,,fundamentals ,,of ,,fiction ,,writing ,by ,,arthur ,,sullivant ,,hoffman ,,indianapolis ,,the ,,bobbs-,,merrill ,,company ,,publishers ,,copyright1 #aibb ,,by ,,arthur ,,sullivant ,,hoffman ,printed in the ,united ,states of ,america4 ,,press ,,of ,,braunworth 4 ,,co4 ,,book ,,manufacturers4 ,,brooklyn4 ,n4 ,y4 ,to ,,james ,h4 ,,gannon ,whose ,understanding ,cooperation ,has ,made the ,application of ,these ,principles a ,pleasant ,task ,,contents ,,chapter ,i ,by ,way of ,introduction ,,ii ,a ,general ,survey ,,iii ,creating the ,illusion ,,iv ,your ,readers ,v ,distractions ,,vi ,clearness ,,vii ,overstrain ,,viii ,convincingness ,,ix ,holding the ,reader ,x ,pleasing the ,reader ,,xi ,plot and ,structure ,,xii ,character ,,xiii ,individuality vs4 ,technique ,,xiv ,the ,reader and ,his ,imagination ,,xv ,the ,place of ,action in ,fiction ,,xvi ,adaptation of ,style to ,material ,appendix3 ,your ,manuscripts and the ,editors ,index #a ,,fundamentals ,,of ,,fiction ,,writing ,,chapter ,i ,,by ,,way ,,of ,,introduction ,living in so complex a civilization1 we generally fail to realize how complex have become our mental habits4 ,we have come more and more to think upon complexities until1 for the most part1 the more elementary facts1 processes and approaches are slighted or omitted as beneath the high development of our minds4 ,however learned our thinking may be1 its foundation must be elementary thinking1 and1 if elementary thinking is neglected because it seems too elementary for attention1 the result is likely to be unsoundness of the whole structure because it has been erected on unsound foundation4 ,add to faulty thinking habit the human #b tendency to accept as established what has been handed down to us by our thought predecessors1 dead or contemporaneous4 ,progress can be made only to the extent this tendency is overcome by chance or guarded against4 ,guarding against it requires particularly the close scrutiny of elementals4 ,it is particularly unfortunate that1 the specialists of course being the most complex thinkers of us all1 we have allowed our habit of specialization to leave to them more and more the guidance of general thought1 thus drifting further and further from elementary methods of thinking4 ,the more thoroughly you analyze modern thinking methods and their results1 the more evident becomes the damage done4 ,simplicity is the key1 but1 being rather proud of our complexity and advancement1 we have become such strangers to simplicity that we even distrust it when we meet it4 ,it is most pitiful of all that a mere outward show of complexity gains more respect than does a simple essential unadorned4 ,yet it is true4 ,almost automatically simplicity produces in us a reaction of contempt1 a feeling that our highly developed minds have long #c ago passed on beyond such childish matters4 ,we are too advanced to bother over the elementals and the result too often is much frantic progress along wrong paths4 ,in the course of my editorial work it impressed itself on me more and more that there was somewhere unsoundness in both the editorial basis of criticism and the writers' basis of creation4 ,being afflicted with the prevalent complex method of thought1 it was only gradually that ,i came to suspect that the unsoundness traced back to some of the elementals all of us seemed to be taking for granted4 ,my suspicions have grown the stronger during the years of laboratory work1 at some points ripening into convictions1 so that in this book intended to be of practical service to writers of magazine fiction they will inevitably show4 ,they must1 therefore1 be labeled in advance as departures from the usual dicta laid down1 so that the reader can make allowance accordingly4 ,while my personal history is unimportant1 some of the details that may indicate1 or that seem to have influenced1 the theories developed have place in this book as guide-posts in valuing or discounting it4 #d ,it is1 for example1 only fair to make plain in advance that ,i am probably far less familiar with books on how to write fiction than are most beginners who may read this book1 and probably know--or remember--less concerning the dicta of critics and other authorities on literature in general4 ,on the other hand1 in view of the probable reaction to some of my unacademic views1 ,i claim the right to state that these views do not result from lack of academic training4 ,also a brief statement of my experience as editor and writer seems called for by way of warrant for my venturing to advance any theories at all4 ,i have been an editor more than twenty years1 a magazine editor for nearly twenty1 serving on seven widely different periodicals--general1 specialized and fiction--,chautauquan1 ,smart ,set1 ,watson's1 ,transatlantic ,tales1 ,delineator1 ,romance1 ,adventure4 ,at intervals during that time ,i have contributed fiction and articles to ,everybody's1 ,mc,clure's1 ,bookman1 ,country ,life1 ,delineator1 ,smart ,set and half a dozen others4 ,previous to this there were nearly three years as editor of a country weekly and two years of teaching ,english and literature in high school4 ,i #e specialized in ,english at one university and added some graduate work in fiction writing at another4 ,as a child my home influence was decidedly literary1 even to a point that might be designated highbrow1 with the natural flavoring of science rather to be expected in a house largely occupied by my grandfather's microscopes and shelves of specimens4 ,in a word1 my early training was decidedly academic1 and as a cub ,i came to the magazine game spelling literature with a very large capital ,l and with more than the usual cub reverence for books and magazines and all that pertains thereto4 ,like the majority of magazine editors1 ,i found that my first task was to shove most of my academic training and point of view into the background1 making of them an accessory rather than a guide1 and adopting an altogether new scale of relative values4 ,a few months accomplished the greater part of the change1 but it required years to develop suspicion of that new and commonly accepted scale1 to ripen the suspicion to conviction and to build up a third scale to take its place in my work4 #f ,before entering the magazine field1 ,i remember only one questioning of precepts and tenets4 ,about #aijj ,i refused to read any more authors for style1 realizing ,i was against my will absorbing too many of their individualities1 ,stevenson's sentence-rhythm in particular imposing itself on my literary efforts to a decided degree4 ,style is the man seems to have been one of the textbook statements that sank in deepest1 and it gave me courage to rebel against another of its kind4 ,in my college course three things stand out as strong in influence4 ,all were encountered in work of the thesis class conducted by ,professor ,joseph ,villiers ,denney with a sound judgment and breadth of view that were bound to be stimulative and give permanent value4 ,first1 laboratory experiments upon the class itself showed us1 to our great surprise1 the tremendous degree of variation in individuals as to the quality and degree of their imagination-response to the printed or spoken word4 ,i have met few writers or editors who had any conception of this variation or who had even given the matter a thought1 yet it is of basic importance to both4 #g ,the second idea outstanding from my college course is the explanation of the psychological appeal of fiction given by ,george ,henry ,lewes to the effect that man finds enjoyment in fiction because by following the fortunes of the hero or identifying himself with him he can attain vicariously the perfections and successes he can not attain in real life4 ,i have not seen it for twenty-four years and may have distorted it1 but the idea as stated has been the one acted upon4 ,third1 there was ,spencer's economy as a basis of rhetorical theory4 ,i remember nothing whatever about it except that he included economy of the reader's attention4 ,to what extent this phase of his idea is responsible for my own theories ,i do not know4 ,memory tells me ,i recalled it only after working out my own1 but it is reasonable to hold it a cause though an unrealized one4 ,analytics of ,literature1 by ,l4 ,a4 ,sherman1 made a decided impression on me during college or in the years immediately following4 ,undoubtedly ,i gained much from it1 but at present ,i am unable to state its content in any but the most vague way and can not detect any but academic influences from it1 though #h in this ,i may be doing it serious injustice4 ,de ,quincey's ,on the ,knocking at the ,gate in ,macbeth made vivid the use of relief scenes4 ,from some book by ,brander ,matthews ,i learned that the short story should have only one point4 ,five years after college ,i read ,tolstoy's ,what ,is ,art8 ,read it with interest1 resentment1 bewilderment and enthusiasm4 ,it was the first real blow to my unquestioning acceptance of all the usual canons of art4 ,the impress was tremendous1 but1 quite in keeping with my miserable memory1 the only definite1 abiding impression ,i can identify is the emphasis laid on simplicity1 with the corollary that creative work must reach peasant appreciation if it is to be classed as art4 ,years later ,i came to attach more and more importance to simplicity1 arriving at that attitude by paths leading from practical experience--laboratory work1 as it were1 paths that to my vague recollection seem not at all those of his approach1 but ,i can make no exact measure of the extent to which ,tolstoy may have done my thinking for me or at least influenced it4 ,probably the influence is far greater than ,i realize4 #i ,in any case1 the above are the total of the outside influences4 ,it is1 of course1 impossible for any one to live in contact with his fellows in a world filled with type and opinions without absorbing ideas from others1 but in the sense of influences sufficiently definite to make conscious impress ,i can add nothing to the above list4 ,in nearly twenty years1 if ,i have read any book or article dealing with the philosophy of literature ,i do not recall the title or the occasion4 ,five or six years ago ,i read a third or half of a book that taught the writing of fiction1 but laid it down because it was too difficult for me to understand and seemed not in accordance with my own ideas4 ,i have never read any other text on fiction writing1 though ,i have spun the pages of a number of them to gain a general idea of methods and theories1 finding only the usual ones4 ,this lack of reading authorities was at first due to lack of time1 but for years ,i have carefully avoided the influence of others' theories to the best of my ability so that ,i should not be diverted or forestalled in an effort to work out my own4 ,naturally1 most of the accepted theories and methods are current because #aj they are sound1 but there is a minority of cases in which a dissenting view seems warranted4 ,my warrant for dissent is that to a very great extent the main faults 7other than those due to lack of natural ability7 in the fiction submitted to magazines seem directly due to faults in accepted theories and methods4 ,these faults in theory and teaching may be roughly summarized under two heads3 7#a7 ,assigning to readers theoretical reactions based on traditional editorial and critical precepts instead of basing editorial precepts on actual reactions of readers4 ,in particular1 lack of emphasis upon preserving the illusion4 7#b7 ,overwhelming writers with demands of technique and academics and thereby doing all possible to ruin individuality and real ability4 ,for getting data on the first of these points ,i have been exceptionally well situated4 ,more than any other magazine on which ,i have served1 more than the half dozen others under the same roofs1 more1 so far as ,i can judge1 than any other magazine ,i know1 #aa ,adventure gets definite1 concrete response and criticism from its readers4 ,so far as the male sex is concerned1 probably no other magazine has a more generally representative audience1 ranging through all classes from the highest to the lowest brows4 ,the great number of letters and talks resulting from this keen personal interest of its readers in the making of the magazine has been invaluable in giving its editor1 for more than ten years1 the actual1 specific reactions of readers1 as opposed to the theoretical reactions that accepted editorial theories assign to them4 ,the overemphasis on technique and academics ,i consider the most harmful factor at work in the field of ,american fiction1 from both the literary and the magazine point of view4 ,i can claim no special equipment for speaking on this point other than a decidedly academic training followed by over twenty years of practical laboratory work1 and arrival at conclusions by abandoning all accepted precepts and going back to the simple elementals4 ,the object of this book is not exploitation of theories but practical service to writers and #ab would-be writers4 ,it is aimed directly at the faults that are the chief causes of rejection of manuscripts by magazines and book houses4 ,general theories are used chiefly to give foundation and perspective1 so that a writer1 knowing the general ends in view1 may be enabled to solve intelligently and consistently even those problems in his work that can not be covered specifically by any book of rules4 ,it is a crying need that writers should learn to work less by rule of thumb and more from a general understanding of what fiction really is and of what determines its success4 ,for twenty years ,i have watched the flow of manuscripts--more tens of thousands than ,i like to remember--and am year by year more convinced that more embryo writers of appreciable ability are ruined by an overdose of technique at the hands of their literary doctors or by slavish copying of the work of some successful writer than by any three other causes you please to name4 ,technique1 naturally1 should be a means1 not an end4 ,in most of the teaching of the day so much emphasis is placed on it and such large quantities of it are shoved down the beginner's throat1 before he has developed #ac himself sufficiently to digest it instead of merely chew it1 that in a majority of cases he loses himself and his talents in an empty struggle with formulas and formalities4 ,he may learn to chew very well indeed1 but the odds are that he isn't chewing anything and that he has starved himself to death4 ,as a matter of fact1 he has ceased to be himself4 ,perhaps the reason for this overemphasis on technique is that those responsible for the books1 classes and correspondence courses designed to help the budding fiction writers are1 with very few exceptions1 chiefly theorists with no great background of either actual editorial experience or an even fairly considerable accomplishment in writing fiction4 ,those who have both1 even a moderate degree of both1 are so very few that in number they constitute only a fraction of a per cent4 of those at work in this field4 ,the teachers of fiction1 a good many of them1 give extremely valuable service1 but the majority of them either approached their work from abstract and academic beginnings or1 having sold fiction themselves1 built too much from their own experiences1 knowing too little of the many different paths by which others must #ad progress4 ,both groups seem to have been too much influenced by technique and academics in general4 ,the editors1 too1 for the same and other reasons1 have contributed toward making technique too great a factor4 ,it is physically impossible to give individual criticism to every manuscript that comes in1 or1 when given at all1 to give it fully in all cases4 ,almost never are the reasons for an acceptance given and only in a general way at best4 ,as a result1 writers in their early formative stages are left in the dark unless they turn to the other teachers4 ,much of the criticism given by editors1 too1 is academic and centers on technique--because that kind of criticism is easier for us to give4 ,still again1 we often mislead a writer by failing to distinguish carefully between the needs and likes of the particular magazine as opposed to those of magazines in general4 ,whatever the reasons for the exaggerated part technique plays in ,american fiction1 it is the chief hope of this little book that it may to some degree counteract this curse of formula and encourage beginners to more direct effort for individuality and a more natural expression of it4 #ae ,perhaps this is not a book at all1 but merely a collection of talks4 ,certainly there is little attempt at carefully unified structure4 ,its writing must be done at odd moments1 for ,i am still in editorial harness4 ,also it will be done only in such moments and manner as make the writing of it a pleasure rather than a task4 ,i use the pronoun ,i without stint or apology1 for that is the natural method to follow when one person speaks to another and1 while ,i object strenuously to an author's obtrusion of himself into his fiction1 the first personal pronoun in books of exposition is often of distinct advantage in precision as well as in ease and clearness4 ,finally1 this book is not meant for geniuses4 ,they should by all means march their own paths1 finding or making their own methods1 each to his taste4 ,though this is a book of suggestions1 not of rules1 the genius does not need it4 ,but wait1--alas6 half my possible readers are gone from me at the ending of that last sentence1 self-dismissed as indubitable geniuses4 ,i'd forgotten that the writing world is composed chiefly of geniuses1 most of them indubitable and--self-dismissed4 #af ,but you--,i think you'd better read on until you find stronger reason to turn away1 for1 to be friendly frank1 the odds are so very heavily against your being a genius4 ,as for me1 ,i don't even know more than three or four geniuses at the very most and you can be entirely at your ease in my quite ordinary society4 #ag ,,chapter ,,ii ,a ,,general ,,survey ,let us take a general survey of what is to follow1 beginning with fundamentals4 ,the ,art ,process4--,the art process of fiction involves three elements--the ,material1 the ,artist and the ,reader4 ,so far as my experience and observation go1 the ,reader is not regarded as a part of the art process and in both theory and practise fails to get anything approaching due consideration4 ,for that reason his part in the art process will receive full treatment in this book1 while ,material and ,artist1 being already amply covered in thousands of texts1 will receive more cursory treatment4 ,the reader can1 nevertheless1 be made a complete basis of both rhetorical and fictional theory4 ,almost any important element can1 for that matter2 it is merely a matter of choosing the point from which you shall look at the circle4 ,the reader's having been #ah hitherto slighted in this respect is alone sufficient reason to choose him if for no other purpose than that of viewing the art process from a new angle and thereby getting a more balanced concept of it4 ,personally1 ,i believe the reader's angle the correct one1 being the final step1 the test of the other two4 ,philosophers will at once quarrel with both my theory and my terminology4 ,if they will confine their quarreling to the field of philosophy1 they may settle the issue as they please4 ,must a genius think only1 or at all1 of his readers when he sits down to write8 ,probably not1 but this book is not written for geniuses1 who need no rules or guidance or at least think they do not4 ,certainly either genius or plain human will fall into ruin if he thinks overmuch on rules and regulations of any kind when he should be giving himself up to creating4 ,but ,i've noticed that even geniuses generally revise their work after its first launching in ink4 ,why8 ,must art be seen or heard by others before it can be art8 ,naturally ,i realize that the ,venus de ,milo was a work of art before it was dug up1 but what of that8 ,it was only a potential work of art from any practical point #ai of view and of no good to any one until brought where material and the artist's work on the material could continue and complete the process by creating in human beings the thoughts and emotions they strove to express4 ,in that word express1 by the way1 lies the whole divergence of theory4 ,theories have made it practically subjective only1 ignoring its objective side--the recipient4 ,can you1 outside the most abstract abstractions of philosophy1 express anything without expressing it to some one8 ,if you think you can1 how are you going to be sure that you have expressed it8 ,who is to be the judge on this point8 ,you1 the artist1 alone8 ,perhaps the philosophers can show me my position is untenable1 but they can't show me one single fiction editor in all the world who wouldn't throw up his hands in despair at the very idea of letting every artist be the judge as to whether he had expressed what he thought he had expressed4 ,even non-editors1 who haven't been tortured by the mistaken idea of artists that they have succeeded in expression1 would be more than slow to admit the artists themselves as competent judges or to abide by the artists' judgments4 #bj ,consigning abstraction to the background1 you are a fool if you put into material what no one else can get out of it4 ,and ,i'd say that you were not a genius1 the two terms not being mutually exclusive1 for a genius--at least all whom the world has been able to discover--does not fail to convey his message to at least a few4 ,to how many people and to what grades of intelligence must the artist convey his message in order to prove himself an artist8 ,i do not know4 ,neither1 ,i think1 does anybody else4 ,there seems almost equal disagreement as to the character and quality of the message to be conveyed4 ,but ,i can see no doubt that some message must be conveyed to somebody and it would seem that the greater and better the message and the more the recipients1 the more successful is the work of art4 ,on the practical basis that the would-be fictionist wishes to sell his fiction to the magazine or book houses1 it follows naturally that as a first step his success will be measured by the number of people to whom he is able to convey his message1 the thought and feeling he desires to express4 ,after reaching them1 it of course becomes a question of the quality #ba of his message1 but that quality can be known only by those readers reached by it4 ,it becomes a question1 also1 of the degree to which he reaches them4 ,but first1 and most of all1 he must reach them4 ,clearness4--,it follows that the prime essential is clearness4 ,if they are to get his message at all1 they must be able to understand what he says4 ,if they are to get it fully1 he must express exactly what he means and do so in such manner that they will understand it exactly as he means it4 ,this may seem too elementary for consideration4 ,it isn't4 ,the theory is readily admitted but not sufficiently practised4 ,the guiltiest are often the most unconscious of their guilt1 for it is a common serious failing of writers to believe that because they have made things plain to themselves they have made them plain to others4 ,clearness is not merely a question of unambiguous sentences1 though the majority of writers do not successfully mount even that simple hurdle4 ,clearness includes supplying all necessary details1 suppressing the unnecessary ones1 giving to each the proportionate emphasis you wish the reader to give to it #bb and seeing to it that his response is exact1 and so shaping your presentation of the story that the reader must follow the exact path you have mapped out for him4 ,other ,essentials4--,a valuable accessory in attaining clearness is simplicity4 ,but most writers abhor simplicity1 apparently because being simple seems to them to ruin their chance of being literary4 ,clearness1 simplicity1 force1 but the last two of this old triology of the rhetorics are really included under clearness in its full meaning4 ,so1 too1 perhaps1 are unity and structure4 ,in any case1 all are necessary in getting the writer's message to his readers4 ,shall ,i sound hopelessly elementary and banal when ,i say that1 to register his message in full force1 the author must enlist his reader's sympathies8 ,yet the majority of those who attempt fiction either give this necessity no thought or are unbelievably crude and stupid1 not only missing chance after chance to secure this sympathy1 but continually and needlessly alienating it4 ,i do not use sympathy in its sugary sense1 but shall attempt no exact definition in this chapter of preliminary survey4 #bc ,as essentials for the securing of the reader's sympathies may be included unity and structure--in some of their phases more properly included here than under clearness4 ,also1 he must economize his reader--carefully regulate demands on attention1 thought and feelings according to a human being's normal ability to respond as well as according to the varying needs of different parts of the tale4 ,the ,illusion4--,lastly1 to convey his message fully1 he must impose and preserve the illusion of his story4 ,in this are really included all the necessities named1 even clearness4 ,and1 ,i think1 all necessities that can be named4 ,this1 it may be said1 is fiction--the imposing and preserving of an illusion4 ,i make it the basis of this book because it offers what seems at present the angle of approach most needed in teaching the successful writing of stories1 in correcting the faults most common and most fatal1 and in providing writers with a consistent and comprehensive theory that they can apply to their needs and problems as these arise4 ,itself a return to the solid foundation of underlying elementals1 it has the very #bd practical merit of compelling writers to make the elementals the constant test of their work4 ,necessarily involving a constant and careful consideration of the reader1 it seems the best remedy for the greatest weakness in fiction writing--the tendency to limit the art process to the second of its three steps1 ,material1 ,artist and ,reader4 ,if the third step can be helped to its due share of attention1 the first step can wait its turn1 at least so far as the successful writing of magazine and ordinary book fiction is concerned4 ,do ,i then mean that the prime object of fiction is the imposing of an illusion8 ,that here lies the test of fiction8 ,that no fiction is written or read or valued except for its success in creating an illusion8 ,the imposing of an illusion is the object and test of fiction as fiction4 ,fiction serves many purposes4 ,it may teach something1 show something1 what you please4 ,but for these things it is only a vehicle1 and the test of it as a vehicle lies in its success at imposing an illusion4 ,as to whether my theory of fiction is new and revolutionary ,i can offer only that it was new to my experience and revolutionary only in that1 in the actual editorial work of #be helping writers develop their abilities for fiction1 it has seemed to effect results that no other theory was able to effect4 ,i might add1 also1 that the fiction department of a ,coast ,university1 having come across some of my correspondence with contributors1 wrote me that the fully developed principle of preserving the illusion had not1 to their knowledge1 been elsewhere advanced1 that they had adopted it as a regular part of their course1 and that it had satisfactorily stood the test of several years4 ,on the other hand ,i have learned1 even since the actual writing of this book was begun1 that for several years ,doctor ,dorothy ,scarborough has taught this principle to her classes in short-story writing in ,columbia ,university4 ,as to the newness of dividing the art process into the three steps of ,material1 ,artist1 ,reader1 ,i can not say4 ,so far as ,i know1 it is my own idea1 the joining together of two lines of thought on which ,i had been working4 ,on the other hand1 ,i should be amazed if others had not previously advanced the same theory4 ,literature vs4 ,magazine ,fiction4--,what distinction do ,i make between literature and magazine fiction8 ,in fundamentals1 none4 #bf ,only a small percentage of magazine fiction is literature in the distinctive sense of that term4 ,that so little of it is literature is partly due to the arbitrary and entirely non-literary restrictions imposed by the magazines with their various aims as to types of audience4 ,some will not accept unhappy endings1 some bar sex questions1 some use no stories of foreign lands1 some demand action1 some permit no mention of drink or tobacco1 some will have no problems1 some require a breezy1 sophisticated style1 some must have this1 some abhor that4 ,most writers must sell what they write or stop writing through lack of means or lack of tenacity4 ,naturally they generally strive to make their goods acceptable to the market1 writing with a careful eye on the likes and dislikes of the magazines and all the more harassed and limited because what is one magazine's meat is another magazine's poison4 ,some1 like ,sinclair ,lewis1 ,talbot ,mundy and others1 fully realizing the situation and keeping their heads1 write what they know will sell1 write it as well as they can under the limitations1 and keep on writing it until they have attained sufficient standing and #bg financial foundation--and sufficient mastery--to write what they wish and in the way they wish4 ,but the vast majority become permanent slaves in the galley where they must serve their apprenticeship1 perhaps growing very skilful in handling one oar among the many oars but hopelessly unable to paddle their own canoe4 ,if money success is essential or preferred1 by all means draw a sharp distinction between literature and magazine fiction and1 unless you are quite sure your talents are considerable1 confine yourself to the latter4 ,on the other hand1 granted sufficient ability1 aiming at the former may very well carry you further in every way4 ,if what you wish is1 regardless of worldly success1 to write the best that in you lies1 forget everything else1 including the restrictions of the magazines4 ,another cause of the scarcity of literature in magazine fiction is that writers1 editors and readers become obsessed with fads1 generally of a superficial nature1 as to style1 or treatment1 or types of material4 ,underneath this is a more fundamental cause--the habit of imitation4 ,o4 ,henry wrote and died and even yet the mails are full of manuscripts #bh from writers who are trying to write ,o4 ,henry stories--and can't1 for the simple and everlasting reason that no one of them is ,o4 ,henry4 ,every ,john ,smith of them would do better work if he wrote ,john ,smith stories1 but lots of them are still selling ,o4 ,henry stories because editors too are still under the ,o4 ,henry spell or know that many of their readers are4 ,kipling1 ,doyle1 ,james and other famous authors have each their army of imitators1 many a sheep-like soldier serving in several armies at once4 ,nor do the imitators always aim so nigh4 ,any writer popular in the magazines1 no matter how ephemeral his vogue1 serves them almost equally well4 ,the lowest depths are reached when the model is no one in particular but merely a composite of all that is most hack and usual on the printed page4 ,not long ago there arose again the fad of beginning a story with a paragraph of philosophy4 ,it has spread like a disease and1 ,i think1 is one4 ,there were--or are--the era of glittering sophistication in style1 the ,dolly ,dialogues and ,prisoner of ,zenda eras1 doublet and hose1 business1 sex1 ,stevensonian rhythm1 and so on4 #bi ,but all these fads and other limitations serve only to lower the proportion of literature in magazine fiction4 ,neither they nor anything else creates any fundamental difference between the two4 ,both are fiction1 both subject to the laws of fiction4 ,and even that magazine fiction beyond the pale of literature is aimed1 somehow1 at the reader and is to be judged on that basis4 #cj ,,chapter ,,iii ,,creating ,,the ,,illusion ,by creating the illusion ,i mean making the reader forget the world he really lives in and carrying him into the world of the story1 either identifying himself with one of the characters or looking on and listening entirely absorbed in what he sees and hears4 ,the illusion is wholly successful1 fully effective1 only if the reader is made to live altogether in the story world4 ,he must forget that he is a reader1 that he holds a book or magazine in his hands1 that the story is merely a story instead of actual happening4 ,he must forget that there is such a thing as an author2 he must forget the method and manner of telling in the telling itself4 ,he must live the story4 ,the ,illusion and ,its ,hold4--,naturally perfection of illusion is not generally attained1 and naturally what holds some readers in #ca thrall may not hold others4 ,the more sophisticated the reader1 the more difficult1 other things being equal1 to make him lose himself utterly in the story4 ,probably1 too1 the more fiction one has read1 the less readily is one swept away into the story's spell4 ,the same obstructions hold in any art1 or in eating or any other pleasure4 ,the penalty of sophistication in anything is further removal from the direct1 elemental appeal4 ,the penalty of satiety and overuse is a dulling of response4 ,but these facts do not alter the matter of what the appeal is4 ,but do not the sophisticated get more out of fiction--out of the highbrow fiction they tend toward--than do the unsophisticated out of the same fiction8 ,get more what8 ,more of the finer shadings undoubtedly1 but less of the elemental appeal4 ,and is it really fiction they are reading or something else mixed with fiction1 and is it from fiction or other things they draw pleasure or edification8 ,their attitude is at least partly that of a critic rather than a recipient2 their interest in ,what is happening is at least partly distracted to how it is written4 ,from fiction itself1 from fiction as fiction1 the unsophisticated1 #cb granting them understanding of the words they read1 in most cases get a greater intensity of appeal than do the others4 ,understand1 ,i am speaking not of general sophistication but of sophistication in fiction4 ,fiction a ,vehicle4--,as you run over in your mind various writers of acknowledged rank you may feel that1 in face of that rank1 illusion is an unsound basis of test and comparison4 ,the stumbling-block is that much of what we call fiction is not pure fiction but a hybrid1 a cross1 a half-breed or even a quadroon--fiction plus an essay1 treatise1 study1 sermon1 analysis1 philosophy1 satire1 propaganda1 a performance in technique1 an exhibition of style1 what you will4 ,it is often the other element or elements1 or the combination of elements1 that appeals and that gives rank and value4 ,there is no reason why writings should not be read and written for the sake of these other elements or of the combinations1 but such writings are not pure fiction4 ,in such cases fiction is used not for itself alone but as a vehicle for something else4 ,the wagon and its load may be more pleasing and valuable than the wagon alone1 but #cc only the wagon is fiction and therefore it is with the wagon alone that we are now concerned4 ,no matter how good the load may be1 you can not carry it unless you can build and drive a good wagon4 ,probably the majority of writers will profit most by giving their whole attention to the wagon1 partly because they haven't a sufficiently valuable load to put in it and partly because they need their undivided effort to make the wagon fit to carry anything4 ,certainly it is sound for ninety-odd per cent4 of fiction writers to master their vehicle before they attempt hauling messages and information in it4 ,this book deals with straight fiction only4 ,straight fiction may of course include analysis1 philosophy1 technique1 information and all the other things for which it is so often made the vehicle1 but if it is to remain straight fiction1 these must be really integral and necessary parts of it--analysis of or by the characters themselves1 the information inherent in the material1 the technique necessary for presentation1 the philosophy of a character1 locality or nation4 ,having sufficiently mastered straight fiction1 a writer is infinitely more likely to be successful in registering on #cd his readers whatever it is he may wish to convey through fiction as a vehicle4 ,his message may be so interesting or important that people will seize upon it eagerly1 no matter how crude or weak the fiction-vehicle may be1 but it would reach them all the more strongly if the vehicle were a competent carrier4 ,illusion the ,essence of ,fiction4--,the very essence of straight fiction is the creation and maintenance of an illusion4 ,that this truth has been so largely lost sight of is due largely to the frequent mixture of fiction with other things1 so that the mixture1 instead of fiction itself1 has tended to become the model and standard4 ,if ,american writers are to make more rapid progress toward real success1 they would do well to segregate fiction and study it for itself alone4 ,illusion ,easily ,shattered4--,successful illusion depends on an infinite variety of things1 is as sensitive to breakage as is a bubble and1 once broken1 though it can be again created1 its strength is irremediably impaired4 ,a writer of any merit can impose his illusion1 yet often he does so apparently through instinct only1 without evidence of carefully #ce considered knowledge and intent4 ,certainly it is maddeningly common to see him again and again destroy his illusion1 if only temporarily1 with some little flaw that would almost unconsciously be avoided if he had clear conception of the fundamental importance of perfect and uninterrupted illusion4 ,the importance of maintenance of illusion can not be too much stressed4 ,as a reader can you keep yourself within the spell of a story you are reading if you are subject to constant physical interruptions--conversation directed at you1 people coming in and going out1 loud and sudden noises8 ,no more can a reader keep himself within the spell of a story if he is subject to constant interruptions from within the story itself4 ,how can a story maintain its spell over you if you are again and again reminded by its text that it is1 after all1 only a story1 somebody's words typed on the pages of a magazine you bought at the corner stand8 ,costliness of ,breaking the ,illusion4--,each such interruption or reminder does its share in wrecking the illusion1 each compels the story to begin over again in the business of making you forget your world in its world1 each leaves the remainder of the illusion the #cf weaker4 ,even a single one in a story works very appreciable damage to the illusion as a whole1 lessens the net result of the story's impact upon readers4 ,instead of the story's registering one hundred per cent4 of its value1 it is1 as a result of a single break in its illusion1 likely to register1 not ninety-eight or ninety-five per cent41 but eighty-five or seventy or sixty per cent4 ,there can1 of course1 be no exact measure of the loss in the story's effectiveness1 of the amount of failure in the third step of the art process1 but very surely this loss is almost universally underestimated or altogether ignored4 ,whatever the value of your story as fiction1 you can not afford to have its one hundred per cent4 reduced even five per cent4 in its register upon your reader1 and the instant you remind him that he is still merely himself in his same old world--or1 even worse1 make him momentarily a critic instead of a reader--you seriously damage the illusion and lessen your story's effect4 ,the break may occupy only a fraction of a second's time1 the reader1 after a few paragraphs may forget all about the break1 may even be wholly unconscious at the time of its effect upon him1 but #cg the harm has been done nevertheless4 ,it can be no comfort to the writer that the reader doesn't know why the story failed to register its full strength2 the important point is that it did fail4 ,some breaks in the illusion accomplish even more harm than letting the reader escape from the story's spell1 since it is always so easily possible to lose a reader's sympathies or1 worse1 let him fall into a critical attitude1 or1 worst of all1 cause him irritation or arouse his hostility4 ,if1 in reaching the reader1 a story loses part of its value by merely letting him get from under its spell1 the loss is still greater if it loses his sympathies1 for even when he is again brought under its spell he can not possibly be so wholly given over to it as he was before4 ,if you have made of him a critic--well1 how much sympathy has a critic8 ,if you have irritated him1 naturally your chances of pleasing him are sadly diminished1 since you must overcome a heavy handicap before you can even begin to do so4 ,and if you have made him your enemy1 you may as well bid farewell to any chance of your story's success4 ,no matter how good the first two steps #ch of that story's art process--,material1 ,writer--if the third step--,reader--can not be taken1 then nothing has been completed except an unrealized potentiality4 ,need of ,emphasizing the ,illusion4--,and yet1 when it comes to the actual writing of fiction these practical1 common-sense1 vital facts are unrecognized or forgotten to an almost unbelievable degree4 ,day after day the magazine offices are rejecting manuscripts that would have been accepted but for the failure of illusion4 ,generally the editor calls it unconvincingness4 ,year after year class-room and text-book go on teaching plot1 style1 characterization that go for naught if they are unable to register upon the reader4 ,year after year writers1 oppressed with rules and abstractions1 laboriously build pieces of machinery and expect readers to take these obvious1 clanking collections of bolts1 girders1 wheels and cogs for something that is alive4 ,why not8 ,they've been taught to consider only the making of a perfect machine according to formula4 ,they find the magazines heavily laden with machines and are the more convinced that machinery is the ultimate attainment4 ,little teaching do they get that #ci helps them put the breath of life into their stories or gives them the habit of seeing also from the reader's point of view6 ,they try it on their friends--,god save the mark6--their friends respond or pretend to and the problem of the reader1 if it arose at all1 is satisfactorily settled for all time4 ,but mustn't they be taught plot1 etc48 ,of course4 ,but plot1 etc41 are merely tools4 ,a man may be passing skilful in the handling of chisel and mallet yet fail dismally as a sculptor4 ,plot1 etc41 are necessary1 but they must be taught1 not as abstractions1 but as reasoned and reasonable outgrowths of something more vital than they4 ,individuality ,crushed by ,rules4--,some writers escape from the net or are too big to be caught in it4 ,these are in a painful minority4 ,the tragedy is in the host of those who had sufficient talent and individuality for a moderate success but never attain it because their talent is diverted to formulas and their individuality crushed by academics4 ,those who escape do so generally through either disgust or despair4 ,they sweep the rules away or turn their backs upon them and--go ahead on their own4 ,one advantage #dj gained thereby is instant1 inevitable1 automatic1 for they have made an all-important step forward--being no longer ridden and haunted by formulas and rules1 the writer at last has a chance to live the illusion of his own story and therefore a far better chance of making the reader live it4 ,the following is part of a letter from a writer who appears in ,the ,saturday ,evening ,post1 ,mc,clure's and other magazines of that grade4 ,years ago he used to send me well-made but colorless and formal stories4 ,during some of the years between he had done no writing4 ,then he sent me one of the new kind4 ,amazed at the remarkable improvement in his work1 ,i asked him what had happened4 ,in his reply the omitted name is that of a magazine3 ,in those days ,i was rigidly following the rules of what ,i call the ---- school of the ,american short story4 ---- stories and the stories of the school which it dominated1 were all like ,fords4 ,they were of limited horsepower1 neat1 trim and shiny1 taking up very little road space1 structurally correct and all following the blueprint without the slightest deviation4 ,there weren't any big powerful ,cadillacs zipping along1 or any dirty1 greasy trucks hauling huge burdens and disturbing and upsetting #da the normal run of things4 ,it was an endless highway just jammed with ,fords4 ,the ---- story1 from a standpoint of construction1 was astonishingly well done4 ,it had a beginning1 a middle and an end1 but few intestines anywhere along the route4 ,the workmanship was wonderful4 ,it was astonishing how many people there were who could write such beautiful ,english4 ,there was one punch1 one climax1 which was very carefully led up to1 and that was all4 ,well1 ,i tried to follow the rules as apparently laid down4 ,i agonized over each word and sentence to get 'em just exactly right4 ,i have sat at my typewriter for an hour to get just the few syllables that their standards seemed to demand4 ,the ,hades of it was that the reader was being cheated all the time4 ,he got a lot of very fine writing1 but not much story4 ,it was like sitting down to a dinner where the appointments were perfect1 the water clear and ice-cold1 the napery thick1 the glassware thin1 flowers on the table1 an orchestra1 perfect service1 and not enough food for a canary-bird4 ,in other words1 a race of bird-shot stylists was being propagated who could write beautifully about an ant-hill but hadn't the equipment to do anything for a mountain4 ,i trailed along because ,i didn't know any better and because ,i hadn't been waked up and shaken down4 ,i had lived1 but ,i had not assimilated and correlated my experiences4 ,now his present method1 and if your nose is inclined to turn up at his idea of style1 before you let it1 make very sure that he #db hasn't taken the one sure road to the only kind of style worth any one's having4 ,and note carefully what he says about the outside of the motor-car3 ,i try to give the reader a lot for his money4 ,i don't try to do any fine writing4 ,only one of a million of us can be a polished stylist4 ,i'm not that one1 but ,i think ,i can evolve a story and tell it4 ,so there is no more agonizing about the style4 ,i try not to make the outside of the motor-car which bears my people all gold and shiny and flower-decked so that the countryside will look at the car1 and not at those it contains4 ,i just try to make it a good1 suitable1 unobtrusive vehicle which will start and get to the journey's end without any tire trouble or backfires4 ,i try to imagine real people--very often they are friends and acquaintances whose mental reactions ,i have noted under circumstances similar to those described in the yarn4 ,and ,i try to visualize every important scene before ,i set it down4 ,that is1 ,i shut my eyes and see the people as though ,i were looking at a scene from a play4 ,and it's just a joy1 under those conditions1 to write4 ,to go to my machine with the keenest anticipation4 ,it is the finest sort of an adventure to translate a good story and send it on its way4 ,i write much more easily and ,i think less artificially than in those days of deadly correctness--and dullness4 ,there are thousands of other cases--proved1 not yet proved or never to be proved--of writers whose individuality has been #dc crushed out or whose success has been prevented or delayed by the present academic and unhuman methods of teaching the writing of fiction1 by forgetting the illusion and the reader for the sake of the means of securing them4 ,here is an example so extreme that it must in fairness to other teachers of fiction be labeled as the last word in formula4 ,it is1 nevertheless1 only the usual method fully and relentlessly developed4 ,it is taken word for word from the teacher's printed statement of his mathematical rule for plot3 ,if the thread ,a1 or viewpoint character1 figures with the thread ,b in an opening incident of numerical order n there must follow rapidly after the opening of the story an incident n-plus-#a involving threads ,a and ,c1 an incident n-plus-#b involving threads ,a and ,d1 an incident n-plus-#c involving threads ,a and ,e1 and so on1 up to perhaps at least n-plus-#d or n-plus-#e2 and furthermore1 n must produce n-plus-#a1 n-plus-#b must be the result of n-plus-#a1 n-plus-#c must be the result of n-plus-#b1 and so on4 ,that formula is1 ,i dare say1 sound and1 if sound1 undoubtedly useful4 ,the teacher sells his own stories regularly to magazines and1 as he is an apparently successful teacher1 #dd probably numerous pupils of his are doing the same4 7,it is stated that his output for the last five years was about one million words1 with sales of about ninety-six per cent47 ,yet ,i think you will agree that his formula leaves something to be desired4 ,if ,i have talked overlong of ,reader and ,illusion in their general aspect it is because ,i have found that1 while some writers grasp the idea at once1 a minority seem incapable of seeing any possibility of difference between what a writer intends the reader to get and what the reader really does get1 incapable of believing that they have not expressed in full and with perfect exactness all that they saw and know and felt when writing1 and incapable of conceiving any reader who would not be spell-bound by their stories and in full sympathy with every shading and inflection whether real1 imagined or flatly reversed in expression4 ,the interrupters and destroyers of illusion are almost infinite in variety and number4 ,the means of avoiding them1 indeed1 constitute a complete set of working rules for the writing of fiction--better still1 a basis from which a writer can draw his own rules to #de meet all occasions as they arise4 ,they may be very roughly divided into classes1 the small1 cruder interruptions that are comparatively detached and temporary and the more fundamental1 organic and permanent ones4 ,most of the latter being treated1 though from a different point of view1 by the usual textbook1 the smaller ones are in greater need of consideration and will be taken up first4 ,it is understood1 however1 that definite classification is not attempted and that the division into sub-groups is for convenience only4 ,an item in one group may belong equally in several others and will often be treated under more than one4 #df ,,chapter ,,iv ,,your ,,readers ,readers of course vary in susceptibility to the illusion of fiction--vary in concentration1 reading method1 background of culture and of experience in life1 familiarity with the ways and habits of fiction1 critical attitude1 imagination1 particularly strength and quality of imaginative imagery1 and in everything else that makes up mentality and individuality4 ,must the writer satisfy and hold all these from one extreme to the other8 ,yes1 if he is to do perfect fiction4 ,possibly perfect fiction exists1 but fortunately readers can be more or less divided into classes or types1 each class capable of being very roughly characterized as a unit4 ,the more classes reached and satisfied by a story1 the better the story4 ,be ,clear as to ,your ,audience4--,the fiction author can follow one of three courses3 #dg 7#a7 ,he can just write1 disregarding the question of who his readers may be and trusting that his style and methods may happen to be such as will win him an audience4 ,this is an admirable method provided it chances to succeed4 ,if it doesn't1 he will have to abandon it for one of the others4 7#b7 ,choose a particular class for his audience and aim directly at them4 ,naturally he will have to study his audience very carefully and know them rather thoroughly if he is to succeed4 ,limiting his audience1 he limits the scope and therefore the degree of his success2 a story satisfying the highest class can not be so good as if it satisfied both the highest and the next highest class or several other classes4 ,it is entirely possible to do both1 as ,shakespeare and others have proved4 7#c7 ,aim to reach as many classes as possible4 ,here1 too1 he must study and know his audience4 ,obviously it is a higher aim than the second1 demanding more of the author4 ,having a larger audience to draw on1 it is likely to attain greater success as measured by number of readers1 though it is always a nice problem to decide in a given case #dh whether more readers can be secured by playing for your share of the majority1 against all competitors1 or by concentrating on a minority1 against fewer competitors4 ,considering carefully these three courses1 it is necessary first to know your audience and keep them very definitely in mind1 unless you are willing to write wholly from the subjective point of view and go it blind as to your audience1 taking the extremely long chance that your substance and style may happen to satisfy a sufficient number of readers4 ,it generally doesn't4 ,second1 it is advisable to reach as many classes of readers as possible4 ,your task1 then1 is to know and to consider constantly as many classes of readers as you can4 ,and knowing them means much more than having a general knowledge of their tastes4 ,fundamental ,reactions ,universal4--,some will straightway object1 ,but ,i prefer to write for only the highest class of readers4 ,it is their right to do so1 and their choice may be a wise one4 ,but ,i maintain two points4 ,first1 it is not the highest aim4 ,second1 the writer who prefers this aim is probably most likely of all to fail to know his audience4 ,the #di mistake to which he is peculiarly liable is that of forgetting that the highest class is not a thing apart but merely all the other classes plus something more4 ,his tendency is to believe that they have passed on beyond all the tastes and reactions of the other classes far more than they really have4 ,most of all1 he is likely to credit them with having risen above the cruder1 more fundamental tastes and reactions of the other classes4 ,they haven't4 ,they have merely piled upon the fundamental reactions a larger collection of refined--and often artificial--reactions than have the others4 ,the fundamental reactions may become somewhat blurred and aborted1 are certainly less consciously active and generally less active in fact1 but they are still there and still operative and sometimes in full strength4 ,that is as true as any general rule that can be laid down concerning the human mind and too much emphasis can not be placed on it4 ,the ,target4--,to reach any audience perfectly you must reach them at all points1 satisfying all demands1 overcoming all their inherent obstacles1 allowing for the varying equipment ranging from the lowest to the #ej highest among them--equipment of background1 imagination1 concentration1 general intelligence and so on4 ,and on each point you must reach those most gifted in it1 most difficult to satisfy in that respect4 ,it is not enough to satisfy those with little cultural background2 your story must stand the test of those who have the most4 ,it must reach not only those who set particular store by the delicate shadings1 but those who demand a definite story interest4 ,on any point you must aim to reach the individuals who are most difficult to reach on that point4 ,in no other way can you hope to reach all4 ,it is not easy to do4 ,in fact1 it isn't done4 ,but it must be the target aimed at4 ,it is not easy to reach both the person who reads word for word1 extracting the full flavor of each1 and also the person who skips sentences1 paragraphs and pages in mad pursuit of what happens2 nor him who at a word or two from you reconstructs a whole scene in his mind's eye1 and him whose imagination can vision for him only what you describe in detail4 ,yet1 if you are to attain the degree of success possible to you1 you must aim to satisfy in each such dilemma the extreme that for you is most difficult4 #ea ,study ,human ,beings4--,first1 last and all the time1 success means study of the reader4 ,that means study of human beings1 not merely of opinions of them or of effects secured or apparently secured on them by other writers4 ,the opinions may be mistaken2 the effects may be there1 but you and the other writers may fail to assign to them the proper causes4 ,strangely enough1 the causes most often overlooked are the elemental tastes and reactions common to all normal humans4 ,it is more literary1 and more convenient1 to study lists of best sellers1 to read critical reviews and academic essays1 to be given rules and standards by some one else--who got them from reviews1 essays and best sellers4 ,but it is human beings who are your readers4 ,get your data at first hand4 #eb ,,chapter ,v ,,distractions ,to hold a reader in the illusion of a story it is of course necessary to hold his attention1 not merely in a general way1 but entirely and without break1 interruption or hindrance4 ,he must live wholly and every instant in the story world--must never be recalled for even the fraction of a second to the real world he lives in4 ,in writing any story there are a thousand chances of breaking the illusion by some little touch4 ,most of these are almost automatically avoided even by writers of small ability4 ,otherwise there would be no fiction4 ,the point is that what are usually a very small minority are not avoided by most writers4 ,the result is that editors are likely to reject the story because it does not hold the interest1 is not convincing or lacks punch4 ,their finding is probably just1 though they may not have analyzed for #ec causes1 and the writer is not enlightened or even convinced of the finding4 ,disproportionate ,damage from ,distractions4--,failing to avoid even an extreme minority of the chances for breaking the illusion is enough to injure the story very seriously4 ,you can't afford to let your reader escape from the story's spell1 slip back into the world he really lives in1 even momentarily4 ,for you have to waste at least a little of the story's potential force in getting him back again1 which means that you can never get him back quite so fully as you had him before4 ,you may even not get him back at all4 ,you can't afford to have him become even momentarily a critic1 for you must waste at least a little of the story's potential appeal in order to change him back from the critical attitude to sympathy and absorption4 ,you can't afford to let his attention wander off to side-issues1 for the story has to stop working at being a story in order to get him back on the main line and it needs every atom of its strength for the main job4 ,we recently published one of the best stories ,adventure ever printed1 a combination of simple narrative appeal and of literary #ed excellence of the first water4 ,it is bringing us many letters of appreciation4 ,to-day ,i read a long letter from one reader who had found in that story nothing1 either good or bad1 except that there was an indirect inconsistency as to one character's exact age4 ,that was what you might call the net result of that story on a reader4 ,all the strength and merit of an otherwise splendid story completely wrecked for a reader by that one trifling point6 ,undoubtedly others detected the same inconsistency but suffered less acutely or did not register their kick4 ,but in each case the appeal of the story lost strength out of all proportion to the size of the detail involved4 ,it is a typical1 not an exceptional1 case1 except for the unusual merit of the story ruined4 ,thousands of letters like that come in from readers1 often many on the same tiny slip or discrepancy4 ,to those readers the story in question left as its chief impress upon them a violence--at one tiny point--to their knowledge of fact or sense of consistency4 ,in each case how many other such readers are there who do not write us8 ,other thousands of readers protest over #ee such slips1 such distractions from the illusion1 but are not so completely swamped by them that they fail to consider the merits of the story as a whole4 ,but1 even with them1 how big looms the tiny flaw in proportion to the whole6 ,in each case how many other such readers are there who do not write in8 ,how to ,use ,your ,friends4--,no point that may distract a reader can be so small that it is not serious4 ,you can not measure the harm done2 in one case there may be no harm1 in another a little1 in another a great deal4 ,but if writers who have their friends criticize their stories would ask these friends to give less attention to literary points and take careful note of every little thing that in any way attracted attention to itself or sent the mind wandering off to things outside the story1 they would get some invaluable pointers--of the only kind that the usual friend is really capable of giving4 ,if some day the colleges make systematic laboratory tests along these lines they should get data as surprising as they would be useful4 ,unusual ,words4--,consider how tiny a thing is capable of pricking the bubble of illusion1 of jerking the reader for a brief #ef instant back into his real world so that he must be drawn again into the fiction spell4 ,if in reading a story you come upon some such word as pringle1 anodic1 calipash1 mansuetude1 spiracle1 frigorific1 cambist1 gibbous1 ortelic you probably find it unfamiliar and1 if so1 of course know that you do4 ,therein lies the breaking of the illusion4 ,however brief the total time occupied by your reaction to the word1 however slightly you may seem to have paused over it1 you paused and you paused over it--gave attention to it1 not to the story4 ,you had to remember yourself1 your own knowledge and experience4 ,quite possibly you also considered the author's contrasting knowledge and experience1 and the author is not the story4 ,possibly you tried to figure out the meaning of the word from its derivation or the context1 or dredged your own memory for it1 making your pause over it still longer4 ,perhaps your pause totaled only a few seconds or a fraction of one second1 but--the illusion was broken and had to be rebuilt4 ,far less unusual words than those cited will be unfamiliar to part of most audiences4 #eg ,would one such word do very serious damage8 ,very unlikely4 ,but it would do some1 and even a small damage is to be avoided if possible4 ,would four such words8 ,there can of course be no definite measurement1 but one thing is sure--four would do far more than four times as much damage as one4 ,the effects are cumulative1 following a kind of geometrical progression4 ,and no one knows when a serious breaking-point may be reached4 ,is a writer never to use a big word8 ,not if it's too big for his audience4 ,in the mouth of a character he may put any word he pleases1 provided it is used for sound purposes of characterization or for some other specific demand of the story itself1 but not for the mere telling of the story4 ,he might1 for example1 wish to impress a learned or scientific atmosphere4 ,in this case1 too1 there is the saving fact that the reader need not know the meaning of these words1 and knows that he need not1 just as he would know he need not if he were actually living in the scene4 ,he does not feel challenged by them4 ,big words may be justified in scores of typical instances1 but there is no instance in #eh which it does not pay to consider whether the damage may not outweigh the gain4 ,even an unusual word whose meaning is at once apparent to any one1 like cat-silent1 should be carefully weighed as to advantages vs4 disadvantages before it is used4 ,and only in the rarest instances can there be justification for using such a word more than once in the same story1 lest the recurrence added to the unusualness make a double distraction4 ,foreign ,words4--,the same applies to words from foreign languages4 ,undoubtedly they are valuable in giving color1 but this value is too often attained at too high cost in distraction and is frequently attainable through other means without loss4 ,the damage they do is by no means theoretical1 for readers do not hesitate to complain to editors on this score4 ,i do not remember their doing so in the case of big words1 for naturally a man doesn't go to the trouble to admit he doesn't understand words in his own language1 while often rather proud of not understanding foreign words4 ,sufficient color through foreign words can be gained by using only a few1 even if these few are repeated1 and by using only those instantly clear from #ei the context or from unmistakable similarity to the corresponding ,english word 7like fader7 if context heads the reader in that general direction4 ,there is comparatively only a slight risk in using those that are very generally known1 like ami or mon chre also ejaculations that are evidently such and therefore make no demand on the reader's understanding4 ,classical1 ,historical and ,fictional ,references4--,the danger1 of course1 is that the reader may not be familiar with the reference1 knows that he is not1 and therefore becomes conscious of himself as a reader4 ,another risk is that1 being familiar with them1 his mind drifts off to them more than the writer intended4 ,used with discretion1 they may have value1 but they are generally not used with discretion and1 generally speaking1 a story is the better for telling itself without covering part of the ground by means of what are practically quotations from other stories4 ,also1 there are other dangers than that of simple distraction1 which will be covered under other heads4 ,unusual ,proper ,names4--,to put this case concretely1 here is the list of the male #fj characters in one single story ,i read yesterday in a manuscript3 ,tom ,goit1 ,braith1 ,grahame1 ,tim ,stine1 ,linus ,kime1 ,jestock1 ,bissonet1 ,heads1 ,arnet1 ,jimson1 ,kliedjorn1 ,jed ,willoughby1 ,andy ,meenal1 ,yard ,sant1 ,simson1 ,angus ,stell1 ,gant1 ,beezaw1 ,colin ,corbin1 ,happy ,falls1 ,jim ,light1 ,rafe ,gillen1 ,charley ,jance4 ,it is probably not entirely complete1 but was made by running through the pages and taking all names noted1 usual or unusual4 ,can any human being read that story without having his attention distracted to the fact that those names are violently unusual8 ,doesn't the fact that they are unusual add an air of unreality to the whole story--story-book names instead of real people's names8 ,won't many readers be definitely irritated by the artificiality and mannerism8 ,aside from this and similar breakings of illusion it was a good story and will undoubtedly be printed somewhere4 ,its author is a successful writer of fiction4 ,but hasn't the story lost very appreciably through that amazing collection of proper names8 ,on the other hand there is a certain advantage in the use of such names in some types #fa of story and for some audiences1 though not in the story from which the above are taken or for the audience at which it is aimed4 ,some readers like proper names that are baldly fictional and unreal2 that is what fiction means to them--unreality1 utter difference from their own lives4 ,these are much the same readers who like their stories filled with duchesses1 earls and ancestral halls4 ,a generation or two ago these were a rather large group1 and larger still before that1 but nowadays folks are more sophisticated in their fiction and need illusions that run more nearly with reality4 ,and1 at best1 isn't it rather a cheap method of abnormality8 ,unusual names serve also to make the characters more vivid to the reader's mind1 but this method of characterization is a crude one that should give way to better ones entailing no risk4 ,in humorous stories of a certain type they are entirely legitimate4 ,on the other hand1 look carefully at your proper names lest1 in a serious story1 you give a character a name like ,hencastle that brings a grin where you do not wish to have a grin4 ,alliterative proper names are another #fb phase of the evil in the case of readers sufficiently sophisticated to note the alliteration at all4 ,avoid proper names that are difficult or ambiguous of pronunciation4 ,don't give your characters the same names as those of real people prominent in the public eye unless a name is so common that it is not likely to distract the reader from the story's illusion through thoughts of the real person2 even a too similar name is risky in some cases1 e4g4 any variation of the unusual name ,roosevelt4 ,dialect4--,while belonging more properly under later heads it serves1 too1 as a simple distraction in itself4 ,its advantages are obvious1 yet some readers will read no story with dialect in it and some magazines will print none4 ,mistakes4--,a typographical error1 a mistake in spelling1 punctuation or ,english is sure to check and drag out of the illusion any reader who notes it4 ,such matters are definitely the editor's responsibility1 but he is far from infallible and the author would1 in most cases1 profit by safeguarding against him4 ,an editor will be grateful1 particularly the assistant #fc editor who edits copy and reads proof4 ,in our own office we can quote you lots of rules as to correct ,english--and show you violations of them in our own pages4 ,mistakes in fact and statement will be considered later4 ,unusual ,mannerisms of ,style4--,distinction is to be made between1 on the one hand1 individuality and deliberate shaping of style to attain a particular atmosphere or suit particular material and1 on the other hand1 mannerisms that are necessary to neither of these ends and harmful in distracting attention to themselves4 ,no one can possibly draw a definite line between these two groups1 but a warning is badly needed against forgetting the danger4 ,it is a question for laboratory test4 ,try to get your friends--or better1 your enemies--to read your story with this point in view1 or do not mention it beforehand and cross-examine them afterward as to what mannerisms registered on their attention4 ,and don't hand-pick your critics or dogs from any one class or group unless you mean your story to appeal to no other4 ,a novelette1 which had to be rewritten because of it1 used the following mannerism #fd hundreds and hundreds of times until each recurrence was not only a distraction but an agony3 he ran1 and running1 laughed aloud1 he sang1 and singing1 voiced his mood1 he fought1 and fighting1 worked toward the house4 ,another writer habitually1 in the words following or introducing a line of dialogue1 carries the legitimate he said1 he urged1 he encouraged1 etc41 to such distracting extremes as he frightened1 he anguished1 she informed1 he recognized1 he remorsed4 ,of late years there has developed the fad of saying the heart1 or soul1 or head1 of him for his heart1 his soul1 his head1 etc4 ,this variation from the usual has1 in prose1 a very limited field in which its advantage exceeds its damage4 ,a mannerism of style is warranted if it so fits into a story that it is an integral and practically unnoted part of it2 otherwise it is a harmful factor4 ,a better adapted mannerism could have gained the desired effect without making of itself an obtrusion4 ,fiction as a ,vehicle4--,there are two ways of writing a story4 ,one is to write fiction only2 the other is to combine fiction with something else4 ,readers like both and both #fe are legitimate1 but the latter is of course not pure fiction2 fiction is merely the vehicle for the other thing or things4 ,one of the greatest evils among present-day fiction writers is the failure to make this distinction and keep it clearly in mind4 ,too often a writer does not realize that there is anything else mixed with his fiction2 consequently his product is not straight or well-built fiction nor is the fiction part of it a carefully made vehicle for the other thing4 ,to make fiction serve any end other than its own is very likely to weaken its value as fiction1 and before a writer thus weakens it he should make very sure that the advantages gained from making it carry something else compensate for that weakening4 ,if he wishes to give his reader1 for example1 some direct philosophy1 well and good1 but he should--and seldom does--weigh the attendant loss4 ,there is a second distinction that should be made4 ,when ,i say plus something else ,i mean plus something else that is added as a load is put upon a wagon1 not something that comes to the reader as a result of the fiction4 ,to say in a story a man may prosper exceedingly on a policy of utter selfishness1 but1 #ff having all his life taken without giving1 in the end he gives for what he took is putting a load on the wagon4 ,to let the story itself say that1 merely to tell a story that illustrates and brings home that truth without mentioning it specifically 7unless through the mouth of a character71 is only letting straight fiction perform a natural office1 though a natural office that can be overworked at the cost of a well balanced whole4 ,the former is the easier and less artistic method1 and far too many writers follow it far too often4 ,its evil is that of any load--it breaks the illusion1 tending to make the reader think of the person who hands him this bit of philosophy1 of himself1 of the world in general1 instead of the story world only4 ,the present-day fad of opening a story with a bit of philosophy1 though objectionable on another score1 does little damage to the illusion1 since it comes before the spell begins and may even serve as an intermediate step4 ,obtrusion of ,author4--,this is a crying evil1 a serious damage to the illusion4 ,the author has no more business to appear concretely in his story than a playwright has upon the stage when his play is being acted4 ,once in ten #fg thousand times he may himself be sufficiently interesting to atone for the wreck of the story's spell2 the other nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine times he is a mistake1 a bull in a china-shop4 ,the following1 all taken from submitted manuscripts1 range from crude to subtle obtrusions3 ,at the time of which ,i wish to speak you must understand consider the case of ,john ,holt4 ,but first consider the environment see him and it is the correct word it is necessary to add1 in explanation of this seeming paradox had1 somewhat grumbingly1 be it said1 he had1 for instance1 tried1 and disappears from this story1 ,each of these compels a reader to realize that some one is talking to him4 ,you can't be carried away in a dream when conscious that some one is telling it to you4 ,sometimes the point is made that an author's obtrusion puts the reader on more intimate terms with him4 ,what has that to do with fiction as such8 ,if the author didn't obtrude himself1 the reader would have no interest in intimacy or non-intimacy with him4 ,if the author is the one out of ten thousand1 all right2 otherwise1 not4 #fh ,if a writer must express philosophy or opinions specifically1 let him use the legitimate device of the first-person narrative1 taking care that the narrator is cast in such character as to make these opinions natural to him4 ,or else baldly use fiction as vehicle only1 making his story a conversazione4 ,there is another legitimate device4 ,kipling ends a story with ,i think he was right4 ,but he begins that story with ,when ,i was telling you of4 ,in other words1 he tells the story in an undeveloped frame or brackets4 ,partly by leaving the frame undeveloped and impersonal1 his skill is sufficient to make you feel that it is not ,kipling himself who talks to you1 but some unknown participator in the action of the story or an onlooker4 ,it is really1 in effect1 a first-person narrative with the privileges of such4 ,first-person narratives1 unless presented as addressed to a fictitious audience such as the narrator's children or grandchildren1 of course permit a fairly free direct address to or at the reader1 since the writer poses as the actual teller4 ,incidentally1 however1 it is not consistent with his telling what goes on inside the characters unless made plain to him as one of them4 #fi ,as found in submitted manuscripts1 the great majority of authors' obtrusions seem unconsidered1 and are accompanied by the damage to be expected from walking in the dark4 ,the remainder1 almost without exception1 seem ill-considered4 ,one exception out of a thousand instances is not a heavy average4 #gj ,,chapter ,,vi ,,clearness ,anything that is not clear to a reader either causes him to skip it and therefore miss part of the story's substance and effect1 or else makes him puzzle4 ,in either case the illusion suffers4 ,if he puzzles1 he has to use up attention on a point the writer had counted on being clear1 his mind is on the puzzle1 not obsessed by the spell2 the story's flow is stopped1 the reader is conscious of himself1 his difficulty and limitations1 perhaps also of the author as the cause of his troubles--in a word1 the reader has got away4 ,every time you confuse him you lose him4 ,deliberate mystification is a writer's prerogative2 having all his plans upset by mystification where none was expected or desired is a calamity4 ,author's ,ostrich ,habit4--,naturally enough1 authors are inclined to a kind of reversed ostrich habit4 ,if a point was clear to them when they wrote it1 they take for granted that #ga it must be clear to the reader4 ,they forget that they have full knowledge of all that is or happens in their fiction1 while the reader can know only what comes to him from the printed page4 ,often when an editor points out an unclearness they argue with him1 blissfully ignoring the fact that the editor is himself a reader and that the reader found it unclear4 ,possibly the author proves his case--that is1 he points out other passages in the story which do clear up the unclearness if the reader remembers them and makes the correct inferences and connections4 ,the fact that1 in the actual test1 these passages failed to produce the intended results on the reader slides off the author like water off a duck4 ,still less does he get the idea that a reader shouldn't be distracted from the story by being compelled to go into a more or less complicated reasoning process in order to get what should have been handed to him on a platter4 ,even if several editor-readers found the point unclear1 he stands by his guns4 ,aside from the author's vastly superior knowledge of his material and intentions1 many of his readers may be his mental inferiors4 ,also many of them may not be so #gb interested in his story as he is and so give it less close attention than he expects4 ,part of them habitually skip through a story and demand a plain and shining path4 ,certainly no one mind is exactly like another and all readers will not respond as does the author to any given set of stimuli if even a tiny loophole is left open4 ,a rule given playwrights is that if it is essential to impress a basic point on the audience1 the point must be made at least three times in the first scene4 ,so extreme a rule is not needed for fiction1 but the necessity of clearness1 even on minor points1 is no less pressing4 ,it is a natural and common mistake to overestimate the average reader's interest and attention and his ability and willingness to solve puzzles when he sits down to read a story4 ,a writer usually forgets that to the reader his is merely one story out of dozens or hundreds recently read1 out of thousands and ten thousands total4 ,the writer's friend-critics have a personal interest in him and a very special interest in his story that carry them smilingly over many obstacles2 to the average reader the writer probably means nothing whatsoever personally--quite #gc possibly his name at the head of the story was not even read--and the story is merely one of very many4 ,any special attention to it must be won by the writer's skill and careful work4 ,talbot ,mundy1 knowing in advance the general lines of this book1 has furnished me from his voluminous reading with various quotations bearing on points covered1 among them this from ,quintillian3 ,care should be taken1 not that the reader may understand if he will1 but that he must understand1 whether he will or not4 ,and from ,whitman3 ,nothing can make up for the lack of definiteness4 ,ambiguous ,words and ,sentences4--,any good text-book on ,english covers the subject and most writers would profit by the study thereof4 ,if when they try a short story out on their friends they would ask for practical detailed criticism on such points as this1 they would get laboratory results far more valuable than the proverbially undependable criticism of friends on the story as a whole4 ,proper ,names4--,be careful to give your characters names no two of which are similar4 #gd ,the reader meets them for the first time and has the task of identifying each name with the proper character whenever it occurs4 ,why confuse him with two characters named ,lowe and ,rowe1 ,towne and ,browne1 ,morgan and ,mordan1 or even ,hadley and ,hatfield8 ,yet many and many a manuscript contains this needless stumbling-block for readers4 ,the same mistake is made in names of places1 ships1 and so on4 ,another maddening and very common practise among writers is to use sometimes a character's last name1 sometimes his first4 ,even a short story with only two or three characters can be made a needless omelette of confusion1 for this bad habit is extended to include titles and nick-names or familiar forms of the full names4 ,consider ,doctor ,james ,stanley1 ,edward ,d4 ,gage and ,captain ,john ,s4 ,tompkins4 ,gage is a lawyer and often called ,judge by his intimates4 ,tompkins' lack of height earns him the usual ,shorty4 ,the author uses some of each1 possibly for the sake of variety1 and the three characters become1 to the reader1 an army and hopelessly #ge confused--,stanley1 ,ed1 ,cap1 ,gage1 ,shorty1 ,jim1 ,judge1 ,john1 ,doc1 ,tompkins1 ,james1 ,johnnie1 ,edward4 ,such a confusion is alone enough to ruin the blissfully unconscious writer's story4 ,for the simple reason that readers can only half know what is going on4 ,yet in practise it is a very common mistake4 ,technical and ,foreign ,words2 ,classical1 ,historical and ,fictional ,references and ,allusions4--,the confusion arises when a reader happens not to understand the word1 even from the context1 or to be unfamiliar with the reference4 ,writers seem to take it for granted that all readers will grasp the meaning without effort or delay4 ,or mystify deliberately to air their culture4 ,the warning seems silly when set down on paper but is warranted by the number of offenses in actual practise4 ,naming ,characters ,early4--,sometimes an effect of reality is gained by not at once naming characters in a story1 giving the reader as it were1 the effect of looking down upon a new world whose figures are no more known to him than they would be at first sight in a real scene4 ,generally1 however1 a reader is likely #gf to resent being left to follow1 for even a few pages1 the fortunes of a nameless person4 ,include particularly the narrator in a first-person story4 ,dialogue4--,over and over again an editor is compelled to go back over a passage of dialogue in manuscript and count out with finger or pencil until he finds a line that is definitely connected with a particular speaker4 ,the characters are not sufficiently individualized to be recognized from their lines1 context fails to identify1 the lines are not labeled with the speakers' names and the least flicker of attention leaves one lost at the end of a dozen or even half a dozen speeches4 ,sometimes the author himself gets lost and mixes or omits4 ,an ordinary reader doesn't have to count out as does the editor--he is more likely to snort and pass on1 with part of the story lost to him and its net register on him badly damaged4 ,if he doesn't snort and pass on he stops to puzzle it out4 ,why injure a story by so crude an omission8 ,too ,many ,characters4--,the heading is self-explanatory4 ,all the characters in any story are utter strangers to the reader until he becomes familiar with them2 he can keep clear #gg in his mind only a limited number of new acquaintances all made in the course of a few minutes2 the kind of writer who uses many characters is usually the kind who is unable to individualize them with any vividness4 ,a novel or novelette gives greater scope1 but in a short story it may almost be given as a general rule that the fewer the characters1 the stronger the story1 not counting characters used in blocks1 such as mobs1 armies1 spectators4 ,structure and proportion1 as well as clearness1 are of course involved4 ,dialect and ,slang4--,neither is familiar in all places or to all classes1 and on the point of clearness both are to be condemned4 ,their advantages will be considered later4 ,the stupidest blunder in handling dialect is to misspell a word without really changing its pronunciation1 thus confusing the reader's eye yet gaining only the appearance of dialect--and the reader's irritation4 ,contradictions and ,inconsistencies4--,their variety is infinite and their occurrence in submitted manuscripts frequent beyond the belief of those who read only the corrected printed page4 ,a woman changes the color of her eyes2 with a conversation that could #gh occupy only one minute there is coincident action that couldn't possibly be compressed into five1 or1 very commonly1 a bland lapse of even more time without any action2 a six-shooter emits seven shots without reloading2 of a party of fourteen1 five turn back and ten remain2 a character uses a word that would never be used by such a person in real life1 or acts1 without explanation1 entirely at variance with his nature as the author has pictured it2 the hero acts on information he has not yet received2 a man's name changes during the story2 a woman opens a door already open2 a character goes somewhere else without leaving or becomes present without arriving4 ,when you encounter such a break in a printed story doesn't it jar you out of the illusion1 lessen your respect for the author1 and therefore permanently damage his story's hold on you8 ,there can be no general rule for correction4 ,when not the result of sheer carelessness and indifference1 such errors are due to the author's failure to visualize1 to live his scenes himself4 ,this failure in some cases is due to real inability or comparative inability1 but in very many cases to attention so obsessed and #gi ridden by principles of plot1 rules for character drawing1 regulations for niceties of style1 application of technique in general and requirements of various magazines that there's no brain-force left for making the story world a really convincing and natural one in its all important details4 ,holding ,reader to ,correct ,plot ,line4--,in other words1 proportion and emphasis4 ,briefly stated1 what is meant here is clearness of path for the reader through the incidents of the story1 so that his mind will follow or leap ahead only in the exact direction the author wishes for the fullest effectiveness of his story4 ,this will be taken up in detail later4 ,simplicity4--,the following from ,schopenhauer 7thanks to ,mr4 ,mundy7 gives us the heart of the matter3 ,nothing is easier than to write so that no one can understand2 just as1 contrarily1 nothing is more difficult than to express deep things in such a way that every one must necessarily grasp them4 ,yet to most of those sending manuscripts to magazines simplicity1 particularly simplicity in words and style1 is very pointedly something to be avoided whatever else is #hj done or left undone4 ,the twin cause of this appalling idea1 this curse stupidly laid upon ,american fiction1 is the firmly rooted belief that literature must be an expression that is1 first1 unnatural1 second1 learned1 recondite1 even sophomoric4 ,in its lowest and very common form it is no more than the crude idea that editors must be very scholarly persons and that therefore they would scorn any manuscript that didn't have a lot of big words in it4 ,the simple language of ,shakespeare1 ,homer1 ,virgil1 the ,bible and other really enduring classics loom before their eyes1 but no1 they follow the jack-o'-lantern of big words4 ,they have this excuse--much of the fiction published in magazines and books is fairly rotten with big words1 a reflection on editors and reading public as well as writers4 ,the hard practical argument against dictionary words is that most people find them difficult to understand or at least lack the definite1 vivid1 full connotation for them that they have for the simpler and more common words of our very rich language4 ,such words reduce the size of an author's fully appreciative audience4 ,another point is that the #ha writer who doesn't know any better than to make a business of using them is very often himself lacking in an understanding of their finer shades of meaning4 ,a third point is that1 unless such words are part of his own every-day vocabulary he is being unnatural in using them and thereby ruins his chances of attaining real style or producing real literature4 ,also he gives through them to his story an unnatural1 artificial quality1 an air of being forced4 ,in the eyes of all those with a real understanding of real literature he makes of himself a plain darned fool4 ,but can there be no great literature without simplicity8 ,none that couldn't be greater with it4 ,a straight line is the shortest distance between two points2 any deviation from it is lost motion1 unnecessary2 the best literature contains no lost motion and nothing that is unnecessary4 ,but is not a big word sometimes the straight line8 ,yes1 but for one case of this kind there are twenty when it is not4 ,sometimes the author uses it for a simpler phrasing not sufficiently mastered to come to mind at need2 sometimes it is necessary only because he has committed himself by some roundabout phrasing demanding it #hb for completion2 sometimes he commits himself to it by following the inferior method of telling the reader what is inside a character instead of making it plain through what the character says and does and what other characters say and do to him4 ,the final test for the use of big words is the nature of the material or ideas handled4 ,in some cases they are necessary to a degree1 sometimes to a great degree4 ,but in practise the nature of the material is generally not correctly assayed1 or is mishandled1 or the need imagined4 ,the ignorant use them through ignorance2 for those with a good knowledge of words it is generally easier to use the big word1 the ,latin derivative instead of the simpler ,anglo-,saxon4 ,is it not therefore more natural and so better for this last class to use the big word8 ,that depends on why it is natural--or on whether it is natural or merely habitual4 ,a writer may have come into the use of them1 not by natural development but through deliberate effort1 a stunt for the sake of seeming learned or being impressive1 so that their use1 while easy to him1 is merely the result of his having made of himself a kind of abnormality--an artificial result of artificial talking #hc and method of thought4 ,on the other hand is the far rarer case of him whose mind naturally expresses itself through polysyllables1 generally because of an education from books instead of people4 ,i know one writer who spoke to no one for two years except for the barest necessities because when he used what to him was perfectly natural language the people he met thought he was stuck up or showing off4 ,i do not know why ,henry ,james wrote as he did1 but contrast the two following cases3 ,i once shared an apartment with an ardent admirer of ,james and as ,i did not share his admiration we argued frequently4 ,james came to ,new ,york while my friend was preparing a bibliography of his idol's works4 ,there was some question as to several early articles or stories that had magazine but not book publication and my friend wrote for the simple information necessary4 ,it could have been given amply and courteously in two or three sentences4 ,the reply was appalling in its totally unnecessary complexity1 length and creation of detail1 so much so that my friend woke me up to show it to me and joined in my unholy glee4 ,it was1 surely1 a natural expression1 but why was it natural8 #hd ,and certainly it was not adapted to the nature of the material or idea4 ,now read the first one hundred and fifty words of ,a ,coward by ,de ,maupassant1 even in translation1 then write down the things you know about the character described in those few very simple words and you will be amazed at the length of the list4 ,consider that ,de ,maupassant and his master ,flaubert stand preeminently for unrelenting search for the one word and that both of them are characterized by extreme simplicity of presentation4 ,and is any character of ,henry ,james' so much more intricately drawn than ,madame ,bovary8 ,among more modern writers take ,joseph ,conrad4 ,i am a ,conrad fan1 but consider him1 comparatively speaking1 a poor workman though a great artist4 ,here we have simplicity of words but not of expression in a general sense4 ,i do not by any means fully understand most of his stories and ,i find that others are about equally at sea if they are honest or are cross-examined4 ,in most of the qualities that make a great fictionist he stands in the front rank1 but he is lacking in corresponding ability to simplify and clarify his thought1 to make the proper abstraction #he and selection of thought expressions4 ,his content and gifts are so rich that even only a part of them registered on readers is sufficient to rate him a master1 but the fact remains that he conveys only a part of what he has to say4 ,instead of a direct1 clear-cut1 simple path to his goal he gives the reader a maze of paths that is not lacking in blind alleys4 ,whatever be the generally accepted academic philosophy of simple versus complex expression1 it can not outface the fact that the minority of readers can not so fully understand or appreciate complexity and that with them the effectiveness of a story is thereby crippled4 ,certainly in practise there is crying need for the mastery that can say all yet say it simply4 ,if1 instead of straining for complexity1 beginners would aim at simplicity1 especially of words1 they would not only come closer to writing both good magazine stories and good literature1 but would find themselves able to handle greater and greater complexity of thought and with a precision and effectiveness that can not be equaled by the other method4 ,remember that the simple1 every-day words are in almost all cases the stronger ones4 #hf ,repetition4--,before leaving the subject of clearness as a whole 7it will come up again in connection with other subjects71 a word might be ventured on repetition4 ,the present horror of it is a badly exaggerated reaction4 ,to repeat without due cause an unusual word or phrase in a short story1 or a usual one too close to its first use1 is a distraction and therefore harmful to the illusion1 but sometimes due cause is ignored4 ,a story1 all so clear to its author1 presents hundred of facts with which the reader must familiarize himself4 ,the easier you make this for him and the more you insure his getting all the points necessary to a full appreciation of your story1 the more fully will your story register on him4 ,to present a vital point once so vividly that it is almost sure to register is best of all and correspondingly difficult to do1 but keep your eyes open for cases where repetition1 probably not in exactly the same words1 will accomplish the same purpose nearly as well and perhaps more surely4 ,aside from clearness1 in skilful hands repetition can become a most subtle and powerful instrument for dramatic and poetic effects of high literary quality4 #hg ,,chapter ,,vii ,,overstrain ,a reader has just so much of attention1 interest and appreciation to give to any story and1 to hold him in the illusion1 it is of the highest importance not to wear him out before you are through with him and not to use him up on minor points or on matters that should put upon him no strain whatever4 ,brevity4--,most of all1 don't talk too much or too long4 ,a story is never so dead as when buried in words4 ,most of the stories submitted can be cut to advantage1 often very heavily cut4 ,the reader gets worn out waiting for something to happen--is bored by being told in a hundred words what he could have grasped in twenty4 ,do not feel that you must give the entire history of the hero's life in a short story2 only a certain few incidents and facts have direct bearing and the remainder must be mercilessly cut out4 ,nor all the scenes and #hh action of any story4 ,make it your object to have as much as possible happen off-stage2 what forces itself to the footlights will probably belong there4 ,unclearnesses and ,distractions4--,any unclearness or ambiguity or any distraction is of course a profitless strain upon the reader4 ,don't compel a reader to reason out things that should be clear at a glance4 ,even the intentional unclearness of subtlety1 though by no means a fault1 must also be weighed as to disadvantage in strain4 ,all the points covered in ,chapter ,,vi apply in this one4 ,sentence ,length4--,vary it4 ,if you can1 vary it in accordance with variation in emotions of material1 in desired effects on reader1 but vary it in any case4 ,the very monotony of a long succession of either long or short sentences is wearing4 ,don't drag a reader through a sentence so long that in following it he tires out before he can draw mental breath4 ,hold ,reader to ,correct ,plot ,line4--,from first word to last1 don't wear him out by letting him cover useless distance over false trails4 #hi ,classical and ,other ,references4--,in addition to their dangers of distraction and unclearness they force a reader1 if they reach him1 to picture or consider characters1 events and scenes in addition to those of the story4 ,they are of course justified in comparatively rare instances4 ,dialect1 ,archaic ,speech1 ,slang1 ,foreign1 ,unusual and ,technical ,words4--,all these offer obstacles to at least part of your audience4 ,to a probable minority dialect is a delight1 it is of course necessary to faithful realism1 and it undoubtedly gives color4 ,yet many will not read a dialect story1 their chief reason being the labor necessary to understand it4 ,there are1 too1 those who consciously or unconsciously object to anything foreign1 meaning by foreign anything different from their own4 ,it is1 for the author1 a question of weighing advantages against disadvantages4 ,archaic speech1 as far as strain is concerned1 is merely dialect4 ,one writer makes the rule of using the speech of the time in which his story is laid for all periods following and including that of ,elizabeth1 using modern ,english for all earlier periods1 his argument being that her reign #ij approximately draws the line between speech that is now intelligible with little or no effort and speech that is not4 ,archaic forms of foreign tongues must be rendered to us in ,english1 so fall under the same rule4 ,slang1 too1 is to be weighed as to advantages and disadvantages4 ,it is perhaps more difficult than in the cases of dialect and archaic speech to compute the proportion of readers to whom it will be sufficiently intelligible4 ,on the other hand1 it is generally in itself humorous and therefore of particular value when a humorous effect is desired2 gives color2 aids in characterization4 ,the danger of foreign1 unusual and technical words is much the same on the score of strain as on the score of distraction and unclearness4 ,relief ,scenes4--,at some point a reader's response to a demand on his emotions ceases and he grows callous to the appeal1 but writers often forget this fact and continue to demand long after he has lost his ability to respond4 ,perfection is to bring him to your climax at the full flood of response1 but to do so requires careful handling4 ,a steady1 gentle increase of demand is best if you can be #ia absolutely sure of results1 but a most useful safeguard is the use of relief scenes4 ,if you've keyed him up to a dangerously high pitch1 give him a rest-scene before you add a further call upon his emotions--shift the scene or time and let him look a moment at a quiet landscape or gentle action4 ,make the change a decided one and you not only rest him but profit by the sharp dramatic contrast between the relief scene and those following and preceding it499 99,read ,de ,quincey's ,on the ,knocking at the ,gate in ,macbeth4 ,frames or ,brackets4--,that is1 a story within a story--a story one of whose characters tells the main story4 ,its advantage is a gain in semblance of reality--if it is handled with sufficient skill4 ,it very seldom is4 ,its disadvantage is an overstrain1 in demanding of the reader that he form two illusions instead of one1 and a consequent dividing and weakening of attention4 ,having accomplished the task of getting clear in his mind one setting and one set of characters1 he is forced to take up a new set of characters and probably a new setting1 a double strain within the compass of a single story4 ,if1 as is #ib often the case1 a character in the frame 7or several characters7 persists in interrupting the course of the inner1 the real story1 conflict or confusion of illusion is compounded4 ,most writers could profit by not attempting the doubly difficult task of a bracketed or framed story4 ,unless exceptional skill is brought to bear1 the frame-story is almost sure either to be too slight and unconvincing or to be made more or less convincing by being developed at such length that it is too serious an encroachment upon space needed for the real story4 ,yet it is a favorite attempt with those least able to handle it4 ,mystery ,stories4--,these must be considered as a class by themselves1 for