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INDEX.

Advertising, Can a Writer Write? Calkins, 48
Agent Advises Beginners, An, Tucker, 87
Agricultural Journalism, Duncan, 211

Allen, Eleanor, How Important Is the Critic, 175
Auld, Madeleine Swift, Building a Story, 65
Authors, Contemporary, 53, 95

Back to Cinderella, Notes about Story Beginnings,

161

Barrington, E., Maury, 53

Bailey, A., Writing to System, 294

Barton, Bruce, If There Were a Tax on Talk, 315
Bond, Annette D., The Quality Magazines, 103
Bonham, Jean Lucille, Dreams for Sale, 61
Book Reviews, 36, 75, 114, 154, 189, 295

Browne, Edy the Helen, Do You Know How to Use
Literary Scissors? 285

Burr, Walter, The All-American Circus, 241

Calkins, Ernest Elmo, Can a Writer Write Adver-
tising, 48

Censorship, Evans, 262

Chapman, Katharine Hopkins, Use and Abuse of
Dialect, 137

Chapman, Maristan, The Writer's Workshop, 177,
The Store Cupboard, 204

Chesley, Charles H., How to Keep Track of Manu-
scripts, 292

Cinema, Whither? Kennedy, 196

Clark, A Bess, Locating the Mason and Dixon Line
in Language, 242

Criticism, Creative, Kiener, 269

Crook, Kile, The Ultimate, 20

Curley, William, The Founder of Short-Circuitism,
239

Davis, LeRoy G., Just What is Literature, 65
de Brienne, Guy, Certain Among Them, 102
Dialect, Use and Abuse of, Chapman, 137
Dickens, Charles, Letters from, 121

Dilley, James L., Free Lance Writers I have Known,
268

Dreams for Sale, Bonham, 61

Duncan, Clyde, Agricultural Journalism, 211
Editorial, 22, 62, 100, 140, 170, 208, 237, 266, 289, 322
Editor's Suggestion, How It Helps, Johnson, 325
Editors in New York, Snaring, Woolley, 221
Emmerich, Regina, For the Trade Journal Writer,
174

Emmett, Elizabeth, When the Tail Wags the Dog,
133

Essay, Writing the Familiar, Tanner, 277

Eubanks, L. E., Renewing Acquaintance with Maga-
zines. 178

Evans, Daniel, Censorship, 262

Fagin, N. Bryllion, The Equipment of the Short
Story Writer, 93. Stimulants for Writers, 213
Faris, Paul P., Hypocrisy, 104

Faulhaber, Frank V., When an Editor Misses a

Writer, 64

Few from the Chest, A, Whitehead, 258
Fiction's "Great American Desert," Ross, 316

Film Stories, Better, 252

Fisher, T. H., English Markets, 141

Forum. The, 23, 64, 102, 141, 174, 239, 267, 290, 211, 325
Four Out of Five, "Publisher's Reader," 235
Frank, Francis B., The Lasting Love of Lucius
Lymburgh, 135

Franklin, Gerald, Slang and Literature in England,
103

From Another Hillside, Watts, 319

Gale, Zona, Smith, 95

Gallishaw, John, Cases in Craftsmanship, 7
Goldwater, J. K., Amateur or Professional, 291
Hiller, George, Avaunt, Realists! Oklahoma and New
York Join in Pleas, 324

Hillyer, Robert, The Technique of Modern Poetry,
46, 85, 164, 200, 230, 256, 287, 309

Holbrook, Vinton A.. Lariating the Latents, 144,
Writing Poetry for Fun, 323

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325

Journalism, Agricultural, Duncan, 211

Kennedy, William D., The Manuscript Club Idea, 1,
41, 90, Humor or Treason, 112, Notes on Narra-
tive Technique and Form, 124, Lindbergh's
Flight, 193, Whither Cinema? 196, On Song Writ-
ing, 249, Women and Their Magazines, 280
Kiener, George A., Creative Criticism, 269
Lane, Ovid C., The Filmland Screen, 21
Lindbergh's Flight, Kennedy, 193

Linton, Lulu, Avaunt, Realists! Oklahoma and New
York Join in Pleas, 324

Literary Articles in Periodicals, 31, 74, 111, 153, 185,
220, 248, 276, 302, 332

Literary Scissors, Do You Know How to Use,
Browne, 285

McCord, David, A Shanty for Publishers, 166
McGowan, Daniel J., Jr., Upon Reading "Berceuse
Ariettes," 240

MacKay, Constance D'Arcy, Writing and Placing the
Children's Play, 130

Magazines, Women and Their, Kennedy, 280

Manuscript Club Department, 265, 326

Manuscript Club Idea, The, Kennedy, 1, 41, 90

Manuscript Clubs, The, 67, 139, 173

Manuscript Clubs, The Value of, Ray, 141

Manuscript Market, The, 25, 69, 106, 146, 179, 215, 243,
271, 298, 327

Manuscripts, How to Keep Track of, Chesley, 292
Maury, Jean West, E. Barrington, 53
Measuring Sticks, 32, 186

Mind, The Ingenious, Richardson, 81

Mitchell, George Winter, Editors and Schools, 144
Moody, Margaret, Farm and City Child, 24
Mundell, Charles S., Persistence in Writing, 142
Newcomb, C. W., Was Your Aunt an Author? 24
News and Notes, 29, 73, 111, 151, 185, 220, 248, 276, 301,
332

Note Taking, Waite, 267

O'Brien, Rita Piatt, The Calendar and Special Arti-
cles, 104

O'Connell, