree
with 1t, so great hold has the worthy
typewriter taken upon the writing
world
Indeed, the very man who gave the
advice about using pencil was at that
very moment using his typewriter II
was just another case Of do not do as l
do but as I say
The best point about ones manu-
script, written by the hand with pencil
is that there is actually more time be-
tween words, and this added time en-
ables the writer TO think more as he
writes.
1t is astonishing how little thinking
one may do when writing Some writers
find 1t necessary to plot out their
articles, stories. essays, editorials or
whatnot before they write, in order to
get their thoughts in correct order, SC
they fondly believe.
In reality they make this preliminary
chart because they unconsciously know
that once they sit down to their type
writer's the words come so quickly that
any added thought, except in small
way, Is impossible
The closer the writer is to his paper
in literal sense, the better he writes
everything else being equal, which it
seldom is. A pencil is a much smaller
machine than a typewriter and permits
the user to get closer to his subject.
His advice to keep physically fit NAV
astound many young aspirant. who
believes that composition is done in "a
fine frenzy" and that one should work
only when the mood is upon him.
Any one who has studied the lives OF
great authors, however, knows that they
worked hard. Even the sickly Robert
Louis Stevenson had a physical drive
behind him which was fairly amazing
The physical energy of such men as
Alexandra Dumas. In the past. and OF
II. @. Wells Of today, Is tremendous
Energy with them, does not dig bitches
but writes books. Energy is not some
thing to be ashamed Of, but to use pur-
posefully.
AS for our mans last dictum (that
the young writer should keep a firm
hold on his sense Of humor), that fairly
speaks for itself. A sense of humor is
a great thing, and no one needs it more
than a writer.