their deliberate intent is to make the reader strain at solving a puzzle or at following its intricate presentation and solution1 and he turns to them at least partly for the mental stimulus involved4 ,yet overstrain is entirely possible4 ,in fact1 this type1 by reason of its inherent intricacy and effort for the reader1 demands particularly that he be not compelled to strain over points that are non-essential to the mystery proper4 ,unskilled or unfair writers sometimes intentionally add #ic confusions that are in no way necessary1 and many a mystery story lessens its hold on readers by unintended unclearnesses or suggestions that mislead in unnecessary directions and to no purpose4 ,a reader may like to solve puzzles1 but he most emphatically has the right to be at all times clear as to just what the puzzle is4 ,plot4--,unnecessary intricacy1 of course1 should be avoided in any type of story2 the difficulty in a given case is to draw the line between necessary and unnecessary4 ,but for any writer who has not made very decided progress toward mastering his art a fairly safe rule is to simplify his plot as much as possible4 ,perhaps that plot might be made more effective if developed in greater intricacy by skilled hands1 but his hands are probably not sufficiently skilful and the net result of his attempt is likely to be a reader worn out by too many loosely knit threads of plot4 ,as he grows in skill he will find that more and more intricate plots become--for him--simple plots and therefore to be undertaken with confidence4 #id ,,chapter ,,viii ,,convincingness ,among writers of some experience the rejection of a manuscript for the quite common reason that it is not convincing is often considered merely the editor's slipshod1 evasive or ignorant excuse given in place of some mysterious real reason or through lack of any definite one4 ,sometimes it is1 but1 when honestly and intelligently given1 it is the best possible reason for rejection4 ,unconvincingness means definitely and directly that a story fails to impose its illusion--that it is merely words for the reader to look at1 not a world for him to live in4 ,it is the death-knell to the illusion4 ,an editor's failure to give the reasons why it is not convincing may be due to his not having analyzed beyond the general effect1 but it may be simply because unconvincingness is not easy to reduce to black and white and at best involves far more detail than his #ie time permits him to handle4 ,it is as various and elusive as human nature itself1 but the more common causes can be fairly well indicated4 ,improbabilities and ,impossibilities4--,contradictions and inconsistencies have already been considered in ,chapter ,,vi and are to be included under this head4 ,improbability and impossibility are of course relative terms2 a wishing-ring1 while an utter impossibility in reality1 is not even an improbability in a story of fairies2 if the reader accepts the major illusion of fairy-land there will be no difficulty to his accepting the minor illusion of a wishing-ring4 ,but in a story of anything approaching real life absolute conformity to the laws and facts of real life is relentlessly exacted1 and in stories dependent upon the acceptance of some fundamental premise1 like the reality of fairy-land or the possibility of being transferred into the year #bjbb1 there must be equally relentless conformity to the condition of the premise4 ,i venture that not twenty per cent4 of accepted manuscripts are entirely free from slips of this kind when submitted4 ,acceptance has been in spite of them1 each of them #if lessened the chances of acceptance1 and sufficient increase in their number would have meant rejection by any good magazine4 ,there is1 of course1 the type of story that depends upon sheer quantity and tenseness of action to carry the reader along1 despite all inconsistencies and improbabilities--the dime novel type1 but all the strain of a bridge should not be upon a single girder4 ,improbabilities of ,plot4--,too infinite in variety for any attempt at classification4 ,the test in each case must reduce first to1 ,could it happen under the conditions8 ,and the writer--with help from his friends if they can be induced to help in this more practical fashion--must be the judge4 ,then he must narrow his question to1 ,is it so likely to happen that the reader will accept it without hesitation8 ,here is the real test and most writers fail to meet it largely because they have not1 under the present system of teaching fiction1 been trained to measure a story strictly through the reader's eyes4 ,many a time every editor has been caught by an author who wrote back gleefully or vindictively but it actually happened in real life6 ,doubtless1 but that doesn't mean anything4 #ig ,it may have happened a thousand times in real life1 but if readers can not believe it when they find it in a story it is none the less an improbability in that story1 a blow to convincingness1 a check to the reader1 an injury to the illusion4 ,i have struggled so often1 and so often vainly1 to make writers realize this distinction that ,i come to it now girded for the fray4 ,can't they see that a fact can not be a fact to a reader if he refuses to consider it a fact8 ,are they so hopelessly egotistic in their outlook on life that1 because an improbable or unusual thing has occurred in their personal experience1 it has thereby demonstrated its possibility to every one else8 ,are they so sickeningly conceited as to be sure that their presentation of the fact is as convincing to others as was the fact itself to them8 ,are they so imbecile as not to see that proving it to an editor after the reading of the story does not in any way prove it to the next or any reader while he is reading it8 ,that1 if it were published1 they would never have the chance to prove it afterward in the case of readers as they had had in the case of the editor8 ,that readers1 ninety-nine times out #ih of a hundred1 would not even bother to challenge the author on the point but would merely class him as punk and his story as bunk and go on to the next in the thousands of stories they read8 ,ah1 no1 it really happened somewhere6 ,that ought to be enough for anybody1 even if he doesn't know it happened and is convinced that it couldn't and knows mighty well that it is contrary to his own experience6 ,a leprechawn or a magic carpet can be made entirely convincing as part of the story's illusion by sufficient skill and in the proper setting1 while the wonderful drive you and a half-dozen other witnesses saw ,john ,r4 ,smith make1 on your club links a week ago ,wednesday can1 if put into a story1 seem nothing whatever but a crude lie4 ,verily1 truth is stranger than fiction--particularly good fiction4 ,good fiction makes a business of being a little less strange than truth sometimes is1 so that it can be believed4 ,as a matter of fact1 a really happened incident is likely to need twice the amount of framing up that an imaginary but more usual one would require4 ,the true addict to this stupid and stubborn #ii point of view scorns the simple device1 used by his betters1 of presenting the unusual as an unusual thing4 ,no1 it must be accepted as normal2 it happened1 you've got to believe it4 ,it doesn't occur to him that it was unusual to him1 that he seized upon it as material for that very reason1 that it would be equally unusual to the characters in his story and that1 really to duplicate or simulate life1 he must make his characters register the same surprise and interest that he himself felt as a result of its unusualness4 ,you can make a reader accept something as a remarkable occurrence which he would utterly reject as a normal happening4 ,for example1 take the common case of the very feminine heroine who goes through the author's best hell of horror1 desperation1 bodily strain and general nerve-shock and1 when rescued at its very climax1 at once blandly regains almost entire poise and enunciates a very charming love-passage or goes cheerfully and competently about her other business4 ,most of us know that it is characteristic of the female sex to rise to an emergency strain and collapse or violently react the instant the demand is removed if not #ajj before4 ,consequently said heroine fails to convince4 ,the author's logical correction is to make this heroine conform to general experience1 but1 if he simply can not or will not change this part of his plot1 why not give what convincingness he may by making her show at least some effects of the strain1 or making clear that reaction had not yet come1 or at least some such crude but comparatively desirable device as strangely enough8 ,improbabilities of ,character4--,like human nature1 too various for specific classification4 ,most writers are capable of at least some understanding of human nature and a weakness along these lines can be partly corrected by a combination of earnest study and sincere care4 ,failure to draw character convincingly is an absolute limit to success except in the lowest grades of fiction and in such uncommon types of story as are in no way dependent for interest upon fidelity to human nature4 ,the wire-nerved heroine cited above is an example4 ,any expression1 thought1 emotion or act assigned to a character to whom1 as drawn1 it would not be natural helps destroy #aja the reality of that character--the word grievously or interrelation in the mouth of an ignorant1 illiterate character2 a thought of the ,virgin ,mary in the mind of a ,protestant during a crisis2 a feeling of pity1 not specified as unusual1 in a pitiless person2 fumbling in an emergency by a man drawn as cool1 clear-headed and ready4 ,lack of ,characterization4--,unless a character is given at least a semblance of individualization he will be unlike any human in real life or else will be like some human viewed from a distant mountain-top or air-ship1 in either case unconvincing as a close up4 ,yet in the vast majority of submitted manuscripts characters are proper names and nothing more4 ,this will be taken up in the chapter on ,characterization4 ,clanking ,plots4--,the framework shows through1 you can hear the machinery go round1 artificial--such plots are like the doggerel whose author does violence to both content and expression in order to get at the ends of lines words that approximate a rhyme4 ,lack of plot is almost a synonym4 ,instead of building a plot that is the natural result of character1 conditions or conflicting #ajb forces1 the author draws at will upon the universe at large for whatever elements will lend what he considers strength and effectiveness4 ,since the law of cause and effect holds in real life1 such a plot is unconvincing4 ,in reading even published stories haven't you often found something said or done that was obviously put into the story1 not for its intrinsic or relative value1 but solely for the plot-purpose of making other things connect and keep moving8 ,and what is the effect upon your belief in the story1 upon your illusion8 ,hack ,plots4--,i've forgotten who first said that there are only seven--or is it nine or five8--plots in the world1 but1 whoever he was1 he's done a good deal of damage4 ,with that hopeless dictum looming before their eyes it is not to be wondered at that many writers strive half-heartedly or not at all for originality of plot4 ,add this to the majority's lack of invention1 our ingrained habit of copying and a tendency to take rather than make and you can see why an editor can reject at a glance a large proportion of submitted stories4 ,like any other reader1 he has very thoroughly learned some scores of #ajc plots or plot variations and doesn't need to read them any more4 ,usually the author who turns in a hack plot is the author who has little to offer except plot4 ,and quite often he answers a rejection for hack plot by quoting there are only five plots in the world anyway4 ,if that is so1 five is enough to enable better writers to write better stories4 ,the patent objection to hack plots is that they have outworn1 with all but the newest and most elemental readers1 the power to hold in illusion1 therefore demanding an extra amount of excellence in other factors4 ,there is also the objection that this very repetition of a formula identified with fiction1 particularly poor fiction1 gives them at once the flavor of fiction instead of real life1 and successful illusion is thus made extremely difficult4 ,as a lonely little plea in behalf of wearied editors1 couldn't you arrange1 when you wish to shoot or stab a character without removing him entirely1 to wound him somewhere else than in the shoulder8 ,the bullet that proved merely to have glanced off the skull is also rather overworked4 ,and must you turn for help to overheard conversations8 #ajd ,coincidence4--,coincidence is such a favorite device for attaining a hack plot1 a clanking plot and improbability in general that it calls for a separate and emphatic warning4 ,a reader's credence for coincidences is strictly limited1 especially if they are presented as matters of course4 ,hack ,style4--,objectionable for the same reason as hack plot4 ,the inevitable connotation of hack words and phrases is of the writing game1 of the printed page1 of stories sold for money1 not of real life--too magaziney to be successful in holding illusions in which magazines can have practically no place4 ,each hack phrase1 moreover1 is a lost opportunity for a right phrase that would have added to effectiveness4 ,also1 readers are just plain tired of them4 ,frames or ,brackets and ,first-,person ,narratives4--,guard against letting the frame-story character who tells the real story talk so long1 fluently and perfectly that readers will note the impossibility of his performing such a feat in real life4 ,first-person narratives1 not in a frame1 generally avoid this impossibility by having the narrative written instead of spoken2 otherwise they run the #aje same danger4 ,most of all1 don't let the narrator abandon his own speech for that of the author himself4 ,he generally does4 ,dialect1 ,slang1 ,foreign ,words4--,all these1 rightly used1 tend toward convincingness of color and character1 but their effectiveness is often measured by suggestion rather than quantity4 ,broad ,scotch dialect at full strength will give a very ,scotch atmosphere1 for example1 but many readers will refuse to enter that atmosphere or will become lost in it if they do enter4 ,often idiom is a more effective device than dialect4 ,ignorance of ,material3 ,mistakes4--,there is1 heaven knows1 just ground for the belief that writers are given to writing of things with which they are not sufficiently familiar4 ,instead of using the material they know best1 as a class they are too prone to select the material they'd like to know about but don't4 ,also to feign a scholarliness they don't possess or to attempt a style they have not mastered4 ,lack or loss of faith in the author is as great a catastrophe as lack or loss of belief in the story4 ,irritation against him is still more fatal4 ,if you have any doubt1 an #ajf editor's mail would dispel it4 ,nothing brings so many or such bitter protests from readers as a mistake in handling local color4 ,mark that well1 you who take a chance because you think you can--and often do--get away with it4 ,not only do you underestimate the irritation1 sometimes amounting to a virulence that remembers you and follows you with hostility through your other stories1 but your ignorance of setting1 local color1 material blinds you to the infinite possibility for unconscious mistakes that are instantly detected by those who know and make you ridiculous in their eyes4 ,your dialect1 slang and foreign quotations gain you no color if you make mistakes in them4 ,classical1 historical and fictional references1 or big words in ,english1 if incorrectly used1 give you no reputation for scholarliness4 ,having your villain run lightly away with more dollars in gold or dust than he could lift from the ground or using an automatic revolver does not impress readers with your knowledge of what you write about4 ,giving ,brazilians ,spanish as their native tongue produces very unlocal color4 ,a negro strain in a pure-blooded ,creole shows no knowledge of types4 #ajg ,add to these the mistakes considered in the chapter on ,distractions1 add all the other mistakes of which the uninformed human brain is capable1 and then take up your heavy burden of becoming thoroughly familiar with the material you use in stories4 ,a month or two in a locality will not give to any save a ,kipling sufficient familiarity for safety4 ,most writers think it will4 ,and1 whatever you do1 don't fool with fire-arms or with anything pertaining to ships until you have become a real authority6 ,i speak from bitter experience2 editor1 as well as writer1 becomes the target for almost venomous ire4 ,and no detail is too tiny for detection and wrath4 ,the picture of a grizzly bear on a magazine cover brought a vicious indictment because1 while a grizzly has six toes1 not five1 he does not show the sixth toe especially when in the position depicted4 ,the convincingness of a story as a whole1 then1 is dependent upon many detailed factors and there is some excuse for the editor who does not give the analyzed reasons for his verdict of unconvincing4 ,such a weakness is due1 on one hand1 to #ajh ignorance1 deliberate indifference or almost criminal carelessness or1 on the other hand1 to failure to visualize clearly from the point of view of the reader4 ,the most practical remedy1 for both classes of causes1 is1 aside from the writer's own efforts1 a fundamental change in teaching methods1 putting far more emphasis upon training writers to habitual and very anxious consideration of the reader's actual reactions to every least stimulus in a story4 #aji ,,chapter ,,ix ,,holding ,,the ,,reader ,while most points that bear here fall more directly under other headings1 some definitely belong in this chapter4 ,and1 though ,i know of no recipe for being interesting1 there are certain things that may be of help to that effort4 ,being ,dramatic4--,all stories1 to be interesting1 ,i think1 must be dramatic1 in the broader sense of the word1 both in style and in selection and recombination of material4 ,the very demand for unity and structure is a demand for the dramatic1 the dramatic quality being largely a matter of position and contrast1 and a baldly unemotional or matter-of-fact style can be strongly dramatic through its contrast with the emotional material handled4 ,however1 lest ,i be confounded by the philosophers1 ,i'll discard ,being ,dramatic and attempt instead1 suggestions #aaj as to being interesting1 not with any idea of covering the subjects completely but rather1 7as in much of this book71 calling attention to points on which writers prove themselves particularly weak in actual practise and which seem to call for more attention in teaching methods4 ,suspense4--,the chief warning needed is not to spoil it after you've secured it4 ,over and over again a writer ruins his reader's suspense by betraying the plot in advance and making a surprise impossible4 ,sometimes it is inadvertent1 but often it is deliberately done by at least a general statement or hint of outcome prefaced with some such phrase as little did ,i know then that1 could he have known1 in the light of what followed there was no need for my next step1 etc41 or even more baldly betraying1 say1 the outcome of an entire book whose interest is at least partly based on whether hero wins heroine1 by such as ,now1 with ,nita and our children sitting by me as ,i write1 my doubts seem foolish ones4 ,to me one of the most amazing faults in the entire repertoire is the flat betrayal of plot by the chapter headings4 ,why do it8 ,is #aaa it merely a slip due to concentration on the really nerve-racking task of choosing an interesting and pertinent title for the chapter8 ,or is the habit of not measuring by the reader's reactions so strong that in so prominent and spectacular a place a writer does not even note that he has advertised in advance to readers the very thing he should be trying to keep as a surprise8 ,surprises4--,be sure they are legitimate4 ,it is one thing to shape a story so that the reader will expect other than what is to happen1 but quite another for you to tell him definitely that he is to expect the other4 ,yet some writers do this4 ,mystery4--,naturally1 play upon human curiosity and the human hunting-instinct whenever opportunity offers1 but1 as in the case of surprises1 be sure your mystery structure and detail play fair with the reader4 ,here1 too1 you may give him false scents to follow1 for he accepts them as part of the game1 but1 to change the figure1 be sure that the ladder by which the goal is finally reached has no rungs missing4 ,and in heaven's name don't fog your story with the needless mysteries of careless unclearness and #aab confusion when nothing but irritation is to be gained by it4 ,overstrain4--,already covered4 ,but some of its points demand extra attention for the sake of dramatic effect4 ,light and ,shade4--,their proper use is essential to mastery of dramatic effect4 ,just as a square of black on a white sheet stands out far blacker and stronger than on a black one1 just so does a strong scene stand out stronger if preceded and perhaps followed by a quiet scene than if merely one in a succession of strong scenes4 ,such a succession1 properly handled for cumulative effect and steady rise to a climax1 may as a whole be stronger than an alternation of strong and quiet1 but such a succession is itself a unit and as such subject to the general law4 ,there is always the danger of overstrain in its use4 ,the above applies1 of course1 to the elements within a scene1 in the make-up of a character1 or in anything else4 ,for example1 the traits of a character all good or all bad are not so vivid as those of a character partly good and partly bad--nor is the character so natural4 ,the element of unexpectedness in the sense #aac of particularly sudden surprise is extremely effective by reason of the sharp contrast involved4 ,repression4--,often more effective than expression of emotion1 for the fundamental reason1 particularly in the case of emotion felt by a character1 that1 however strong the emotion1 repression means the addition of something sufficiently stronger to master it and of a struggle for the mastery1 even though neither is definitely described in the story4 ,there is contrast between emotion and will1 between the expression to be expected and the absence of it1 perhaps between one character's repression and another's lack of it4 ,in the case of repression by the author in the general handling of a scene an advantage lies in his giving to each reader opportunity to fill out the emotion in whatever way is most satisfying and natural to each from the mere skilful stimulus furnished by the author4 ,if this advantage seems slight1 consider the drawings for an illustrated story4 ,in how many cases does the artist's conception of characters1 scene and expression coincide with that of a reader8 ,supposing it were possible for the artist to furnish only such #aad suggestions as would enable each reader to fill out a picture in accordance with his own conception1 would not each reader find it more satisfying8 ,incidentally1 would it be a higher form of art8 ,also there is enough of the ,anglo-,saxon in our national character to implant in perhaps most of us an impulse to run away from too free expression of emotion4 ,a reader's impulse to run away from a story does not add to its effectiveness4 ,certainly repression of emotion in the sense of condensing the number of words used in expression could be practised to great advantage by the majority of writers4 ,but1 first1 last and always1 remember that repressing emotion should seldom mean annihilating4 ,perhaps the correct idea is shown by contrasting a spiral spring compressed to its least space and greatest potential force with the same spring spent from being sprung1 or with the absence of a spring4 ,omitting ,scenes4--,a story is at bottom a selection of certain bits of material from an almost infinite number of bits or1 put the other way1 the rejection of all material except the salient bits4 ,dramatic effect is often #aae increased by keying the process of selection and abstraction to a more rigid scale1 even rejecting comparatively salient bits4 ,for example1 a whole scene1 though fitting into the story's development1 may lend greater effectiveness to the whole by being inferred instead of enacted on stage4 ,condensation4--,it is safe to say that many writers could make most of their stories not only more dramatic but more effective in general by greater condensation4 ,those of you1 especially1 who aim for popularity rather than the judgment of posterity should remember that we live in an age of motion-pictures1 that one of their chief characteristics is speed1 and that our youth are growing up with that speed more or less fixed in their minds as a standard for all narrative or expository art4 ,what will they1 consequently1 demand of fiction8 ,are they becoming impatient of what we have considered the normal speed of fiction narrative8 ,just as they1 and perhaps we older ones1 are already inclined to impatience over ,cooper1 ,scott and ,dickens1 perhaps because steam and electricity have keyed us to a faster gait4 ,do you not find boys who will throb over a movie of ,the #aaf ,last of the ,mohicans or ,the ,three ,musketeers1 but who can not be induced to wade through these stories in book form as you and ,i so gladly waded8 ,is it merely that youth welcomes the quicker path and that these same youths will in more mature years turn to the more leisurely presentation8 ,even so1 a slower speed may be losing them as audience while they are ripening sufficiently to prefer it4 ,on the other hand1 do motion-pictures overfeed us with speed so that we turn with relief to the more leisurely methods of fiction8 ,i venture no final conclusion1 but certainly the narrative art as a whole moves faster than it did twenty or even ten years ago4 ,here is opportunity for some college classes in fiction or psychology to contribute exceptionally valuable data through laboratory or field experiments covering at least a part of the ground4 ,meanwhile there is no doubt that1 by either old or new standard1 most writers would profit by more condensation4 ,there is no surer way of boring a reader than by talking too much1 and even honey or strong drink can #aag be diluted until it has neither strength nor flavor4 ,and remember1 class-rooms1 in judging this point from published stories1 that the editor has frequently done the writer's condensing for him because of the story's need or the limitations of space4 ,short vs4 ,long ,words and ,sentences4--,remember that in tense moments or under extreme emotion most men resort to short1 simple1 ,anglo-,saxon words and brief sentences4 ,remember that therefore short words and sentences are likely to be in themselves more tense and dramatic and1 though not so generally1 more emotional4 ,remember1 too1 the need of avoiding monotony from any word- or sentence-length4 ,handling1 ,setting1 ,color and ,character4--,holding the reader is essentially a matter of not being dull and there is no sovereign cure for dullness1 but the following device will go a long way toward avoiding it4 ,instead of giving the reader setting and local color in discouragingly large pieces1 weave them into the action4 ,an old device1 to be sure1 but one much too little used4 ,instead of describing a vast plain1 let a #aah character ride over it1 speak of it or think of it1 thus at the same time developing scenery1 character and action for the reader4 ,if you wish to picture the plain's vegetation1 incorporate some of it as even a very minor plot-factor--have the rider pluck some of it1 have his horse's progress impeded by it1 hide another character behind it4 ,there are a thousand ways of thus accomplishing more than one thing at once4 ,but remember1 too1 that a reader must be given his general bearings as soon as he enters a story4 ,hack ,work4--,anything in your story1 except material itself1 that has been used until threadbare by countless writers before you is hack stuff and has small chance of holding your reader1 for the perfectly simply reason that he's tired of it before he reads it4 ,whether a matter of plot or diction and no matter how good it was in the beginning1 it is a handicap that only a master can turn into an asset4 ,avoid1 however1 the opposite extreme of being different to such an extent or so clumsily that your effort is obvious4 ,i know of no recipe for avoiding hack stuff--no more than for avoiding lack of individuality and other little matters of that kind1 but #aai surely a writer of even moderate discernment can detect and correct this fault in some degree by taking pains to note and avoid the elements that recur most frequently in poor or mediocre fiction4 ,unfortunately most writers begin by copying 7unconscious copying1 while more ethical1 is harder to correct than is deliberate copying7 and your natural copier is not likely to be overly intelligent in choice of models4 ,titles and ,chapter ,headings4--,this subject is too large for discussion here1 since it involves the psychology of both fiction and advertising1 but three rules can be given3 7#a7 ,aim at the very heart of the subject-matter for your general title idea2 7#b7 don't let them betray too much in advance1 but make them lure2 7#c7 select chapter heads with almost as much care as titles1 for they are of great psychological importance4 #abj ,,chapter ,x ,,pleasing ,,the ,,reader ,divide all readers into majority and minority4 ,it is legitimate and profitable to aim at either4 ,now make your big decision1 and it is a very big one4 ,at which of these will you aim8 ,if the majority1 study and analyze their tastes and reactions4 ,if the minority1 study and analyze the majority first2 then study the minority4 ,their tastes are not necessarily opposite1 but they are necessarily different1 also various2 the minority are a unit only in being different from the majority4 ,but you can reach them fairly well merely by giving them the opposite of what the majority like4 ,your problem is whether you can get a better slice of attention from the majority of readers in competition with the majority of writers or from the minority of readers in competition with a minority of writers4 ,majority vs4 ,minority4--,your own peculiar #aba gifts and inclinations in writing should be the deciding factor1 but you can make no intelligent decision until you really have some understanding of the two groups between which you must decide4 ,if you write for money only1 study them till you have your human-nature formulas at your finger-ends and almost automatically apply them to every idea1 expression or bit of material that comes up for consideration4 ,if you write for art only1 study them just the same 7you'll be getting the best material in the world71 but instead of turning the results into formulas turn them into your understanding4 ,if you write according to the method--commonly called inspiration and attributed to what we1 sometimes hastily1 term genius--of merely exploding yourself into the world at large without deigning to look at said world1 continue to explode as usual1 but when your creation is all created go over it with pencil1 blue-pencil and waste-basket in the light of knowledge and understanding of whichever audience you prefer as target1 and make very1 very sure that what you inspired into your story is going to reach that audience just as you intended it should and is going to please #abb and interest them as much as you fondly imagined4 ,for1 you see1 you are almost certainly not a genius4 ,a genius makes his own rules and they are better for his case than are any rules other people can make for him4 ,if any genius is by strange chance reading this book ,i hope he will stop and read no other in place of it4 ,he will almost surely do far better without4 ,god knows the world is too full of rules for writing fiction and of people who allow the rules to ride them out of all ability to use the rules4 ,the proper function of rules is that of mere guides and suggestions to be weighed1 analyzed1 and then either discarded or so thoroughly absorbed that their application during the act of creating is automatic and subconscious and their use as tests after creating is no more than the author's own spontaneously critical view of what he has written4 ,nothing in this book is intended to hang like a ,do it now motto on the author's wall2 its one intention is to give him a fresh point of view and the kind of foundation that will enable him to make his own rules out of his own understanding4 ,in this book we are concerned primarily #abc with the majority of readers and1 unless otherwise specified1 have in mind his likings and reactions4 ,choice of ,material and ,theme4--,the majority of readers would probably value their lives above any other selfish consideration--life in the sense of existence but also in the sense of health and vigor4 ,next1 such things as love1 success1 wealth1 happiness1 uplift1 knowledge1 beauty and contest1 not necessarily in the order named4 ,these1 or combinations of these1 such as success in a contest for life or love or wealth1 offer a safe beginning in selecting material or a theme for fiction4 ,these are the fundamental things vital to human beings4 ,the further you get from them1 the more must you approach appeal to a minority4 7,the majority1 of course1 does not always consist of the same individuals1 but merely of most individuals1 and shifts in membership more or less with each shift of point at issue47 ,happiness4--,human beings would on the whole rather be happy than unhappy4 ,therefore happy themes and pleasant material are surest for pleasing the majority4 ,generally speaking1 people read fiction for entertainment #abd and prefer