Show METHODS OF FAMOUS AUTHORS how noted writer constructed their plots and wrote their books the methods of po popular alar authors are almost as interesting to the public as the I 1 amounts of their annual earnings A contributor to household words has written a chapter on literary i methods 1 which is readable but bat apt to be disappointing if the novice turns turn sto to it I 1 for instruction for the ways of writers are various and strangely contradictory some for example write bestin best in luxurious studies some in bed some pe in prison and one or two on oi express trains some lik like ze gay surround surrounds 4 rf lame gloomy some I 1 the busy sabr ae the deepest happy few can write anywhere and aind under any conditions the majority prefer the fresh morning hours for composition while others are at their best in the drear hour of midnight again a few compose with businesslike i regularity but most by fits and starts how is the beginner to know which to take as a id model adel coming to plot 0 or 1 construction the same difficulty arises scott began without knowing how h he was to go on dumas had his novel ar ranged to the smallest smalle it detail before putting pen to paper wilkie collins pursued an elaborate system starting with a central idea he proceeded backward and forward arranging and harmonizing parts without any serial berial division or to book publication he was most particular about a beginning and a good end a policy that doubtless won him many readers like balzac he corrected and sometimes having as many as six different proofs proof a of a novel zola shows the same conscientiousness and is is rewarded by a sale of one hundred abou thousand and copies of anew a new work A lucky novelist here and i there like V mr r or mr stevenson gets a good plot in a dream and has no difficulty in the matter but it is not safe to rely on dreams on the point of style there is the same tantalizing diversity flaubert urged his hia pupil pupi I 1 guy de Mau passant to be original at all hazards the advice wai was taken with what result we know mr stevenson on the other hand played the sedulous ape the phrase is his own to half a dozen daen masters and is reckoned one of the best writers of en eng 6 glish prose living today to day clearly i it t is is hard for the tyro to know which example to follow in general the rea readiest diesE way to successes sis to have a story to tell and to tell it iriri ird ind i r naturally |