feeling happier rather than unhappier when they lay down a story4 ,sympathy1 morbidness and a desire to play with the fire of fear1 horror and suffering give rise to contrary tastes in fiction1 the drama and other forms of art1 but the general1 fundamental desire is for happiness4 ,what is happiness8 ,i attempt no definition4 ,one man knows probably as well as any other4 ,all of us can watch other human beings and have a very fair idea of what makes most of them happy4 ,generalizations on human nature are unsafe but1 to take an extreme case1 a story of cripples1 deformities and disease1 unless this material is very strongly counteracted with success1 love1 sympathy1 etc41 would please none but abnormal readers4 ,deformities and disease offend the inherent love of life1 health and beauty4 ,again1 the majority prefer non-tragic stories1 preferring to think of life rather than death1 of success rather than unsuccess4 ,let me make it emphatically plain that ,i am attempting no such foolish thing as a catalogue of material for fiction4 ,my one purpose is to lead the writer into doing what he so #abe often fails to do--consider his material very carefully from the point of view of the probable reactions of human beings instead of choosing it according to ,god knows what silly rules for writing fiction or merely repeating the material and themes he has seen that other writers use4 ,a few stray points may be of some service3 ,the beginners and the very young are as a class the writers most given to tragedy and morbidness4 ,as they develop they generally change to more cheerful material4 ,the percentage of tragic and morbid stories would dwindle rapidly if it were not for the empty writer's desire to do something strong and his inability to get strength in any other way4 ,the horror story has its legitimate place1 as has any story dealing with human emotions1 which are the very heart-food of fiction and of unfailing interest to the human readers4 ,suffering1 unsuccess1 death1 all the unpleasant things you please1 are good fiction material4 ,but1 if ,i may make the distinction1 they are good1 not because they hurt1 but because1 like happier things1 they appeal to the readers' human sympathy and understanding4 #abf ,since ,i shall not give it space anywhere else1 the question of realism versus idealism may be dragged in here from the point of view of the readers' liking4 ,when ,i first came to ,new ,york1 in youthful throes over this and similar momentous questions1 ,i had the good fortune of a letter to ,william ,dean ,howells and1 trembling at this ,god-given opportunity1 broached my chief problem4 ,mr4 ,howells was incapable of anything but gentleness1 and the process of his gentleness in my case was so kindly that its words are no longer clear in my memory1 but the gist of his reply is very clear indeed4 ,he told me to go ride on a ,fifth ,avenue bus and write down whatever caught the attention of a young man fresh to ,new ,york4 ,i pass on to others that very excellent advice4 ,go ride on a bus or sit still somewhere and write about whatever catches your attention4 ,the question of whether the result is realism or idealism is one you can afford to forget1 for the main point is that you should follow your own particular gift for seeing life4 ,the only attention you need give the result is consideration of its appeal to people in general1 changing or not changing the result according to the #abg relative value you assign to popularity and art1 remembering that the two need not be mutually exclusive goals and that either realism or idealism finds response in a sufficient number of readers4 ,the ,philosophy of ,fiction4--,doubtless there are a hundred explanations of the fundamental appeal of fiction to human beings4 ,that given by ,george ,henry ,lewes seems particularly illuminating and practically helpful4 ,it is1 in substance1 as ,i recollect it3 ,fiction appeals to man because it enables him to attain vicariously1 through the characters in the story world1 the perfection and success he can not attain in real life1 and to live for a while in a world of his own choosing instead of in the real world that has been thrust upon him4 ,the first part of this definition does not seem to apply to realistic and analytical fiction1 though the second part does1 nor does any of the definition seem to take sufficient account of the reader's enjoyment of the exercise of his sympathies or the broadening of his understanding and knowledge or of his sheer joy in artistic excellence4 ,this #abh apparent failure to cover the ground1 however1 is not so real as it seems4 ,joy over artistic excellence is essentially a critic's feeling1 not a reader's--the joy of a technician1 not of a recipient1 of a cook1 not of a diner4 ,and if you will apply my distinction between fiction and the various things for which fiction is a mere vehicle1 the contributions to understanding and knowledge are not a part of fiction itself and therefore need not be covered by the definition4 ,the exercise of the reader's sympathies may also be accounted for by strict application of this distinction2 or the vicarious perfection and success of the definition may be broadened to a comparison of the reader's own life with lives of the story people1 better here1 worse there1 either stimulating variety and satisfaction or affording the vicarious improvement of condition4 ,but1 whether or not you consider the definition all inclusive1 there is in it a fundamental idea whose practical application would go far toward winning for most writers a far stronger and deeper hold on readers4 ,sophomoric critics and writers may be inclined to sweep it off the boards1 since it both deals with fundamentals and undermines some habitual #abi angles of criticism1 but most submitted manuscripts and perhaps most published fiction would be much stronger if the writers thereof had made intelligent application of an intelligent understanding of this principle4 ,perfection and success have in them the element of completeness1 and completeness is a fundamental desire of the human being1 partly because of the pleasant restfulness of its attainment4 ,i do not say that every story should reek with success and perfection1 but ,i do say that before you even partly eliminate these factors you should have an intelligent understanding of what you are doing and should sacrifice them only for such other factors or elements as you are sure will more than compensate in the particular case4 ,also ,i say1 without hesitation or qualification1 that1 in the type of story containing little or no fundamental appeal other than a march of events and the success of a more or less perfect hero or heroine 7the type that includes the large majority of submitted manuscripts7 the application of this principle means an incalculable increase in effectiveness4 ,in other words1 if the presentation of #acj success and perfection constitutes a fundamental appeal to readers1 see to it that you give these things in rich measure unless you compensate fully for their absence or partial absence4 ,note that these elements are given lavishly in the dime-novel type of story4 ,this is probably the lowest type of all 7not because of the superabundance of action1 but because of unnaturalness and all-round poor workmanship71 yet its audience is huge and its hold on them tremendous4 ,and if you think this audience is limited to the unsophisticated and the very young1 you are vastly mistaken2 that hold is too fundamental for a majority of even our cultured classes to escape from if it is given fair opportunity4 ,to advance exciting and abundant action as the sole cause for this hold1 as is commonly done1 does not sufficiently account for it4 ,the proof is that practically none of these stories is willing to trust to action alone for popularity4 ,they almost always include another factor4 ,and that factor is the double one of the success and perfection of the hero4 ,the authors of such stories may include this factor only because they have seen others do so and may #aca not analyze beyond people like it1 but in that analysis they are thinking straighter and truer than are most of the learned and scholarly exponents and critics of the writing art who lose themselves1 their goal and their followers in a maze of artificial regulations and meaningless formalities4 ,reality4--,to preserve balance1 let us leap to the opposite point of view and review in our minds what was said in the chapter on convincingness4 ,for the reader's pleasure in vicarious success and perfection to have soundness and stability1 or for any other fiction purpose ,i can conceive1 the story world must be a reproduction of our real world or of a modified real world consistent within itself4 ,part of a reader's fiction enjoyment lies in his familiarity with things presented1 in finding things in their proper place1 in the vanity of ,i know that already4 ,that a hero should attain remarkably complete success is acceptable to our reason because such success is frequently attained in real life4 ,but a hero made remarkably perfect in all respects is likely to be too much for our common sense and to break the story's hold on us4 ,there ain't no such animile2 we know it1 and1 #acb however much the joys of vicarious perfection may lure us along through the story1 the illusion is seriously weakened4 ,the obvious remedy is a balanced middle course4 ,giving ,characters ,strong ,appeal4--,in following this middle course the need in fiction to-day1 aside from the dime-novel type1 is more emphasis on the perfection element1 not less4 7,incidentally1 it would help characterize a hero1 and an appalling percentage of submitted manuscripts lack even that amount of characterization47 ,give your hero or heroine sufficient faults and weak points to make him as human and fallible as you please1 but give him also the strong elemental appeal of being close to the limit of human perfection in one or two traits of character1 or physical or mental characteristics1 or along one or possibly two lines of ability4 ,unless1 of course1 you are fully prepared to counteract the loss of this valuable asset with other elements4 ,a sadly large proportion of would-be writers are not thus prepared1 and many a story by a skilled author could have been improved by an understanding use of this element4 #acc ,the same principles apply in less degree to minor characters4 ,villains1 of course1 aim at perfection in evil and their success generally must cease at whatever point will render the hero's success most effective1 but in their case the conflict between naturalness and success-perfection is often easily avoided by the simple and effective device of giving your villain a quite human allowance of commendable or pleasing perfections1 leaving the net villain-product as evil as you please--the engaging villain1 the fascinating rascal1 the merely human trouble-maker4 ,the usual fundamental compensation for a story's lack of perfection and success appeal is the appeal to the reader's sympathy with elements similar to those in himself or his life1 including the appeal to his sympathy for those suffering or enjoying as he has done4 ,personally ,i'm rather inclined to believe the substitute not quite so effective1 the other appeal seeming the more elemental and therefore the stronger of the two4 ,lewes' definition can be made sufficiently inclusive if we say that fiction's hold is due to its enabling the human being to live life vicariously1 at his own pleasure1 on his own initiative #acd and always as the ultimate controller of destiny1 since he can at any moment toss the story aside1 wiping out the entire story world4 ,but if this is so1 isn't it safe to say that the normal human being on the whole prefers pleasure to pain and finds more pleasure in success and perfection than in failure and imperfection8 ,psychologists can justly retort with1 ,but what are pleasure and pain8 ,the common-sense answer to that is that the psychologists can't agree among themselves upon a definition1 that fiction is not written for psychologists but for people in general1 and that most of us have a sufficiently definite idea of what pleases people in general and what is disagreeable to them4 ,when you come to the chapter on ,character consider in connection with some of the points suggested there the points here suggested as to perfection of hero4 ,both there and here it might pay to run over in your mind the story characters that have best stood the test of ages1 from ,achilles1 ,ulysses and the faithful ,achates up to modern times4 ,best of all1 forget you are a writer and as a reader shake yourself free for a few moments from all book learning and culture1 all #ace preconceived ideas1 all opinions of all critics and very particularly free from self-deception4 ,reduce yourself thus to a plain1 common or garden human being1 open to any natural impulses or likings and honestly willing to recognize and confess them4 ,then pick out the heroes or heroines you most enjoy1 that have the strongest hold on your liking1 being careful not to test by the literary criteria that have been imposed on you4 ,if you do this honestly and keenly you may not wholly agree with my point of view1 but ,i'll venture you'll consider your time well spent and that your allegiance to various learned dicta may be somewhat shaken4 ,particularly if you habitually identify yourself with the heroes as you read1 don't you find yourself reveling in a hero's superior wit1 grace1 comeliness1 strength or skill8 ,isn't this proud joy in him something deeper and more abiding than tests imposed by sophistication8 ,be honest4 ,to get at the whole matter from a different angle1 don't human beings like to idealize8 ,one other point4 ,when the world was young the individual rose or fell1 lived or died1 in accordance with the degree of his #acf physical strength1 skill1 courage and beauty4 ,mental and moral values were later factors4 ,the physical is the most elemental1 the most deeply rooted1 in the race4 ,also1 so long as we have wars and policemen1 it remains the strongest1 the court of last appeal4 ,a thousand years from now it may have sunk into comparative oblivion1 but even then the racial instinct of respect and admiration for it will persist4 ,if you doubt its greater hold on human beings at large1 forget books and study people--not just one class or type but people in general4 ,no1 ,i am not a materialist2 the moral or mental can overcome the physical1 but it is the physical that is there first1 that is the more elemental in matters of liking and disliking1 the strongest in natural impulse4 ,and what ,i am trying to drive home is the need of greater consideration of the elemental likes and dislikes of readers1 for they are being forgotten under the more vocal and visible likes and dislikes imposed by a civilization and culture often artificial and therefore weaker4 ,why not1 then1 whenever you can do so without sacrifice of values more important to the particular case 7as you generally can71 #acg see to it that your hero makes this fundamental appeal in some way8 ,on the other hand1 remember the facts of life4 ,listen to the following from ,william ,ashley ,anderson1 a writer who1 though an ,american1 fought through the ,british ,east ,african campaign and has spent a good many of his years in meeting life in the raw at far corners of the world as well as life in its softer centers3 ,villains who always look like monsters strike me as burlesque4 ,villainous-looking men are frequently good-hearted and heroic4 ,good-looking men may be fiends4 ,character is really indicated more by expression than features--and a clever villain can control his expression4 ,primitive types1 of course1 betray themselves most easily4 ,the expression of the most cruel men is usually dull1 stupid1 hungry--or with a look of wildness or concentration in the eyes4 ,a good man1 drunk1 may become an arch-villain4 ,his looks then might be the looks of an arch-villain2 sober1 he might have the appearance of an angel4 ',lucifer was the most beautiful of all the angels'6 ,by the same token the employment of handsome1 powerful heroes is often exasperating4 ,on the average1 handsome men are less likely to be brave than homely men--because of the very fact that they are handsome2 and a man with pretty features seldom has a strong character 7since the character is #ach often spoiled by too much praise in youth1 or too much flattery from women after reaching adolescence74 ,you remember ,csar's encounter with ,pompey1 when the former instructed his hard-bitten veterans to strike at the faces of the handsome soldiers of ,pompey4 ,it is a fact that a man conscious of a handsome set of teeth recoils more at the thought of losing several of them from a blow than he does at the idea of broken limbs4 ,poor ,heroes1 ,heroines and ,villains4--,by all means do not idealize into such perfection and success that your characters are unhuman and unconvincing1 but1 ,i implore you1 in making them human do not add any recruits to the great army of main characters who are unintentionally presented as imbecile4 ,sometimes carelessness is responsible for this stupidity1 but generally the cause is the writer's surrender to the difficulties of plot--it is so easy to keep the plot machinery clanking along by having the hero become a temporary idiot4 ,misunderstanding may be the basis of tragedy and drama1 but a man can misunderstand without qualifying for an asylum for the feeble-minded4 ,please also lend your efforts to the needed work of abolishing the heroine1 supposed to #aci be all that is most worth striving for1 who is really empty of everything except vanity1 false pride1 cruelty and sublime selfishness--who1 at her worst1 offers her hand to the winner of a contest or the performer of some feat4 ,i wish some one would organize a writers' league whose members were pledged either not to let their heroes leap into the arena at her bidding or to have them1 after recovering her glove1 throw it in her face4 ,but ,i fear she will continue to hold sway undetected1 as she does in real life4 ,perhaps the heroes are as bad1 but ,i am a man myself4 ,moral ,values4--,nearly all people are moral to the extent of preferring good to bad when they have nothing at stake1 as1 for example1 when reacting to merely imaginary people in a story4 ,they side with the hero against the villain4 ,readers with a discriminating sense of moral values are likely to be alienated by a character1 supposed to be good1 who is made to act contrary to good morals or ethics by the apparently unconscious author4 ,readers without this discriminating sense are a moral responsibility laid upon the author2 he is culpable if he still further befogs their #adj discrimination between right and wrong by winning their approval of a character and then letting that character seduce them unawares into bad ethics4 ,fiction is more than a reflection of the times2 it is a builder of its contemporaneous thought and morality4 ,if ,i were asked to name the five greatest influences upon the character of a people ,i should most emphatically include fiction and it would be nearer first than last among the five4 ,watch its effect upon your child4 ,if you are of analytical turn1 seek far back in memory for the origin of your own ethical standards and ideals1 or for the influences that strengthened or weakened them4 ,watch the mass of people respond to the standards held up by fiction--and by the drama1 motion-pictures and other forms of art4 ,do not swallow the excuse that they only give what the people demand2 those of you on the inside will know better4 ,i know the defenses offered for the picaresque story4 ,i am familiar with the plea of art for art's sake4 ,it seems to me mere idle talk4 ,art is for life1 not life for art1 and if art1 however justified by its own laws1 #ada pollutes the soul of a people1 then the cause of that pollution should be wiped out4 ,realism and the spread of knowledge can justify a picture of life as it is1 though too often the author's real interest is not in the reality of what he presents but in its ugliness4 ,an author is justified in using fiction as an instrument against what he sincerely believes mistaken morality1 though his own morality is impeached if he ventures his dissent without most anxious consideration of the seriousness of what he is doing4 ,but there is no excuse whatever for presenting ugliness as beauty1 crime dressed in honor1 vice as admirable1 crookedness as amusing1 rottenness as normal1 evil as good4 ,he who makes a criminal a hero is playing with hell-fire1 if ,i may use so old-fashioned a metaphor4 ,he who writes a story of crime triumphant is a debaucher of public morals4 ,he who presents1 however bedecked and disguised1 a parasite1 a fop1 a hypocrite1 a brute1 a crook1 as admirable is a dry-rot in the heart of the people4 ,he who fills his stories with sex1 not for the purposes of honest realism but for the sake of sex-exciting more nickels from human beings1 is far lower and less courageous than the pimp4 #adb ,i can not ask you to accept my point of view in these matters1 yet1 because of the broadcast1 invidious evil involved and because the morality of fiction seems a thing seldom touched upon by text-books1 ,i do ask that you weigh your responsibilities4 ,a surprising number of offenses are purely inadvertent and are eagerly corrected by the authors when pointed out1 for most writers are not evil in intent4 ,these slips1 at least1 can be more guarded against1 for they are due more to lack of careful weighing than to lack of a moral sense4 ,one common and easily detected lapse is the use of the principle that the end justifies the means--the philanthropic criminal1 for example1 by emulating whom any one can justify almost anything he wishes to do4 ,from the purely practical point of view these things are for the most part irritations to the discriminating4 ,often with the undiscriminating they add nothing to the story's effectiveness1 though operating in real life after the story itself is forgotten4 ,as to the popular and financial success of polluting fiction you will notice that the public is sufficiently sound usually to react eventually1 #adc especially if given half a chance1 against the very thing it has embraced4 ,needless ,offenses4--,write it down in red ink that any slur upon any religion that creeps into your story will cause everything else to be forgotten by some of your readers in their indignation over that affront4 ,and make up your mind that anything offering even the most remote possibility of being twisted into a slur will assuredly be so twisted4 ,protestants1 ,catholics1 ,jews1 ,scientists1 all have representatives with chips balanced on the edge of their shoulders4 ,generally the slur is taken as a deliberate insult on the part of both author and editor1 often as sure evidence of a systematic campaign of propaganda4 ,if the hero happens to be a minister1 priest1 rabbi or reader1 other sects accuse you of propaganda in favor of the particular religion involved4 ,if the villain happens to be one of these1 then it is followers of the religion involved who complain4 ,more1 the villain need be only a follower of some religion to convict you of felonious assault upon that religion itself4 ,fortunately1 villains generally have no religion to speak of1 but sometimes it is essential #add to the story's best interests to include them at least formally in some particular fold4 ,when it is1 do so1 taking care to avoid any faint suggestion of connection between their villainy and their faith4 ,the type of mind that considers the villainy of a single fictional character an attack on a religion as a whole can be given consideration only within the bounds of reason4 ,readers are sensitive1 too1 on the subject of race4 ,we have a saying in the office that the only safe villain is an atheist ,american4 ,since #aiag atheist ,germans can be used2 in fact1 they are being used until the monotony of it is wearing4 ,a ,swede as villain is taken by some as sure sign of malignant persecution of the ,swedes1 an ,english hero proves anti-,irish propaganda1 of late even ,mexicans and ,spaniards begin to protest against a fellow countryman's being used as villain1 thus robbing authors of a time-honored resource4 ,even local pride rallies to the attack if fiction happens to paint its locality in unpleasing colors4 ,write your story according to its just demands1 but avoid needlessly trampling upon the toes of any of your readers4 ,sore toes #ade are not conducive to the imposition of successful illusions4 ,positive vs4 ,negative ,plots4--,lack of consideration of this fundamental question leads many writers into losing1 unconsciously and often needlessly1 one strong1 elemental hold upon the sympathies of their readers4 ,human beings like a hero better than a villain4 ,they enjoy success more than failure1 construction better than destruction4 ,consequently they derive more pleasure from following to success the fortunes of a hero1 with whom they sympathize or identify themselves1 than from following to failure the fortunes of a villain1 who stands always for the opposition4 ,both appeals are strong1 but the point is that the first is essentially the stronger4 ,analyze a little further the reader's reactions to a negative plot4 ,the villain is the central character1 the course of whose fortunes forms the thread of the story4 ,the reader1 of course1 knows this from the start4 ,he knows1 too1 from experience with fiction1 that this villain is almost surely doomed to failure and possibly death and that the interest of the story lies in watching him be #adf hunted down1 defeat his own ends or get caught in a net4 ,a strong interest1 assuredly1 but inherently second in strength and lure to that of a positive plot4 ,in the first place1 the reader knows that he is going to a funeral1 real or metaphorical4 ,some people like that above all other things1 but most do not4 ,vengeance is strong in appeal1 but at best vengeance is only an attempted and inadequate compensation for loss of success or perfection4 ,second1 the reader can give only divided interest and allegiance4 ,he generally prefers that right should triumph1 so he arrays his sympathies against the villain1 but fiction experience has firmly fixed in him the habit of arraying himself with the central character1 in this case the villain4 ,the usual result is that his interest has to straddle--divide2 he is at war with himself throughout the story4 ,if the villain succeeds1 the reader's moral sense is hurt4 ,if the villain fails1 the reader's primal sympathy with the central character of a narrative is hurt4 ,he can't have an unrestrained good time no matter what happens4 ,and his fundamental purpose in reading fiction is to have a good time4 #adg ,fiction with only positive plots would be monotonous and the negative plot gives a needed relief1 but when you turn to it remember you are under the handicap of a weakened hold upon your readers4 ,restraint at the ,wrong ,time4--,have you ever considered how often the reader is robbed of his vicarious enjoyment by being hurried on when he'd really like to stop and revel or gloat8 ,for example1 take the villain4 ,after a career of hellish atrocities and maddening injuries to others1 often causing years of suffering1 he is paid back during the few seconds required to make a quick neat bullet-hole through his forehead or to plunge him over a cliff4 ,i confess myself un-,christian enough to long for a more proportionate punishment4 ,so do all other readers ,i have questioned4 ,take the lost-treasure story for another bald1 extreme example4 ,after pursuing the treasure through a whole story of obstacles and strain you finally get it4 ,the author tells you you have it and promptly drops the curtain4 ,you don't get a chance to run the doubloons through your fingers1 to finger the jewels1 to sit on the bar silver1 to review #adh happily all the pleasant things you can do with it4 ,yet if you really found a treasure1 in those first moments of final attainment all the long struggle for it might become as nothing and1 in looking back1 these might be the moments most vivid and colorful4 ,generally when story people find the treasure they don't seem to care a hang4 ,in real life there would be drunkenness or delirium of joy4 ,edwin ,lefvre first called my attention to this cruelty by authors1 vowing to write a treasure story in which the reader would have a real chance to gloat4 ,if he does so1 ,i've an idea most of us will get particular enjoyment therefrom4 ,and the love-story4 ,the monotony of what is technically and vulgarly known as the clinch at the end is sound reason for not always carrying the reader quite that far along the path of true love1 and yet1 in spite of all our sophistication1 don't most of us down in our hearts enjoy that satisfying culmination of the events we've been following with so much interest8 ,wasn't it what we wished to happen8 ,why1 then1 should we enjoy leaving before it does happen1 carrying with us only a hint or an inference that #adi it would happen at all8 ,to be sure1 we can imagine the scene to suit each his own particular fancy instead of having to accept the author's1 and1 however individual the story may have been1 the clinch is comparatively a standardized performance with fewer enticements of novelty1 and yet--most human beings are human beings4 ,the above are crude illustrations1 but they illustrate an important principle in the business of pleasing a reader4 ,the usual failure to take advantage of the opportunity is only another one of the thousand losses of advantage resulting from not training writers to habitual weighing of the reader's reactions1 particularly his elemental reactions4 ,proportionate space and emphasis in a story must be determined primarily by relation to plot1 but the object of plot is interest and if you can1 without much or any loss in general proportion1 give the reader somewhat more play at this or that point for the natural reactions he wishes to exercise1 why not pleasure him instead of suppressing him8 ,it is not a question of pleasant versus unpleasant reactions1 but of whatever the reader happens to feel4 ,it may be horror or #aej some other unhappy emotion for which he desires more time and space4 ,the important thing is to give him what he desires4 ,talking ,down to the ,reader4--,naturally no reader likes it and illusion suffers in consequence4 ,don't be a schoolmaster or an encyclopedia to him4 ,if it's necessary to give him information1 weave it gently and unobtrusively into the story4 ,don't tell him things he is almost sure to know already4 ,treat him as an equal2 don't speak down to him from a superior height4 ,it seems bad taste1 as well as a loss in effectiveness1 to ask a reader's interest in your characters and then sneer at them yourself4 ,if you are asking him to join you in the sneering1 he may prefer a more kindly and courteous attitude and be irritated at you and your invitation4 ,general ,irritations and a ,general ,recipe4--,most of the points covered in the last five chapters have general application to the reader's likes and dislikes4 ,note this3 ,on most points bearing on the writing of fiction1 a well-thought-out violation of the general rule or custom can often increase effectiveness4 ,old methods and formulas1 #aea however sound as a general rule1 lose in effect through endless repetition4 ,they have become usual1 have worn down their original hold1 the reader knows what to expect4 ,give him something different and he is grateful4 ,merely to be on the lookout for such opportunities is good for you in that it keeps you from falling into the hopeless rut of routine and slavery to rules4 ,first-,person ,narratives4--,do readers prefer them8 ,i think nobody knows--nor will know until somebody takes a national census on the point4 ,why not decide the question solely according to the demands of the particular story and your own bent of ability1 since readers are divided on the point8 ,some are irritated by too much ,i and by a point of view limited strictly to one angle2 others like the unity and sharp definiteness of such a point of view and freedom from the author's ,god-like ability to know so much of what goes on in the minds of all the characters4 ,fooling the ,reader4--,making a fool of a person is not likely to win his sympathy4 ,there is a world of difference between legitimate surprise and deliberately making a #aeb reader create and live in an illusion and then showing him he's a fool for having trusted you to guide him aright4 ,the story that1 at the very end1 proves to have been all a dream 7which the author led the reader into believing a reality7 is an example of this kind of vaudeville horseplay4 ,two ,setting ,appeals4--,some readers get the greater enjoyment from settings and material with which they are familiar1 others from those as far removed as possible from their daily life4 ,in the first case the appeal is probably that of realism mixed with the joys of self-conceit and pride of knowledge1 in the second1 probably of novelty and of the freedom from the imagination-fettering1 homely1 routine details that is so characteristic of most classic and some modern tragedy4 ,here again there is no comprehensive laboratory knowledge1 and the reader's reaction should not be made the deciding factor when there is any doubt as to the author's comparative ability or the demands of the particular story itself4 ,in the case of the costume or doublet and hose story1 as in some other kinds of unfamiliar setting1 there is also the appeal of pageantry4 #aec ,temporary factors play their part in influencing readers' reactions4 ,when the tide of war fiction began to ebb there was a noticeable reader reaction toward anything that would take one's thoughts away from the ,great ,war4 ,the magazines suddenly shut their doors against stories of the war1 but the mere absence of these was not enough3 there arose a noticeable demand for fiction that would carry one clear out of these modern times into past eras of greater simplicity and less wholesale horror4 ,war itself was not tabooed1 but it must be war of the old-fashioned kind4 #aed ,,chapter ,,xi ,,plot ,,and ,,structure ,throughout all nature1 throughout the universe so far as we know it1 there is a basic tendency toward unity and growth4 ,the tendency is of course present in the human mind4 ,that is why the human mind demands plot and structure in fiction4 ,in nature's higher manifestations of plant and animal the demand for unity progresses into a demand for organic structure1 an assemblage of parts whose respective offices and limitations are determined by their relation to the whole and which therefore1 in addition to their intrinsic value1 assume a relative value that outranks the intrinsic4 ,add to the tendencies of unity and growth a tendency toward limit of growth1 or perfection4 ,fiction plot is the result of these three universal demands1 and bearing them in mind is a sound foundation from which to consider all problems in connection with plot4 #aee ,a similar process of reasoning from elemental beginnings would1 if relentlessly applied to the laws1 traditions and superstitions of art1 do more than anything else to free it from chaff1 artificialities and misconceptions that have attached themselves to it4 ,there is even advantage in considering examples from nature for the sake of clearer understanding of the nature and requirements of plot4 ,you already know what plot is1 but see whether comparison with the following will not crystallize your concept of it to a degree that will make you largely independent of rules and regulations3 ,a river-system1 a river and its network of tributaries1 is like a plot4 ,a unity with growth in a single general direction with its mouth as climax or limit of growth2 many elements combining smoothly and perfectly into one4 ,the tap-root and subsidiary roots of many plants furnish a similar illustration4 ,a tree's framework is an inverted example4 ,a rope of vines or1 more clearly1 a man-made piece of rope in the process of making with the loose strands gathered at one end into a closely knit main line4 #aef ,a snow-slide forced by the terrain to converge all its material into a narrow gap at the foot of the slope4 ,it would be1 ,i think1 a pity if all trees and all river-systems were made in strict accordance with one pattern1 as the rules so largely demand of plot-building4 ,yet either tree or river-system would be no longer such--and a sad spectacle indeed--if it were cut into bits1 were large where it should be small or were otherwise changed from its essential nature4 ,structure4--,it has been said that the short story is far more exacting than the novel in demand for strict unification and rigid enforcement of relative values4 ,that is true in practise and ,i am not sure that it isn't true in theory4 ,perhaps the novel escapes through mere laziness or inability of writer and reader to create and receive so large a unit perfectly constructed in all its many details4 ,perhaps1 on the other hand1 the novel is a more natural expression by the writer and a more natural and desired form for the reader4 ,perhaps1 if we draw the distinction between novel and romance1 only the latter should be held to the strict requirements of short-story structure4 #aeg ,to take the form of strictest requirements1 ,i have found only one rule that seems in practise to produce satisfactory results3 ,the short story has one main point and only one4 ,it may be the climax of a course of events1 an aspect of life1 a psychological impasse1 what you will4 ,but there must be only one of it4 ,every other element in the story1 every scrap of material1 every bit of color1 every human trait1 everything in the story1 must be subsidiary to the main point4 ,no elements are even admitted to the story unless they serve in developing the main point4 ,when admitted they get space and emphasis only in proportion to that service4 ,no one of them is valuable in itself2 their values are wholly relative1 not intrinsic4 7,of course1 there is no reason for not abandoning this principle on occasion if you are sure you can better satisfy your readers by so doing47 ,violations of ,unity4--,compelling your reader to follow alternately two sets of characters in two sets of scenes is dangerous1 since it violates unity unless the reader is kept keenly conscious of their inevitable convergence upon one point4 ,hopping back and forth in the time of the action is in most #aeh cases fatal to unity4 ,shifting the point of view is objected to on grounds of violated unity--telling your story first from the angle from which events are seen by one character1 then from the angle of another character or from that of the author4 ,do not leave loose strands dangling along your rope1 like a minor character who vanishes without needed explanation1 or a line of endeavor suddenly abandoned without a word4 ,too many characters are not only an obstacle to clearness but greatly increase the difficulty of unification4 ,do not attempt to include too much material1 color1 life-history or anything else4 ,if your story refuses to unify satisfactorily it may be because you are using more elements than you are able to handle4 ,even if you can handle all you have1 be sure that the expanse of your canvass is not greater than the reader can look at conveniently and without missing some of it4 ,in a general way it is well to tuck it in at the edges1 so to speak1 and enclose it in a fairly definite picture-frame4 ,holding ,reader to ,correct ,plot ,line4--,it is #aei not sufficient to select and assemble the proper elements according to their relative values4 ,the assignment of proper relative space and emphasis must be managed with such nicety that the reader can not mistake their common direction4 ,he may be kept from knowledge of the goal1 but he must know and feel that everything in the story1 carrying him along with it1 is sweeping along in one single general direction4 ,if he is on a tributary flowing southwest he must know that it is a tributary1 not the main stream1 that it flows southwest and that the main stream1 while it may flow southwest1 south or south-east1 will hardly flow north4 ,a reader tends to anticipate1 to cast ahead4 ,make sure that1 while you hold from him sufficient to make any desired surprise effective1 he does not waste his attention-strength by casting ahead over false trails leading away from your general direction4 ,in other words1 keep him in hand from start to finish1 being sure his feet follow your path in your direction4 ,to instill a sense of plot1 one must either go into endless rules1 exceptions1 diagrams and analyses or else present only the fundamentals #afj and commoner guide-posts1 leaving the writer to develop his own ability4 ,there has been too much of the former method and ,i shall not attempt to add further initiative-killing rules1 particularly as ,i believe that the majority of fiction rules can often be violated with good results4 ,non-,conformist ,plot and ,structure4--,no rule for fiction has a sound basis unless it is grounded on some such elemental in human nature as an instinctive desire for growth1 unity1 completeness1 a rounded-out whole1 symmetry1 rhythm1 contrast1 and so forth4 ,but even an elemental desire can be led to the point of temporary satiety1 even contrast itself4 ,monotony is undoubtedly monotonous4 ,consider the reader4 ,fed year after year with the results of the same rules1 with the same literary devices1 the same general plots and endings1 the same signs along the way1 isn't his appetite for standard food sure to be dulled at intervals8 ,he is far wiser and more sophisticated in fiction than you probably think2 if he goes right on eating standard food it is often because he finds a scarcity of other kinds4 ,why not study the condition of #afa his appetite1 estimating from how much of certain kinds of food he has had to eat and for how long1 and then make a business of feeding him a new kind until he tires of it in turn8 ,a most unliterary suggestion8 ,perhaps1 but ,i should not wholly relish the task of proving it such4 ,there are1 at least1 certain fashions in fiction and even in literature that change and change back with the years4 ,the costume story reigns1 sinks into oblivion1 reigns again4 ,the author chats himself into his stories1 keeps out of them1 enters once more to chat again4 ,romance and realism alternate in favor4 ,the critics permit it1 though sneering perhaps at each change1 just as they are inclined to sneer at both change and permanence themselves4 ,why not other changes8 ,for example1 more changes from the rules of plot8 ,many fairly radical changes1 indeed1 could be made without violation of the really fundamental rules4 ,here is the story of an interesting laboratory experiment on the reactions of readers4 ,during the war our managing editor was stationed in one of the largest officers' #afb training camps4 ,he made a business of watching the reactions of his comrades to magazine fiction and of course to our own magazine in particular4 ,it happened that an author asked me to decide a question for him4 ,he was writing a novelette around an historical character and found himself on the horns of a dilemma4 ,either he must do extreme violence to the facts of that famous person's life1 particularly as to sequence of events1 or else abandon any attempt at a real fiction plot4 ,i suggested that he abandon the attempt at plot and structure and make the story practically a mere running narrative4 ,in the training camp the results of that experiment were startling and very suggestive4 ,among all the stories in books and magazines that structureless novelette reported by far the most comment and praise4 ,the most valuable point was that the readers were sufficiently analytical to know1 and state1 exactly why they liked it3 ,different from other stories4 ,couldn't tell what was going to happen4 ,couldn't predict the end after reading a third of the way4 ,like real life4 ,many of them had read numerous other stories by the same author1 ,hugh ,pendexter1 #afc dealing with similar material and times1 but all these stories had conformed to the laws of plot and structure4 ,practically none of the readers was sufficiently familiar with the historical character's life to know the material in advance4 ,another laboratory experiment4 ,one day in the office some one suggested we hadn't had a desert island story for a long while and ought to get one4 ,all agreed1 but of course with no enthusiasm2 all of us could tell that story in its essentials before it was even written4 ,then some one wished they'd write desert island stories that were different4 ,all seven of us fell to outlining the kind we'd like personally4 ,all seven agreed4 ,all wanted the usual props left out and all wanted the castaways to have a real and a realistic struggle for existence--no self-sacrificing fish1 as one put it4 ,there were to be no practical specialists like engineers1 sailors1 carpenters and botanists in the party4 ,just every-day people like ourselves4 ,then we figured that1 if this was the kind of story all of us craved1 there were probably many readers1 just as sophisticated or fed up as we1 who also would welcome this #afd departure4 ,we presented the problem to ,j4 ,allan ,dunn1 asking whether he cared to write a desert island novelette without any of the usual material therefor1 no savages1 volcanoes1 women1 cocoanuts1 socialism1 rival party1 tropical vegetation1 fierce beasts1 animals waiting for domestication1 no specialists in the party1 no supplies to draw from1 nothing1 not even a pen-knife or watch-crystal4 ,each of us wrote out a list of the things he knew or could do that might be useful in the circumstances--unspecialized and1 mostly1 meager lists4 ,he accepted1 after justified hesitation4 ,we modified our terms to permit him wild dogs and wild boars for excitement1 meat and leather1 but it was understood that action1 interest and whatever plot proved possible were to be drawn from the barehanded struggle with nature for existence4 ,the conditions and circumstances were given to our readers along with the published story4 ,it won a stronger response from them than had any other story we'd published for several years4 ,this from the audience of a magazine devoted primarily to action stories of which the usual desert island story is a #afe fairly representative type1 though it must be admitted that this audience has been recruited from among those who prefer more nourishing meat along with the action1 insist upon a sound basis of fact or probability and are too sophisticated not to have tired of the usual hack melodrama4 ,these two experiments are at least suggestive4 ,you can doubtless recall from your own experience stories that registered strongly on you because of variance from the usual types4 ,generally1 if the story succeeds1 the variance is attributed to genius or unusual gifts2 as a matter of fact it is in most cases due either to accident or to a mere common-sense study of readers and what can be expected to have dulled their appetites4 ,ending a ,story4--,variance from type in the ending is of particular value4 ,it must1 of course1 be an ending logically belonging to the story1 but surprise1 or at least change1 is entirely possible4 ,yet is there any escape from the happy ever after ending of a love-story8 ,i suppose and hope so1 but have my doubts except as to the rarest instances4 ,a love-story without at least the suggestion of marriage or its #aff substitute as ending seems considered almost as desolate as a love-story without either love or story4 ,renunciation is a reversal of happy ever after rather than a variation1 and not generally popular4 ,death is very grudgingly accepted as a substitute4 ,i've made earnest effort to secure variants--parties decide to be friends instead1 one party proves to love a third party or grows weary of the second1 parties quarrel and omit making up1 death of either or of all hands1 anything for a change4 ,no results except a death-rate well under one per cent4 ,perhaps it is because writers believe editors will not accept variants from the happy ever after4 ,i suspect their belief is well founded1 but ,i wonder whether in this case the editorial attitude is not solidly based on a downright insistence from human-being readers4 ,unhappy endings8 ,the minority like them1 the majority do not4 ,i can venture nothing more except that the size of the minority increases if the line is drawn not between unhappy and happy but between endings that leave the reader depressed and those that leave him uplifted4 ,through the #afg latter1 with their appeal of pathos or high tragedy1 there is decided opportunity for comparative variation from the usual4 ,at the end of a story ,i think most readers rather resent loose strands of plot left untied1 like minor characters of whose future no glimpse is afforded or some minor enterprise that has run through the plot only to have its fate a mystery at the end4 ,skill1 particularly in unifying severely to the central point1 can make the reader forget the disappearance of minor strands at the very end1 but it is well to remember that most readers have a healthy sense of legitimate curiosity4 ,beginning a ,story4--,at the first word of your story the reader knows nothing concerning it except what title1 illustrations and contents-page may have told him4 ,generally he doesn't know whether it is laid in ,africa1 ,alaska or ,new ,york ,city1 or whether it is of to-day1 #ahij or #agjj4 ,the more quickly you tell him1 the more quickly can you draw him into your illusion4 ,if you wait1 you almost certainly confuse and irritate him4 ,story after story comes in to editors that leaves the reader groping and unable to settle down until long after it is under way2 often #afh he doesn't learn where he is until he has wandered through several pages4 ,even a paragraph is too long a wait--and waste4 ,you need not make a business of placarding date and place1 but there are a myriad ways of introducing him quickly to both4 ,failure to do this is so common and so extremely injurious to the story's effectiveness that it affords a most striking example of the disastrous effects of giving more attention to rules than to common sense and of not drilling into the very bones of writers the necessity of watching and measuring their stories constantly from the point of view of readers4 ,another common and bad mistake is to present any but a main character first1 preferably the main character4 ,indeed1 in the short story perfect unification almost demands that he be first on the stage4 ,but there is a common-sense reason aside from that of unity and centralization4 ,long experience with fiction has taught readers that the first character to appear is nearly always the main character1 therefore whatever character gets the initial spot-light is promptly seized upon by them as the main one4 ,if he isn't1 they have to let go of the story illusion they are already building and start #afi building a new one around a new center and feel rather foolish or cheated and irritated4 ,as in the case of not setting time and scene1 the writer has failed to hold them to the correct plot line--even to start them on it4 ,of what avail is knowledge of technique1 or the present method of teaching technique1 if it fails to impress such horse-sense points as these8 ,sufficient skill can introduce the central character when and how it pleases1 but most writers lack it4 ,in the case of the drama there is no harm in minor characters appearing first4 ,stage custom has established this1 not the other1 as the custom4 ,also1 the stage1 being better able to study its patrons at first-hand1 has realized the catastrophe of letting them stray from the correct plot line and guards against it by giving out programs in advance as keys to caste 7with characters listed in order of appearance71 scene1 time and sometimes even more2 the rise of the curtain instantly gives the audience its bearings in a general way1 and star1 scene1 time and even plot are frequently known before entering the theater4 ,writers of fiction could profit tremendously by careful study of the necessarily practical technique--or common sense--of the theater4 #agj ,,chapter ,,xii ,,character ,for broadest popularity possibly the prime single requisite in fiction is action plot1 but1 if so1 character drawing is at least a close second4 ,human nature's interest in human nature is undying and intense4 ,by the tests of the somewhat indefinite thing we call literature1 character probably ranks first4 ,action1 on the other hand1 seems the more primitive and the more fundamental2 early man undoubtedly acted first and thought later2 when he learned to analyze his fellows it was for purposes of action4 ,an ,experiment4--,it is interesting to look back over the centuries and consider the stories that have had sufficient hold to endure4 ,which do you remember first and the most distinctly1 ,sherlock ,holmes1 ,mulvaney1 ,richard ,feveril1 ,amyas ,leigh1 ,john ,silver1 ,becky ,sharpe1 ,old #aga ,scrooge1 ,quasimodo1 ,don ,quixote1 ,falstaff1 ,hamlet1 ,lady ,macbeth1 ,faust1 etc41 or the plots and action in which they were concerned8 ,arthur1 ,tristan1 ,roland1 ,siegfried1 ,finn ,mc,cool1 etc41 or their adventures8 ,aeneas1 ,hector1 ,ulysses1 etc41 or what they did8 ,i have made no laboratory tests on other people1 so can risk no conclusions from this test beyond venturing that1 as the race grew older and its literature developed1 character interest tended to take first place over the more primitive action appeal4 ,make your own tests1 allowing for the differences between stories of the last few centuries and those of long ago4 ,after trying out yourself1 try out as many other people as you can4 ,if you do1 you'll get valuable knowledge--and understanding--not likely to be found in books4 ,you'll get not only some useful fundamental ideas on the values and relative values of plot and character1 but possibly1 by contrast with others1 a sound idea as to whether your real bent is for plot or for character1 and1 best of all1 you will have done something toward forming or strengthening #agb the laboratory habit of examining facts instead of swallowing at theories1 and the habit of thinking for yourself instead of using the weakening crutch of accepting other people's theories that they in turn probably accepted from other people ad infinitum4 ,in any case character drawing--human nature--is one of the two most important elements in fiction4 ,yet the lack of it marks the majority of submitted manuscripts4 ,in many of these cases it is an utter1 total1 complete1 absolute lack1 unless you count the crude class distinction between hero and villain4 ,characters are merely proper names1 lucky if there is even an individualized or slightly individualized physical body to cling to1 and twice lucky if said body has clothes or habits of its own4 ,you can lift them out of one story and substitute them in another with no damage to them or to either story and with decided profit in the case of the first4 ,it is pitiful--and maddening4 ,the tragedy of it is that it can easily be remedied by any writer of average human intelligence4 ,all he needs for comparatively decent characterization is a certain very simple recipe4 #agc ,a ,recipe4--,i don't know whose recipe it is1 having heard it years ago and forgotten his name1 though ,i think its accredited father dates back a century or so1 but he should be crowned in honor and the use of his recipe made compulsory by law4 ,apparently not one writer in ten thousand ever even heard of it4 ,you can dig out that recipe for yourself by the laboratory method advocated above1 if you will trace ,english literature back toward its beginnings4 ,and if ,i give you a broad hint by suggesting a bit of thoughtful1 practical consideration of the morality plays1 you should have no trouble at all4 ,there it is1 simple1 elemental1 effective--assign to each person in your story one single trait of character and make him show it by actions1 words1 thoughts4 ,carry it into as much detail as possible4 ,if ,i remember aright1 the recipe's reputed father took as example a character whose one trait was cruelty and said that if he were made to walk in a garden he must be made to knock off the heads of flowers with his cane as he passed4 ,that's as far as the recipe goes1 so far as #agd ,i remember1 but try a second elementary step--show the reaction of this single predominant trait upon the other persons in the story1 in what they say to him1 do to him1 think of him1 always1 of course1 in the light of their own single traits4 ,third step3 ,assign one or more persons a second trait1 a minor trait1 and proceed as before4 ,try it1 if you are not beyond the need of fundamental suggestions as to characterization4 ,you will not only reap a rich harvest of concrete results but will also be getting a most excellent training4 ,only a few days ago ,i was told of a case in which it has had a thorough test4 ,i've never read anything by the author in question1 but know that he turns out a consistent and steady flow of books whose sales are enormous though treated with condescension by critics of literature4 ,the report is that in the actual writing of his stories he does not even give names to his characters but uses the name of the predominant traits he assigns to them--,cruelty1 ,honesty1 ,vanity1 and so on4 ,when the story is finished he1 or perhaps his secretary1 goes through the #age manuscript1 strikes out these names of traits and gives each character whatever name meets general requirements4 ,voil6 ,personally1 ,i'd give a good deal to know what would happen to his sales if he abandoned this method and the kind of characterization it produces--to know1 rather1 whether he would ever have had enormous sales if he had not used this recipe4 ,just using the morality plays--and ,pilgrim's ,progress--as a sound foundation4 ,maybe it's funny1 but maybe you could profit by it yourself4 ,heaven knows that plenty of writers could6 ,tags4--,if ,i could1 ,i'd hang over almost every writer's desk a large card bearing in very black letters these words3 ,remember that yours is not the only story in the world and that it has to compete for the reader's attention with countless other stories4 ,your interest in it is particularized and personal2 his is not4 ,also1 you already know everything in the story2 he does not4 ,you may have failed to put on paper part of what you know2 in that case he will never know it4 ,remember that your reader has met many #agf people in real life1 forgotten all about most of them1 including their names1 and that in the great number of stories he has read he has met a far greater number of fictitious people who1 along with their names1 fail in even greater proportion than have the real people to register upon his attention1 interest and memory4 ,you are merely adding a few more to his hundreds of thousands4 ,the competition is heavy4 ,you can make no headway against it if your story-persons are only names1 almost none if they are only mildly individualized and characterized1 little enough even1 if they are drawn fairly strongly4 ,remember1 too1 that when you introduce him to more than two or three new people they have to compete1 also1 among themselves--that he is likely to have difficulty even in straightening them out in his mind and connecting the right name with each character4 ,if you wish your people to get and hold his attention and to have any place in his memory1 you must strive with all your might to mark each character1 to individualize each character1 by every means within your reach4 ,if you have not a natural gift #agg for character drawing1 use elementary methods4 ,the particular elementary1 and very effective1 method ,i have in mind is to hang on to each character one or more of what in the writing of plays are called1 ,i believe1 tags4 ,it can be called1 if you like1 advertising your characters4 ,most of them need it4 ,or might be likened to the use of motifs in opera4 ,or you might find in it even an approximation to the conditions of real life4 ,put a strongly individualized label on each of your characters and make the readers keep looking at it4 ,this character continually introduces his speeches with ,well now2 that one is always nervously hitching up his trousers at the knees2 ,john ,jones is so interested in golf that he is perpetually dragging it into conversation2 ,myrtle is always tittering2 ,brown is conspicuously careful of his personal appearance1 while his brother ,george wears anything that comes handy and ,sister ,isabel has almost a monomania for red2 ,judson habitually looks into the eyes of people with an intent gaze that is hard to meet2 ,henry in appearance and manner suggests a sheep2 the peculiar blackness of #agh ,maude's eyes is her most marked and impressive feature4 ,never let a character remain long on the stage without presenting his tag4 ,it individualizes more strongly than a name4 ,it is a most useful guide-post to the reader4 ,it strongly reinforces character-drawing and may even serve as a cheap substitute1 a substitute at any price being preferable to nothing4 ,also1 it becomes an asset in itself1 an element of appeal that runs the range from farce to tragedy and you can mix or alternate these or other appeals with strong results4 ,its effect is cumulative4 ,there is for its intrinsic value a sound grounding in fundamental human nature--a reader's unconscious pride and vanity in detecting it as characteristic1 in being able to forecast its coming1 his interest and consequent like or dislike for tags in real life1 his comfort in having mental tasks made easy4 ,of course1 if you've drawn real character for the persons in your story1 make their tags consistent with character--or1 rarely1 in deliberate and evident contrast4 ,equally1 of course1 a tag1 like any other good thing1 must be handled with judgment and not allowed to run riot4 #agi ,results from ,tags and ,high-,point ,characterization4--,study the following fiction characters that have made a big and lasting hit1 so much so that they have been carried through a series of books3 ,sherlock ,holmes1 ,captain ,kettle1 ,don ,q41 ,brigadier ,gerard1 ,tartarin1 ,d',artagnan1 ,athos1 ,porthos1 ,aramis1 ,mulvaney1 ,ortheris1 ,learoyd1 ,allen ,quatermain1 ,wallingford2 consider also some characters of ,dickens4 ,some of these are well-drawn and well rounded out1 but others reduce to the bare bones of the one-trait recipe and the use of tags1 really very elementary creations4 ,yet all are made vivid and individualized by means of tags and strongly emphasized traits of character4 ,while the tags1 for the most part1 are handled with at least a fair degree of skill1 the characterization in some cases1 though of course not limited to a single trait1 is incomplete1 very elementary and not very well done4 ,yet all have gained a strong popular success1 not just from the stories in which they appear1 but as characters4 ,it is clear from the above that while the one-trait recipe and the use of tags do not necessarily spell literature they are by no #ahj means incompatible with it4 ,they are merely first steps toward really good character depiction4 ,their importance in any teaching of fiction is due chiefly to the lamentable fact that most writers do not take or even see them4 ,even advanced writers can often profit from consideration of their values4 ,for example1 in a certain successful series of novelettes and novels told in the first person but centering on another character1 the narrator was almost entirely lacking in tags and salient character traits and didn't even have a name1 or a past1 or a body1 or1 often1 clothes until well along in the series4 ,he was consistently drawn1 so far as he went1 but almost colorless and with little grip on interest and memory1 though having a prominent place in the plot and not thus subordinated for the sake of relative values and unity around the central character4 ,the central character was strongly drawn1 tags and all1 and the series as a whole had so many other merits that the colorlessness of the fictitious narrator could not wreck it1 but its improvement was very marked when he was developed and brought to his proper place in the lime-light by the tags and salient traits needed in addition to the general filling in4 #aha ,characterization in ,general4--,i attempt no covering of the subject1 desiring only to bring out the points that the general in-flow of manuscripts shows are1 in practise1 most in need of attention4 ,there are already hosts of books giving detailed instructions1 theories1 examples1 analyses and exercises4 ,some of them are useful and valuable in many cases4 ,in general they seem to me likely to be dangerous1 unless the student uses exceptional care1 in that they are likely to encourage a tendency toward mechanics instead of art1 artificiality instead of naturalness1 strain and limitation instead of freedom1 and copying instead of art4 ,i am aware that tags and the one-trait recipe seem open to the same charge1 but their saving clause is that they can teach the writer how to develop himself rather than how to turn out finished work by rule4 ,also the present need of them in practise is appalling1 and perhaps that need would not be so great if writers had been trained by more naturalistic methods4 ,the only sound and comprehensive rule for characterization is3 ,study people1 first as subjects1 second as recipients of the knowledge you have gained4 #ahb ,,chapter ,,xiii ,,individuality ,,vs4 ,,technique ,year after year editors sit at their desks and almost at a single glance reject anywhere from sixty to ninety per cent4 of the manuscripts that come in1 and1 on the whole1 they make few mistakes in so doing4 ,some of these summarily rejected ones are so illiterate that most freshmen in college would unhesitatingly turn them down1 but on the majority is the damning and almost unmistakable brand of no individuality--merely another manuscript plodding blindly along in the machine-like effort to turn out by machine-like methods another one like those they've read1 another stilted1 unnatural attempt at producing a life-like copy of a model denaturalized1 by them or their teachers1 into a mechanical and artificial collection of rags1 bones and hanks of hair that has never known the breath of life4 #ahc ,lack of ,individuality4--,how can the editor tell at a glance8 ,how in heaven's name can he help telling8 ,he's read the same kind of thing--the same thing except for variations of theme and setting--thousands and thousands and thousands of times before until recognizing it at a glance is as easy as recognizing a trolley-car among other vehicles on his way to the office of mornings4 ,the tracks are no plainer in one case than the other4 ,but maybe the author does better farther on in the story8 ,doubtless it has happened1 but the instances constitute a negligible factor4 ,that poor editor learned to hunt no farther only by hunting farther thousands of times1 when he was new and optimistic1 and finding nothing4 ,he has learned that any writer fool enough to begin a story in so stupid a way is too much a fool all the way along to be worth listening to4 ,disbelieve this ability1 if you like1 and let's pass on to the stories he does not discard at a glance4 ,these he reads to varying extents1 according to their ability to hold him as an editor--sometimes a cursory examination1 sometimes solid parts here and there1 sometimes straight through1 sometimes only part #ahd way4 ,many things1 including mistaken judgment1 can stop him1 but oftenest of all ,i believe it is the story's lack of individuality4 ,he finds he's read it too many times before and knows that his readers have4 ,the sameness may be in plot1 theme1 style1 anything or all together1 but it's the sameness that stops him and kills the story4 ,as a reader1 judge for yourself from the stories that get published1 after editors have discarded all but enough to fill their space--all but one to five per cent4 say1 of the total submitted4 ,is there not sufficient sameness in even these8 ,then judge what the discarded ninety-five or ninety-nine per cent4 must be1 making any reasonable allowance you please for the fallibility of editors4 ,reasons for the ,lack4--,much of the lack of individuality in stories is due to lack of individuality in the writers4 ,to what degree a person can develop his individuality ,i do not presume to say1 but lack of real individuality in his stories is curable to exactly that degree and no more4 ,but many of the writers whose stories show none1 have individuality4 ,why doesn't it show in their work8 ,because they have been #ahe taught by present methods of teaching fiction to be artificial1 not natural1 or have themselves slavishly modeled themselves after some one else4 ,what chance has your individuality if you turn your back on it and resolutely try to copy another man's1 or if you lose yourself in an endless maze of rules and regulations8 ,rules and regulations imposed1 for the most part1 by people equally lost in the maze4 ,no1 you can't let your individuality run riot regardless of all rules1 for some rules are laws of the human mind to which all of us are subject4 ,but it does not follow that you must assassinate your individuality4 ,it is your main asset4 ,without it1 neither empty rules nor sound laws can build anything of themselves4 ,technique8 ,of course you need technique1 but if you make of it a golden calf and bow down in worship1 you perish4 ,get technique2 don't let it get you4 ,what technique should give you is tools1 not rules4 ,and not a monomaniac collector's collection of tools1 collected for the sake of including all tools known to man1 but only those tools so well mastered that they fit almost #ahf automatically into your hand1 carrying out smoothly the guiding impulse of your brain4 ,but you have to learn to use them before you can acquire such skill8 ,yes1 but remember the purpose of your learning--and don't try to learn and use more tools than you can master4 ,remember that an augur is an augur--that it's not a demand upon you to bore a hole in something1 but only a means of making a hole when one is needed4 ,because a hammer is for driving nails do you have to use it when you're modeling in clay8 ,i dare say it is bad taste for me to criticize other books on writing fiction and other methods of teaching fiction1 but1 pardon me1 ,i don't give a damn4 ,for years ,i've sat and watched teachers1 poorly equipped for the task and perfectly equipped for their manner of handling it1 blandly do their utmost to ruin a writer by holding before his wide eyes so many rules that he finds it difficult ever to see anything else4 ,if among them are included some rules on preserving his individuality while he's following all the other rules1 what can that mean to him8 ,if his teachers perchance present technique as tools1 not rules1 they load so many of them upon his #ahg trustful back that he can not walk1 to say nothing of mastering the tools4 ,the essence of their damage lies in two things3 ,first1 the rules they pour forth so endlessly they themselves got from some one else and accept them chiefly for that reason4 ,ask them the why of each of their rules and there is likely to be a considerable hiatus between their last book and the next4 ,too often they seem to have been merely perpetuating an hereditary collection of rules for the sake of preserving the collection as an entity in itself1 forgetting that some of the rules might be unsound and neglecting--if they ever thought about them--to give their students the foundations in human nature upon which the sound ones must rest4 ,second1 the whole tendency of such teaching is to make the learner look at other writers instead of within himself1 to absorb other people's style and methods instead of developing his own1 to copy rather than to think things out for himself1 to be artificial rather than natural1 cramped rather than free1 to waste his time on details instead of giving it to vital things4 #ahh ,i should venture no such strong condemnation if ,i did not feel that ,i am merely voicing the opinion of most editors--of the men and women who are in best position to note the devastating effects upon to-day's fiction4 ,and ,i am1 of course1 speaking of the books and teaching methods as a class4 ,there are exceptions1 naturally--though one writer1 for example1 tells me he has read between forty and fifty books on fiction writing1 finding only one of them worth while--and practically all such books can be of use1 sometimes of very great use1 to the raw beginner4 ,so can a rhetoric or a common ,english grammar4 ,in the light of results1 the fundamental point these books most fail to make is that most of their contents should be read--not memorized or swallowed--for stimulus and suggestion only1 and that the student must see to it that no rules turn him aside from his main business of developing and using his own individuality4 ,i am painfully aware that in this book ,i1 too1 have given rules as rules1 but ,i have tried to give the foundations of a sufficient number of them to lead the student into the habit of looking for foundations himself and working #ahi out his own destiny4 ,for the foundations ,i ask consideration1 for my rules none at all except as danger-signs erected from twenty years' experience to point out the errors most common in actual practise4 ,i am still more keenly aware that in many instances ,i fail to meet possible objections and justified exceptions4 ,often it is because ,i fail to think of them at the time or never thought of them1 but often it is because there is a limit to available space and because too many aspects and too much detail breed confusion4 ,literature is the communication1 between human beings1 of human nature and human experience4 ,who can give complete rules for a process and content so infinitely various8 ,bear in mind first1 last and always1 that this book does not attempt to be a complete treatise on writing fiction4 ,its purpose is to emphasize those points and points of view that1 from years of examining the actual manuscripts submitted to magazines1 seem most to need emphasis1 and1 second1 to raise against the present fashion in teaching methods a small flag of revolt under which ,i believe most editors and most discriminating readers will be content to stand1 no matter #aij how great may be their disagreement with me on specific points4 ,unfamiliarity with ,things ,taught4--,last week ,i borrowed three books on the writing of fiction and ran through their pages4 ,one was by a university professor who gave a most interesting picture of the editorial world1 of its offices1 their occupants1 customs1 rules1 policies1 points of view4 ,the title-page stated that he had formerly been with a publishing house--probably for the sake of the experience1 during a summer vacation4 ,i became fascinated1 almost wishing ,i could live in that world myself4 ,i never have4 ,i realize that1 for those entirely unfamiliar with the inside of the editorial world1 his picture of it was sufficiently near the truth to be of decided practical value4 ,yet his almost glib generalities and his choices for particularization made me shudder for the misapprehensions that might arise from them4 ,he was like the ,european traveler who spends a month or two in the ,united ,states and then describes and explains it to the world4 ,any conscientious editor of long experience would1 ,i think1 hesitate before attempting to present in a chapter or two of a text-book for earnest #aia students a complete and final exposition of the editorial field4 ,it is too complex1 too various1 too changeable4 ,and if these teachers venture to expound so much and so finally from so small a knowledge of what may be called the mere machinery of the editorial world1 it seems logical to conclude that they may have equally insufficient basis when they attempt to explain what kind of fiction the editors want and how to manufacture it4 ,evils of ,models and ,examples4--,but what struck me most forcibly in those three books was the vast amount of space given to models and examples4 ,stories were constantly being laid upon the operating table1 in whole or part1 and dissected and analyzed4 ,the pages were strewn with dismembered parts1 ticketed and labeled1 to be sure1 and filed in most orderly fashion1 but the panorama as a whole was enough to ruin a writer forever if it did not drive him mad4 ,oh yes1 ,i know we must take a clock apart before we can learn how to make a clock1 but an artist should live in a studio1 not an operating-room4 ,the use of examples and models is a valuable adjunct of teaching1 but it is not teaching4 ,as far as #aib ,i can learn from cursory glances from time to time1 through inquiry and through noting results in submitted manuscripts1 dissected models and examples form the backbone of teaching method4 ,use them1 by all means1 but only sufficiently to show the student how to do his own analyzing when he feels the need4 ,and teach him general principles to make him keen to the need when it is there4 ,teach him to work2 don't litter his mind with the work you've done on a third person's work4 ,the mechanical method of teaching is perfectly adapted to those students who by no possibility can be anything but mechanical writers1 working by rule of thumb1 building a structure by foot-rule and pouring in its contents from a graduated beaker4 ,but is producing such writers worth while or even justifiable8 ,even if your purpose is the broader1 industrial one of adding to the general earning capacity of the nation8 ,of course1 if you are merely writing a text-book that will sell-- ,it is upon the writers who are not doomed by their own limitations to be merely mechanics that the curse of mechanical teaching #aic falls4 ,the genius and the really strong individualist will escape1 but what of him with moderate or even considerable gifts8 ,he goes into the bed of ,procrustes4 ,he is lopped here1 stretched there2 he is badgered and blinded with examples and precedents1 kept from natural development and natural expression by the study of rules for growth and by listening to other people express themselves1 prevented from being himself and giving rein to his own individuality by the constant study of individualities not his own4 ,if only you could sit for a year at some editorial desk and see these poor maimed fellows come in endless line with their pathetic1 lifeless wares6 ,well-made stories1 so much so that they are almost exactly like all other well-made stories1 but in them here and there a still unsmothered spark that might have been a flame4 ,and after the procession has filed up to you for a while it is not the properly built stories they lay on your desk that you see1 but those countless other stories that will never be laid on any desk4 ,it is like looking out over the world of children who can never be born1 the better children1 the dream children1 who could make the world so much #aid better if only they were here4 ,if you could sit for a year at some editorial desk1 you would join with me in saying1 ,damn such teaching methods6 ,individuality and ,naturalness ,first4--,you who are learning to write--and writers are always learning if they are worthy of their name--put this little rule at the head of all your list of rules and let no rule that follows seem to you one-half so well worth clinging to3 ,,express ,,your ,,natural ,,self ,,naturally4 ,believe me1 it is worth clinging to1 even at the cost of aches and bruises4 ,as for all the other rules1 accept only those grounded solidly in human nature and take for your guides1 not the rules1 but their foundations4 ,if you find yourself drifting into the stilted dialect so many feel must be assumed on entering the printed page1 tear up what you have written and say your say in your own words4 ,maybe the result will be sad indeed2 there are always many things to learn4 ,but in your learning you will find no secret of technique1 no trick of the trade1 that is not second in importance to the prime necessity of developing and expressing your own individuality4 ,if they hold before your eyes some story by ,de ,maupassant1 ,stevenson1 ,kipling1 ,o4 ,henry1 #aie look by all means and study what you see1 but be sure that your strongest reaction is1 ,yes1 these are deft uses of tools1 masterly handlings of thought1 and ,i will be awake to similar opportunities in my own work1 but the fact remains that what ,i have seen is only ,de ,maupassant using his tools1 ,stevenson using his1 and the others each his own4 ,i am not ,de ,maupassant or ,stevenson or ,kipling or ,o4 ,henry or anybody else except myself4 ,i can't possibly ever be any of them1 and if ,i try to be any of them ,i can't be even myself4 ,perhaps their tools and devices are not the ones best adapted to my case1 though they may prove valuable4 ,now ,i'll go back to my work4 ,and if they ask you to look at many other workmen1 refuse utterly4 ,do your own looking4 ,you probably know far better than they what it is you need to look for2 if you don't know where to look for it1 then ask4 ,you'll probably be looking enough without any one's driving you to it4 ,and1 always1 when you look1 carry away with you only what you can absorb4 ,undigested food of this kind will kill you4 ,being ,literary4--,don't try to be literary until you know what being literary #aif really means4 ,most writers do not know4 ,i'm not sure that ,i know1 but certainly ,i know a few things it is and a few things it is not4 ,it is not being queer for the sake of queerness4 ,it is not using large and learned words4 ,it is not getting as far away as possible from the language of life4 ,it is not thinking1 feeling or talking artificially instead of naturally4 ,it is not the copying of others4 ,it is not either wallowing in strong emotions or daintily avoiding them4 ,it is telling things as you see or feel them4 ,it is using the words that accomplish this with least lost motion1 words so natural and familiar you are sure they are exact to the case4 ,it is the preserving1 developing and expressing of your own individuality4 ,style8 ,be yourself and your style will be born of itself4 ,be anything else and1 instead of style1 you will attain only an acrobatic performance4 ,there are enough acrobats already1 and enough people who are not themselves4 ,i should like to add1 with some bitterness1 that a knowledge of plain ,english grammar1 even for writers who consider themselves arrived1 is an almost necessary step toward being literary4 #aig ,,chapter ,,xiv ,,the ,,reader ,,and ,,his ,,imagination ,when you read a story you live more or less in its story world4 ,there are printed words on the page and they cause your imagination 7,i do not use the word in the sense of fancy but to indicate the mental power that chooses and discards among certain things to construct certain other things7 to build from your own experience a set of mental images or impressions4 ,the story's world becomes real to you in proportion as the story's words succeed in making you reproduce it in your mind4 ,variation in ,visualization4--,but the success of the story's words in doing this is dependent not only on the skill and power of their stimulus but also on the ability of your imagination to respond4 ,success is dependent not only on the writer but on the reader4 ,readers vary tremendously in the fundamental #aih ability of their imaginations to respond1 both as to quality and degree4 ,it is surprising that this fact is so little known1 for its careful consideration is of the utmost importance to success in writing fiction4 ,while my questionings have been only casual1 ,i have not yet found either a writer or an editor who took this variation as a serious factor in his work or who had even discovered the existence of the variation4 ,wherefore my gratitude is the deeper to ,professor ,joseph ,villiers ,denney for having brought it to my attention in a college class a quarter of a century ago4 ,if you have not already investigated1 make the experiment upon your friends4 ,ask your friends what they see when they read a story and you will find amazing variations4 ,some visualize clearly everything mentioned or suggested--see the characters1 actions and scene in full detail just as on a stage or in real life4 ,others see things and movement1 but without colors in their pictures4 ,some see people but without faces4 ,some see things only if1 and only as fully as1 described by the author4 ,some see fully even if the author fails to describe4 ,some make their own #aii images partly different from even definite ones painted by the author1 often because he fails to impress his images first4 7,in the setting of a story1 for example1 haven't you1 if you visualize readily1 had to change your picture of the scene's geography or pick up the whole setting and twist it around to make north come where you had had east87 ,remember this when you are the author1 and save your readers this violence to the illusion4 ,some have a stock imagination-picture that does service for a concept in almost any circumstances4 ,some see practically nothing--can not shut their eyes and see the very room in which they are sitting or even the faces of their nearest and dearest4 ,i knew a high-school valedictorian who easily mastered every subject until she came to solid geometry4 ,in that study she could not even make a start1 was totally helpless--simply because she was constitutionally incapable of looking at the two-dimension page and seeing1 in her imagination1 the third dimension4 ,she got raw potatoes1 cut them up to represent the three-dimension figures and had no further trouble4 ,another woman overcame the same difficulty #bjj by the same vegetable route4 ,i know an artist1 very successfully designing stage-settings1 who can not tell how things will look unless he looks at them1 or pictures or models of them1 with his physical eye4 ,yet most writers attempt to reach all these types of imagination without giving the matter a thought6 ,generally they calmly take it for granted that every one of their readers has exactly the same qualities and limitations of imaginative visualization as themselves6 ,what rich opportunities are lost6 ,here is a matter in which you should not1 without very careful consideration1 write things merely as you see them1 at least when it comes to revision1 unless your way of seeing them happens to be the way that is most effective with most people4 ,each author has his individual qualities in this respect4 ,when he paints his word pictures he tends to use only as many strokes of his brush as make a complete and satisfying picture for him4 ,but how complete or satisfying will that picture be to the majority of readers who may not even approximate his qualities of imaginative visualization8 ,the words he has set down give him #bja the picture1 but will they give it to others8 ,he can not test out the visualization of the entire population1 but he can at least assign himself a fairly definite place in the relative scale1 scrutinize his word pictures from the point of view of those of different powers and probably revise his painting methods so that his stories will gain surprisingly in popular appeal1 either by additional touches or by changing the relative proportion of the various kinds of stimulus4 ,a certain writer of western stories found that his work made a strong appeal to those it interested at all1 but that the size of his audience was far less than seemed justly merited4 ,apparently all the elements of good fiction were present4 ,but1 if he had considered his readers' psychology in other respects1 he certainly had not done so as to visualization4 ,he himself could reread his words and from them see his story world in full4 ,so could ,i1 for we both happened to have the type of imagination that visualizes readily and fills gaps when needed4 ,but many readers haven't this type and1 as finally became apparent1 these were largely the ones who had failed to become part of #bjb his normal audience4 ,for he had not drawn any visual pictures for those who need them4 ,to them his story people were merely names and dispositions1 without clothes or bodily appearance1 that did dim things in unseen places4 ,the author had deemed it waste of words to describe things that were--to him--seen of themselves4 ,it was difficult to get him to pad his stories with visualizing descriptions1 but when he began adding them his audience began to grow4 ,variation in ,other ,imaginative ,powers4--,you will find that probably a minority have imaginations that reproduce not only visual impressions but those of the other senses4 ,some can hear the sounds of a story--not merely have an intelligent concept of sounds mentioned1 but actually hear them almost as clearly as if they were actual physical sounds4 ,some can taste via their imaginations1 with such vividness that their mouths water4 ,some can smell the odors in a story they read4 ,some can reproduce the impressions that register through the sense of touch--smoothness1 friction1 impact1 pressure4 ,i hope to have for a later volume some statistics that will give some idea of the #bjc relative frequency of the reproduction of the senses4 ,in any case1 the great opportunity for loss or gain of hold on readers offered through visual imagination is considerably multiplied by the cases of the four other senses4 ,the field as a whole is so important it is almost incredible that it does not play a main part in all teaching of fiction writing4 ,appeal to the senses may possibly be included1 though ,i've not chanced on it in my cursory glances at text-books1 but1 as previously stated1 up to this writing ,i've happened to find no writer who has even considered the variation in sense-imagination among readers4 ,i recall a statement in ,professor ,denney's thesis class to the effect that analysis would show the most popular poets1 like ,burns and ,longfellow1 to be as a rule strongly marked by their imagination appeal to all or most of the five senses4 ,is there any reason why a similarly broad appeal in the case of prose would not reap like results8 ,the case would seem to be stated thus3 ,the more fully you reach a reader1 the more fully you reach him4 ,suppose your imagination sees and hears1 #bjd but does not smell1 taste or touch4 ,look at one of your own stories4 ,have you given comparatively few pictures or stimuli to your readers' visual and auditory imagination1 perhaps taking it for granted that all readers would supply them fully and satisfactorily1 as you do8 ,or have you1 simply absorbed in your own personal equation1 failed to put into your story any considerable number of stimuli to smell1 taste and touch imaginations8 ,in either case1 consider how greatly you have weakened your story4 #bje ,,chapter ,,xv ,,the ,,place ,,of ,,action ,,in ,,fiction ,as people progress in culture there is a strong tendency more and more to consider physical action in fiction crude4 ,this is unfortunate--and unthinking4 ,action ,considered ,unliterary4--,the cause1 ,i think1 is twofold4 ,first1 most of the crudest published fiction relies to a great extent on action4 ,it is natural and illogical to construct the following syllogism3 ,all crude fiction is action4 ,crudity is poor art4 ,therefore action is poor art4 ,second1 as a race develops in civilization and culture it nearly always tends to lose vigor1 drifts further and further away from physical action and more and more into ease1 inactivity and softness4 ,it also tends more and more to nicety and detail and #bjf away from the elemental4 ,physical action is elemental and inclined to sweep nicety and detail aside4 ,naturally both critics and writers come to consider action crude1 something behind and beneath them4 ,consequently1 as a rule1 only the lower-grade writers use much action4 ,consequently action stories as a whole sink to a still lower level4 ,consequently readers feel still more justified in considering action crude4 ,but is it8 ,false ,culture4--,things would be vastly simplified and improved if all who think they know what really constitutes good literature really did know4 ,nine out of ten have for sole standard the opinions of others4 ,the others are fallible1 many of them distinctly unreliable4 ,the nine are1 of course1 unable to tell whose or which opinions are worth while4 ,none of them does any real thinking of his own and most of them do not even make the attempt4 ,there are nine of them who do not to one who does think and does know4 ,the resulting standard is painful4 ,also artificial and unsound4 ,a sad feature is that their methods tend to unify their opinions and thus give them the preponderating influence in shaping the #bjg opinions of all the people who don't pretend to know4 ,professional critics being comparatively few1 each critic sways many sheep4 ,also1 the sheep have been referred1 rightly enough1 to the ,atlantic as the most literary magazine in ,america4 ,they accept its standard without discrimination or understanding4 ,if a piece of fiction is different1 in any way1 from the fiction of the ,atlantic1 they therefore consider it unliterary4 ,worst of all1 many of those who judge by ,atlantic standards have a bare bowing acquaintance with that most excellent magazine4 ,now the ,atlantic1 for all its scope and splendid humanness1 in some respects savors of the library rather than of the rough world at large4 ,critics1 being human1 and being generally compelled to do a lot of criticizing1 weary of the everlasting fundamentals and seek relief in attention to the niceties and curlycues1 these being1 also1 more plentifully at hand4 ,the sheep herded by the critics and by the ,atlantic habit naturally come to look down1 way down1 upon the action story4 ,also1 popular demand for action in fiction #bjh continues strong4 ,it is a cardinal tenet of the unliterary literary person's belief that anything popular is therefore low4 ,i shall not be surprised if some day all fiction that interests in any way is condemned because the popular demand is for fiction that interests4 ,still another factor is at work4 ,in clinging blindly to the classics as standards and models many fail to discriminate either in recognizing just which qualities in a classic entitle it to lasting place or in allowing for the difference between the time in which it was written and our own times4 ,some of its qualities stand forever1 but in many cases other qualities lack that permanence of appeal and are very distinctly tuned to its own era4 ,is the verbosity of a century or two ago1 or the sentimentality of the early ,victorian period1 in key with the spirit and genius of this century8 ,how could it be when our whole civilization has rushed us into a hundred fold greater speed and intensity1 surrounded us with a million incentives to practical activity and hurry8 ,railroads1 steamships1 trolleys1 autos1 modern newspapers1 motion-pictures1 telephones1 telegraphs1 #bji wireless1 electricity and machinery in general1 these have geared us to a far faster pace4 ,we can no longer travel naturally in stage-coaches4 ,the ,vicar of ,wakefield1 allowing it its excellencies1 is no longer geared to living man4 ,therefore1 in that respect1 it is not a classic1 not permanent1 should not be even a subconscious model4 ,and in the choosing of books to be labeled classics the natural inadaptability of the old generation to the new1 together with the tendency to limit literature to products refined away from elementals instead of merely away from crudities1 has still further cast action into disrepute4 ,all in all1 the action story has a pretty hard time of it nowadays if it dares plead any claim to being literature4 ,fundamental ,tests4--,yet1 if the test of literature be its permanent appeal to human beings1 regardless of changing times1 the action story fares at least as well as the best4 ,to be permanent an appeal must reach the only things that are permanent and universal in human beings1 the only permanent and universal things are the elementary1 fundamental ones1 and action meets that #baj test at least as well as anything else4 ,undoubtedly the race was acting before it was psychologizing or even talking4 ,if proof of this fundamental and everlasting hold is needed1 witness the wide-spread1 undying demand for action stories4 ,also note the fact that most of the classics that have lived longest are crammed full of action--,homer1 ,virgil1 any of the epics or sagas4 ,no1 they don't live because of that alone1 but could they have lived without it8 ,if you think that1 for all their culture1 the most sophisticated and literary specimens among us have really grown beyond the reach of the action appeal1 you are much mistaken4 ,try them1 when no one is looking1 with a good action story1 even one unsanctified as a classic4 ,scratch the skin and you'll find red corpuscles in even the most anemic blood4 ,somewhere deep in each of them is the impulse to do1 and the admiration for doing4 ,as children they gave it natural outlet2 has the leopard changed his spots8 ,neither restraint nor veneer1 neither pose nor inactive living1 can eradicate this thing the child was born with4 ,i've particular reason to speak on that #baa point4 ,adventure was founded with the primary purpose of meeting this action demand on the part of the more cultured classes1 the people whose normal reading is of the highbrow variety but who habitually turn at odd moments to stories of action1 who accept trashy stories if no better offer1 but prefer stories sufficiently well done to stand the test of their sophistication4 ,the fact that the magazine's secondary appeal is to those of less literary sophistication and franker interest in the elementals in no way invalidates the primary aim or seems to limit its success4 ,it is difficult to say which of these classes is naturally the more given to writing letters to magazines1 but it is difficult to say which of them is the more heavily represented in my correspondence basket4 ,the latter1 ,i suppose1 depends upon where you attempt to draw a hard and fast line between the two classes4 ,professional men of all classes form a large part of the audience--physicians1 lawyers1 educators1 scientists1 engineers1 statesmen1 ministers and priests2 letters from those of undoubted culture in the ordinary sense of that word are very #bab strongly in evidence2 more than once the definite1 concrete statement has been volunteered that ,i read only two magazines--,atlantic and ,adventure4 ,yet1 personally1 ,i find it not always easy to say that this general class has a keener sense for what seem to me the essential literary values4 ,more articulate and with better opportunity for comparisons1 yes2 but with point of view more obscured by their sophistication4 ,however1 there is no doubt as to the common action appeal to both extremes of the audience1 and nearly a dozen years have eradicated my last doubt of action response beneath even the heaviest veneer of culture4 ,its audience is about eighty-five per cent4 men1 but other action magazines1 aimed at both sexes1 have audiences nearly equally divided as to sex4 ,eliminate sex appeal1 the love element1 and1 even with women1 action appeal will take first place4 ,what ,is ,fiction ,elementally8--,elementally a story is a narrative4 ,a narrative implies events1 is a record of action1 not a treatise1 a laboratory record or a post-mortem4 ,the ,rightful ,place of ,action in ,literature4--,in addition to its claim to place in the best #bac literature because of its fundamental and permanent appeal and in addition to its being the essence of narrative1 there is one thing more to be said4 ,in its crudest expression you may consign it to what depths you please1 but in its essence1 in its potentialities1 ,i challenge you to deny it the highest rank of all as material of fiction4 ,for action is the crystallization of psychology4 ,it is the ultimate1 final expression of character1 of all a character has thought1 felt and said1 of all a character is or can be4 ,physical action4 ,it need not be exciting and adventurous4 ,it may be expressed negatively1 through repression4 ,but psychology1 character1 morals1 what you will1 none of these has been really born into the world1 has borne recognizable fruit1 until it has in some manner acted physically1 or taken physical shape through action4 ,it follows that1 in literature at its best1 action must be the perfect1 logical1 inevitable and complete result and register of all psychology of the characters in relation to all circumstances and conditions of the story4 ,no other element of literature has so difficult a test to meet1 for1 aside from its own #bad demands1 it must be the final and exact expression of everything else in the story4 ,yet the action story is sweepingly condemned as a type6 ,the ,place of ,action in ,practise4--,nothing can make more plain the undiscriminating contempt for action as fiction material than the actual practise of most writers4 ,action being in its crude form the simplest material as well as the most natural1 the majority of writers begin with it4 ,generally1 as they gain in skill they develop1 at about equal rate1 the idea that all action is crude and that real progress lies in abandoning it as rapidly as possible4 ,in many cases the result is merely the absence of fairly good action stories and the creation of very sad but very literary productions4 ,in nearly all cases the cause of the change is due to failure to understand action's potentialities and rightful place1 and the result of that lack of understanding is generally failure to produce the real literature intended4 ,by all means try to rise above the crude ,diamond ,dick type of action story1 but be sure you can substitute something better1 aside from improved technique4 ,better a #bae story of rather crude but convincing action than a miserable mess of half-baked psychology and falsely glittering literary finish whose chief proof of literary quality must be its freedom from physical action4 ,if you sincerely intend to do real literature1 get firmly into your head the truth that action should be the perfect crystallization of all else in your story and then use as much or as little of it as is needed for that crystallization4 ,if you try that1 you will get an extreme test of all the literary ability you can summon1 and if you succeed1 you will have attained what only the comparative few are capable of attaining4 ,even to make a start you must rid yourself of the absurd idea that action per se is unliterary4 ,popular ,demand4--,since the ,great ,war popular demand for action fiction is stronger than ever1 despite the strong antipathy for material directly connected with it and despite a definite reaction in favor of quiet1 peacefulness and things spiritual4 ,if it's popular demand you're considering1 consider this3 ,real life1 perhaps now more than ever before1 consists very largely of restraints and inhibitions4 ,human nature is #baf just as human as it ever was--there are just as many things in it to be restrained and inhibited4 ,and1 underneath all our civilization1 we're just as tired of having to do it--probably more so1 since our civilization is more civilized and therefore more exacting than its predecessors4 ,if we can't escape from the fetters in real life1 can't be free to follow our undoubted impulses1 as readers we'll all the more welcome a chance for vicarious freedom4 #bag ,,chapter ,,xvi ,,adaptation ,,of ,,style ,,to ,,material ,if the theory suggested by the chapter head had not withstood the test of ten years and the judgment of a number of people whose judgment is worth having1 ,i should not venture to present it here even in brief space1 for if carried into practise it would more or less revolutionize the art of fiction4 ,perhaps1 too1 it has already been advanced1 though ,i have never happened to run across it or to hear of it through others4 ,in an earlier chapter was the statement that the art process of fiction consists of three steps--,material1 ,artist and ,reader and that the third step fails to get anything approaching due consideration in either theory or practise4 ,this book is largely an attempt to emphasize this fact and a plea that the reader be given greater importance in the teaching of fiction writing4 #bah ,while working out and testing this theory of the reader's place in creative work ,i was testing out also another theory which seemed to have little connection with the first and1 with my perspective ruined by specialization1 it was only a year or two ago the almost self-evident fact dawned upon me that the two fitted neatly into each other and constituted a complete theory of the art process4 ,until then each had been locked away in its own little compartment1 there being no intent of building up a rounded out whole4 ,while the first theory dealt with neglect of the reader in the general art process1 the other centered on the neglect of material as an influence on style4 ,in other words1 writers seemed too concentrated on themselves1 the ,artists1 in the creative process and too neglectful of the two other steps1 ,material and ,reader4 ,rigidity of ,style as to ,material4--,to present the matter briefly1 all that an author has to convey to you comes to you through a single medium which we call his style and which in practise is singularly inelastic in relation to the great variety of things that must pass through it4 ,take ,maurice ,hewlitt in #bai his earlier days when his accentuated and highly individualized style make him a good example4 ,through that one unchanging style had to come to you tragedy1 comedy1 pathos1 contemplation1 action1 love1 hate1 patience1 anger1 romance1 satire4 ,all the gamut of human emotions in the material must be crushed into uniformity of expression before it could reach you1 losing of its own essence in the process4 ,all must be translated into the one inflexible rhythm and jingle of that one style--standardized1 as it were1 out of much of their individuality and strength4 ,such a loss is a calamity1 and1 ,i think1 to a marked degree unnecessary4 ,in poetry the need of guarding against this loss is definitely recognized1 if not as a broad principle1 at least in adaptation of sound to sense and in selection of the metrical form best adapted to a given theme4 ,why should it not be at least equally guarded against in prose8 ,many of the distinguishing qualities of poetry as opposed to prose vary with different races and with the march of time4 ,of the universal1 permanent distinguishing qualities are there any that should differentiate poetry from prose as to the importance #bbj of the ,material's influence on style in transmission of ,material to ,reader through ,artist8 ,that there are already in our fiction occasional and sporadic cases of this adaptation of style to material shows the soundness of the theory1 for these examples are evidently not for the most part the result of studied effort but instances in which the writer's art is sufficiently developed to break through his usual style and spontaneously adapt expression to the thing expressed4 ,there are even stray rules pointing in this direction1 but chiefly for dialogue where a demand for adaptation makes itself felt through the need of making a character express his emotions as a real person would express them in real life4 ,for example1 the use of short sharp sentences and simple ,anglo-,saxon words in most cases of emotional stress4 ,but if you wish an example of what adaptation of style to material is capable of accomplishing if used as a fixed and general principle of composition1 turn to ,shakespeare1 forgetting the non-essential fact that he is a poet4 #bba ,style in ,relation to ,material4--,style is the expression of material through the artist1 of material as transmuted through his individuality4 ,he is1 if you like1 a part of his material1 but1 on that basis1 he divides cleanly into two parts1 one of them1 the artist1 expressing the other1 the material4 ,what ,i object to is the attempt to express through a single1 inelastic style all of his material1 all of himself as material1 or all of himself as artist4 ,there is no one style that can even approximate perfect expression of all that is in the world4 ,do tragedy1 comedy1 pathos1 love1 anger1 excitement1 calm speak the same language in real life8 ,must not human art at least approximate human life if only by a kind of symbolism8 ,what writer1 or any other human being1 can approximate expression of all of himself through the intoning of any one single style8 ,does he go from cradle to grave in one single chord8 ,does he not respond to emotions1 his own or other people's1 as a harp to hand8 ,and yet1 ,god save the mark1 when he comes to write he calmly tries to squeeze death and all living into a single monotone6 #bbb ,is literature merely the click of a telegraph key1 crushing all juice from life to reduce all life to its own inflexible code and flat rhythm8 ,is an author merely a funnel through which all the juice of life must emerge at the small end in a single thin stream8 ,demands of ,unity4--,art's demand for unity is fundamental and not to be denied1 but what has been our idea of unity of style8 ,merely to whistle one note and call it a satisfactory expression of the author and the universe4 ,it can not be4 ,and to attain this one note in a story we place no limit to the violence needed to make all human emotions give up their own individuality in order to be in key4 ,it is well enough1 as far as it goes1 but it is only a first crude step4 ,it is time we took a step beyond4 ,can any artistic demand for unity be based on any elemental more fundamental and indisputable than the irreconcilable difference of opposite human emotions8 ,let the author mold his material to his individuality1 unify it through himself1 express it through his individual style4 ,let him mold his material into unity around what single #bbc thought or emotion he please before he passes it through his style4 ,but let him make that style1 not a single inflexible note1 but a tune1 a tune that sings high or low1 loud or soft1 in majors or minors1 harmony or discord1 fast or slow1 expressing in delicate response the varying emotions of its song through the singer1 itself a unity and an expression and in each of its parts a unity and expression of that part4 ,let ,your ,style ,respond4--,if you are sincere in your work1 if you really feel your material and if you are not so ridden and oppressed by rules that you can not be natural1 your style will of its own accord tend to attune itself to what it expresses4 ,give it the chance1 encourage it to do so4 ,let no rule of misinterpreted unity force it into one monotonous1 inflexible note impervious to all the emotions of the material that strive to break through into expressions of themselves so that they themselves can reach the reader in something of the fulness and color of reality instead of in the shape of cold line drawings4 ,let your tune follow the moods of what it sings about4 ,if in your material comes tragedy after a grayness of every-day affairs1 #bbd will your song ripple on in unchanged measure8 ,why not let the tragedy come through into the song itself8 ,let each mood of your material come through into your song and to your reader4 ,if there follows a relief scene of comedy1 how much of comedy will fail to reach the reader if it fails to tinge even the medium of transmission8 ,if you are not musician enough to compose the various elements of material into your style-tune1 at least you can approximate by the use of notes you know produce the general effect and are keyed to the mood you desire to reproduce in your reader--rhythm changed to smoothness or harshness1 sentence-length changed to that generally used in real life for the expression of that mood1 words chosen for slowness and weight or speed and lightness1 skilful use of adaptation of sound to sense1 few words for speed of action1 many for waiting and suspense4 ,the ,need of ,emphasizing the ,relation of ,style to ,material4--,all these things are done--a little--by a few4 ,these few are of the real artists4 ,it is because they are real artists that their material finds expression in their style4 ,it is not because responsiveness #bbe of style to material is systematically taught4 ,it should be1 if ,american fictionists are to attain the development their natural advantages make possible to them4 ,it is the art of artists that most deserves teaching so far as it can be taught1 particularly if it is so potent that it pushes its way without encouragement and against heavy odds of hindering rules4 ,i have only outlined the need and the possibilities and1 ,i fear1 made a poor case of it4 ,but some day some one else will give it full and convincing presentation--if1 indeed1 some one has not already done so outside my knowledge4 ,in any case1 there lies a line of development that sooner or later fiction is bound to follow4 ,whether you believe it or not1 give it slow consideration in your mind4 ,even if you decide against it in the end1 the considering of it will teach you more concerning style than you are likely to get from the study of other people's rules4 ,of that ,i am very sure4 ,in your case you are the most important authority4 ,appeal to that authority and see that it gives judgment1 judgment reasoned out1 by you1 from fundamentals4 #bbf ,let no rules by other people impose themselves until you have reasoned out their worth4 ,keep and develop your own individuality4 ,and the one best way to learn to write is to--write4 ,i hereby absolve you from all rules in this book except such rules as warn against rules4 ,,the ,,end #bbg ,,appendix ,,your ,,manuscripts ,,and ,,the ,,editors ,to new writers1 and to most old ones1 a magazine editorial office is1 among other things1 a mystery1 not the least mysterious of its contents being the editors4 ,it is1 of course1 no more mysterious than the office of any other specialized business1 and editors are merely one small class among many classes doing various kinds of specialized work4 ,certainly there seems no justification for the traditional awe in which editors are held by so great a majority of people4 ,this awe is undeniably present and does more than a little to prevent more comfortable relations between writers and readers on one hand and editors on the other4 ,partly it is a hangover from a past age when editors better earned an atmosphere of awe as individual molders of public opinion1 and partly it is due to people's insistence on regarding with a peculiar and undiscriminating reverence #bbh anybody or any thing connected1 however remotely1 with literature4 ,it shouldn't be necessary to say so1 but1 if the testimony of one of them can be accepted by those who persist in considering them something very much above--or below--the normal1 editors are just ordinary humans no different in essentials from any other people of ordinary education4 ,as in any collection of people1 there are all kinds among us1 even those who breathe a rarified atmosphere and hold themselves superior to their fellows1 but1 heavens1 think of waiters you have known6 ,while as to barbers and policemen-- ,just humans1 whose job happens to be that of trying to choose from many manuscripts those the reading public will like best4 ,if the manuscripts they handle happen to be fact articles as well as fiction1 there is also the job of selecting with an idea of education1 or of advancing some cause or principle advocated by the particular magazine1 but even here there is also the job of pleasing the reading public4 ,besides that1 if the editor has a plain or social conscience1 the desire to leave people the better1 rather than the worse1 for their reading4 ,that's all4 #bbi ,a word more about that job1 so that we editors may not seem quite so mysterious1 inconsistent1 arbitrary and other things as we do at present4 ,take the editor of any fiction magazine--or any magazine1 for that matter4 ,so long as he works on that particular magazine his job is1 generally speaking1 not to test a manuscript by its general literary or its general magazine merits1 nor to choose according to his own personal tastes1 but1 to the best of his ability1 to choose first according to its suitability to that particular magazine4 ,if ,john ,jones is editor of magazine ,b and then becomes editor of magazine ,c1 his manuscript tests will change instantly4 ,he will accept some stories he rejected for ,b and reject some others that he would gladly have taken for ,b4 ,that is1 if ,john is a good editor and has not deliberately taken up the task of making ,c as much like ,b as possible4 ,each fiction magazine aims at a special type of reader1 or a special group of readers4 ,therefore it tries to individualize itself in such manner as to get and hold the interest of that type4 ,its policy may undergo changes1 but it is always a more or less #bcj individualized one4 ,what is one magazine's meat may be another magazine's poison4 ,there are other reasons why the rejection of a manuscript is not necessarily a reflection upon its merits4 ,it may fall fairly within the individualized field of a magazine and be recognized by the editor as of entirely sufficient merit1 yet be sent back4 ,a grocer or a druggist or a delicatessen man acts exactly the same way4 ,if one hundred cans of corn is the number a grocer is justified by sales in carrying on his inventory and he already has one hundred cans of corn1 he doesn't buy any more cans4 ,if an editor estimates that his readers' demand justifies him in buying about fifty love-stories1 five tragic stories1 ten business stories1 etc41 per year and he already has in stock the full quota of each that should be on hand at any one time1 he1 like the grocer1 buys no more of these types4 ,length1 as well as type1 is also a factor that an editor must consider in the light of his inventory4 ,of course1 there are all kinds of exceptions in applying the inventory test to manuscripts1 for stories are not standardized like #bca cans of corn nor do all magazines adhere to so rigid a basis of selection4 ,then1 too1 there is the fact that some types are1 permanently or temporarily1 difficult to secure and1 when sufficiently well executed1 are likely to be seized upon at any time4 ,really good humorous stories1 being notoriously difficult to find1 would hardly be rejected even by a magazine with its normal supply of humorous stories already in the safe4 ,also1 manuscripts come in waves1 not only as to number but as to setting1 material1 theme1 and so on4 ,for six months1 a year1 three years1 there may be1 for example1 an oversupply of stories of diplomatic life1 rural stories1 stories laid in ,latin ,america1 and a dearth of stories of golfing1 stories of olden times1 sea stories4 ,by the end of a year or two the situation may be completely reversed on any or all of these types4 ,in most cases the change from dearth to plenty or vice versa is without warning or discernible cause4 ,after being caught by a few dearths an editor is likely to stock up with a reserve on types that have shown themselves subject to fluctuation in supply4 ,on the other hand1 he may decide that writers as a whole1 in #bcb their fancy or lack of fancy for a type1 are a fairly safe index to the fancy of the public in general4 ,in any case1 many factors besides merit1 recognized or unrecognized1 and besides bad judgment by editors1 decide the fate of manuscripts4 ,on the other hand1 most manuscripts are rejected for the all sufficient reason that they do lack sufficient merit4 ,some ideas are prevalent that seem worth meeting4 ,a pull is seldom of service in gaining acceptance for manuscripts2 of none at all so far as my observation extends1 and ,i can not now recall1 even from hearsay1 any case in which pull took the place of merit4 ,doubtless there are such instances1 but1 ethics aside1 progress through pull is not worth a writer's practical consideration4 ,many beginners believe they will get a better hearing for their stories if they present them in person instead of mailing them4 ,it's an editor's business to select manuscripts according to their values1 not according to his opinion of their authors1 and ,i think most editors do so4 ,if he is subject to personal influence1 don't forget that you may make an #bcc unfavorable1 instead of a favorable1 impression4 ,in any case you're taking from him time that he probably needs badly and is not likely to be happy over losing4 ,what you have to say to him can almost always be said equally well by letter1 perhaps far better4 ,a letter takes less of his time and--he can choose his time for reading it4 ,i know of no fiction magazine that has a regular staff of writers in the sense of its having no opening for new writers4 ,often a magazine comes to depend for the bulk of its supply upon a comparative few who have proved themselves best able to provide that supply1 but that does not mean that it hasn't a welcome for others4 ,the oft-heard wail that a new writer has no chance with editors is merely silly4 ,weren't all the old writers once new8 ,how1 pray1 did they gain their first footing8 ,in one sense1 to be sure1 new writers have little chance with editors for the sweet and simple reason that a majority of beginners haven't sufficient merit to earn them a chance with any competent1 fair-minded judge4 ,some of them will never have4 ,some have not yet developed and are worthless to #bcd magazines until they do4 ,if a writer can't develop unless encouraged by acceptances before he has developed1 he almost surely hasn't in him the ability to develop in any circumstances4 ,don't be discouraged by rejections4 ,they are merely the usual thing4 ,they only class your manuscript among the eighty-five to ninety-nine per cent4 that every magazine turns back4 ,along with yours many manuscripts of successful or even famous authors are rejected1 and some of these rejected stories1 possibly yours among them1 will be accepted by other magazines4 ,the only disgrace is in being discouraged4 ,if1 instead of the usual printed slip1 you get a note from one of the staff1 be glad1 for your manuscript has raised itself above the others and earned attention for its merits2 your rejection is really a step forward--the big first step4 ,often the beginner's discouragement is due to his trying his wares on the wrong market4 ,would you try to sell a lady's slippers to a civil engineer1 a soldier's boots to a dainty dame of fashion1 a policeman's brogans to a child8 ,yet that is exactly what so many of you try to do with manuscripts4 ,i #bce am1 though an editor myself1 quite incapable of saying just which magazines will buy which manuscripts1 for an infinite variety of factors and circumstances are involved1 but the total ignorance of magazine markets displayed by many beginners can be due to nothing but failure to give the field even a rudimentary consideration before trying to master it4 ,the elementary rules for the actual submission of manuscripts have been printed thousands of times1 but the need for them abides3 ,every manuscript should be typewritten4 ,no matter how good handwriting may be1 it imposes a heavy handicap on any manuscript1 for1 in comparison with other manuscripts in typewriting1 its story can unfold only on leaden feet even to the most patient1 kindly and self-sacrificing editor4 ,double-space the typewriting4 ,it reads more easily1 allows you sufficient space to make your own alterations and corrections without messing parts of your story into illegibility1 and1 if the manuscript is bought1 gives space for editing it as copy for the printer to follow4 #bcf ,write on only one side of the paper4 ,this custom is so firmly established that it's folly to violate it and almost no one does4 ,there are plenty of reasons for the custom1 but its mere existence is practical reason enough4 ,leave a fairly wide margin on the left-hand side of each sheet--as a kindness to the editor in case your manuscript is bought and to the compositor who must read and set what you have written and the editor edited4 ,type your name and address on the first page of your manuscript4 ,for common-sense reasons4 ,number your pages4 ,consecutively straight through from beginning to end4 ,especially if you hope for any chance of detailed criticism from the editor4 ,unless your manuscript is to be returned express collect1 enclose stamped1 self-addressed envelope of sufficient size and strength1 or at least sufficient postage4 ,as a matter of common honesty4 ,a surprising number of writers are not honest in this respect4 ,if you write to the editor when you submit a manuscript1 see that the letter is enclosed with the manuscript1 not sent under separate #bcg cover4 ,if your idea in writing is to further the chances of your story1 you're going about it in a poor way if you add to the editor's troubles by making him handle your case in two parts instead of one4 ,or by making him read your autobiography in full4 ,several things will help toward a better understanding of the editorial attitude toward manuscripts4 ,first1 tell me1 did you ever know a merchant to work hard day after day for the purpose of avoiding buying stock for his customers' demands8 ,no1 the editor desires to buy2 he spends his time trying to get stories1 not to avoid them4 ,when he finds one that meets his needs he rejoices4 ,a minority of magazines seek first of all for authors with big names1 because of the following they command among the reading public1 but the editors of even these are inclined to pat themselves on the back when they find a brand-new author of merit4 ,second1 to balance the above1 remember that your manuscript is merely one among thousands that come to an editor4 ,there is a wide-spread feeling that many manuscripts are rejected only because they are read1 not by the editor himself1 but by #bch some assistant4 ,there are two schools of manuscript-reading4 ,one method is to let the most inexperienced readers weed out the bulk of submitted manuscripts1 thus saving the more experienced readers much time4 ,the other method reverses the process2 a more experienced reader does the first sorting4 ,the latter seems to be gaining ground2 personally ,i believe in it strongly4 ,my own experience may serve to illustrate the situation4 ,for years every manuscript came to my hands first4 ,as their number increased this became a physical impossibility4 ,manuscript-reading is only one of an editor's many duties1 a fact that many lose sight of4 ,at present from one to two working days per week is probably a generous estimate of the time ,i give to manuscript-reading4 ,the reading is done mostly in bits--in the evenings1 on trains1 in days spent at home for the purpose4 ,in the office itself ,i can't get time to read a dozen manuscripts a year4 ,and much of the other kinds of work also is done outside4 ,many other editors are in similar case4 ,but in delegating the bulk of the work the most experienced editor on the staff is the one who first reads the stories from #bci unknowns4 ,except in cases of appeal1 stories by our regular writers do not pass through his hands at all1 but go first to editors of less experience and from them to me4 ,some magazines have a special fiction editor1 who is often the court of final appeal1 may have been chosen by the editor as superior to himself in this branch of editorial work and may or may not be the first to read manuscripts4 ,the thing to remember is that if the editor delegates the first reading it does not follow that he minimizes its importance and he generally takes care to put it into as capable hands as he can4 ,remember1 also1 the general rule is that a first reader is instructed to mark all doubtful cases for a second hearing2 also that it's to his own personal interest to find every good story he can if he wishes to hold his job4 ,how much of a manuscript does a reader read8 ,a sentence1 a paragraph1 a few pages1 maybe all of it4 ,unfair and inefficient not to read all of each8 ,my personal opinion is that manuscript-reading is one of the things that can be learned by experience only4 ,but1 having the experience1 an editor can reject #bdj the culls very swiftly and with a good deal of sureness4 ,he can tell all the hack plots at a glance1 knows the kinds of opening that are never followed by a good story1 can tell in a few sentences or paragraphs whether a writer has sufficient skill in handling his tools to be able to turn out an acceptable story and--has at his finger-ends all the kinds of material1 setting1 plot1 treatment1 etc41 that his particular magazine does not use4 ,if in doubt1 he reads further or samples it out here and there and glances at the end4 ,if still in doubt1 he reads it all4 ,sometimes knowing the story to be unusable1 he reads it all because the author's possibilities are worth serious consideration even if the story in hand isn't4 ,as to the final reading ,i think1 from what data ,i chance to have1 that ,i'm not in accord with the majority custom4 ,when ,i'm familiar with a writer's work and he's fairly steady1 the endorsement of the man who passed it over to me is often sufficient1 since he too knows that writer's work and would have noted any let-down or doubtful points4 ,in other cases1 sometimes a few pages--with maybe a glance at the remainder--is #bda sufficient for rejection1 unless the other editor1 having read it all1 has voted for it or makes the point that we can help the writer revise it into suitable shape4 ,but what ,i do read ,i read word for word page after page until ,i find definite cause for rejection1 for ,i can't believe that ,i can judge from the reading public's point of view unless ,i read as ,i think most of the reading public reads--word for word4 ,maybe other editors can1 but1 at least in most cases1 ,i can't4 ,but be sure of this--whatever their reading methods1 editors are trying to find good stories1 not to reject them4 ,many magazines contract in advance for stories by well-known writers1 buying sight unseen and trusting wholly to the writer's steadiness1 conscientiousness and popular following4 ,in some cases this is perfectly safe2 in others decidedly not4 ,it means1 essentially1 that the writer has left the merit system and works on a sure-thing basis1 which is not good for most writers4 ,do not decide that your story was rejected because an editor read it when he was tired or his liver was out of order4 ,editors get tired and their livers are as undependable as #bdb anybody's liver1 but they know this and make allowances accordingly4 ,in fact1 it's a pretty safe rule to decide that your story was rejected for lack of merit or for unsuitability to the particular magazine4 ,if not convinced of the former reason1 keep sending your story to other magazines4 ,many a story has been rejected by five1 ten1 twenty1 fifty magazines and yet found an acceptance1 perhaps by a better magazine than some of those that rejected it1 though the majority of manuscripts submitted probably never find a taker4 ,oh1 yes1 the editor is fallible like everybody else including yourself4 ,but after all he's an expert of experience in his own particular line1 experience has given him a perspective you lack1 and he has an understanding of his magazine's particular needs that no outsider can have4 ,in the long run you'll make progress faster if1 allowing for the fallibility of the genus editor1 you decide to accept his verdict as more dependable than that of your friends or yourself4 ,anyhow1 there's more to be gained from looking for weak places in your work than from striving to prove its excellencies by argument4 #bdc ,this is a rambling1 hop-skip-and-jump chapter1 but there are a thousand little points that bob up one after the other and choosing among them is haphazard work at best4 ,all ,i've tried to do is to give you a sketchy idea of editorial offices and their working so that sending manuscripts to them will not be quite so much like sending them out into a hostile unknown4 #bdg ,,index ,academic methods of teaching fiction3 #e1 #aj-d1 #ch-i1 #db-d1 #ea1 #ajh1 #acd-e1 #aed-e1 #afh-i1 #aga-b1 #ahj-if4 ,action3 #if1 #abi-cj1 #ace-g1 #bje-af4 ,ambiguity3 ,see ,words4 ,art ,process1 ,the3 #ag-be1 #bag-bf4 ,art3 #ag-ba1 #abg-cb1 #bag-bf4 ,beginning a story3 #ge-f1 #afg-i1 #agf4 ,big words3 ,see ,words4 ,brackets3 ,see ,frames4 ,brevity3 #hg1 #aac-g1 #adg4 ,chapter headings3 #aaj-a1 #aai4 ,characters3 #gf1 #afh-i1 #agj-a1 #age-f1 #agi4 7,see also ,characterization1 ,proper ,names47 ,characterization3 #ajj-a1 #aac-d1 #aag-h1 #abg-cb1 #acb-i1 #adc-e1 #agj-ha1 #bab-c4 ,classical references3 ,see ,references4 ,classics1 ,the3 #bjh-aj4 ,clearness3 #ba1 #gj-hf1 #hh4 ,coincidence3 #ajd4 ,color3 #eg1 #eh-i1 #ei-fb1 #ge1 #gg1 #hi-ij1 #aje1 #aag-h1 #aig-bjd4 ,condensation3 ,see ,brevity4 ,contrast3 #aej-a1 #afj-e4 7,see also ,relief ,scenes47 ,convincingness3 #ch1 #eb1 #id-ajh4 7,see also ,illusion47 ,copying3 ,see ,imitation4 ,dialect3 #fb1 #gg1 #hi1 #aje1 #ajf4 ,dialogue3 #gf4 ,distractions3 #eb-fi1 #hh4 ,dramatic element3 #aji-ai4 ,editorial offices3 #bbg-dc4 ,ending a story3 #adg-ej1 #afe-g4 ,fiction1 ,what it is3 #ag-bd1 #cb-d1 #fd-f1 #abg-cb1 #adj-b1 #aed1 #bab4 ,fiction as a vehicle3 #bd1 #cb-d1 #fd-f4 ,fictional references3 ,see ,references4 ,first-person narratives3 #fh1 #ajd-e1 #aea4 ,force3 #bb4 ,foreign words3 ,see ,words4 ,frames or brackets3 #fh1 #ia-b1 #ajd-e4 ,friends as critics3 #ee1 #fc1 #gb-c1 #aih4 ,happy endings3 #abc-e1 #afe-g4 ,historical references3 ,see ,references4 ,horror story1 ,the3 #abc-e4 ,illusion1 ,imposing and preserving the3 #aj1 #bc-e1 #cj-de1 #eb-aha1 #aig-bjd4 ,imagination response3 #aig-bjd4 ,imitation1 ,evils of3 #ajb-c1 #ajd1 #ahg-h1 #aia-e4 ,improbabilities3 #ie-aja4 ,individuality3 #aah-i4 7,see also ,imitation47 ,individuality vs4 technique3 ,see technique1 ,academic methods4 ,literary1 ,being3 #ea1 #aie-f1 #bje-ab1 #bad-e4 7,see also ,literature47 ,literature3 #a-c1 #be-i1 #hj-b1 #he1 #aie-f1 #bae4 7,see also ,literary47 ,literature vs4 ,magazine fiction3 #be-i4 ,manuscript reading by editors3 #ahb-d1 #bbg-dc4 ,manuscripts1 ,preparing and submitting3 #bbg-dc4 ,market1 ,the3 #bbg-dc4 ,material3 #hh1 #ie-aja1 #aje-g1 #aag-h1 #abc-g1 #adc-e1 #bag-bf4 ,mistakes1 ,effect of on reader3 #fb-c1 #gg-i1 #aje-g4 7,see also ,convincingness1 ,improbabilities47 ,models3 ,see ,imitation4 ,moral values3 #acf1 #aci-de4 ,motion pictures1 ,effect of3 #aae-g1 #adj4 ,mystery stories3 #ib-c1 #aaa-b4 ,obtrusion of author3 #ff-i4 ,overstrain of reader3 #g1 #hg-ic1 #aab4 ,plot3 #ci1 #gi1 #hh1 #ic1 #if-ajj1 #aja-c1 #aji-ai1 #ade-g1 #adi1 #aed-fi1 #aga1 #bab-c4 ,plot1 positive vs4 negative3 #ade-g4 ,proper names3 #ei-fb1 #gc-e1 #ge-f4 ,readers1 ,your3 #g1 #bj1 #bb1 #df-ea1 #ga-c1 #aje-f1 #abj-c1 #aej1 #aea1 #aec1 #afj-e1 #aig-bjd1 #bae-f4 7,see also ,illusion1 ,imagination ,response47 ,realism3 #abf-cb1 #acc-d1 #adj-a1 #afa-e4 ,references1 ,classical1 historical1 etc43 #ei1 #ge1 #hi4 ,rejections3 #bbg-dc4 ,relief scenes3 #ij-a1 #aab-c4 ,repetition3 #hf4 ,repression3 ,see ,brevity4 ,rules3 #dd-e1 #ea1 #aba-c1 #acd-e1 #aej-a1 #aed-e1 #afj-e1 #agb-e1 #aha1 #ahb-if1 #bbf4 7,see also ,technique1 ,academic47 ,sentence length3 #hh1 #aag1 #bbj4 ,setting3 #aag-h1 #aeb4 ,simplicity3 #a-b1 #h1 #bb1 #gi-hf4 ,slang3 #gg1 #hi1 #aje1 #ajf4 ,structure3 #bc1 #aef-g4 7,see also ,plot47 ,style3 #bg1 #ch-dc1 #dd-e1 #fc-d1 #fd-i1 #gi-he1 #ajd1 #aag-i1 #aba-b1 #aej1 #aia-f1 #bag-bf4 7,see also ,technique47 ,surprise3 #aaa1 #afj-f4 ,suspense3 #aaj-a1 #aea4 ,sympathies1 ,enlisting readers'3 #bb1 #abj-ec4 ,tags3 #age-hj4 ,technique1 ,over-emphasis on3 #aj-d1 #ch-dd1 #ahb-if4 7,see also ,academic47 ,titles3 #aai4 ,unconvincingness3 ,see ,convincingness4 ,unity3 #bc1 #aeg-h1 #bbb-d4 ,unusual words3 ,see ,words4 ,words1 ,ambiguous3 #gc4 ,words1 ,big3 #ee-h1 #gi-he1 #aag4 ,words1 ,foreign3 #eh-i1 #ge1 #hi1 #aje1 #ajf4 ,words1 ,technical3 #ge1 #hi4 ,words1 ,unusual1 #ee-fb1 #hi4 ,words1 7,see also under ,slang1 ,dialect1 ,proper ,names47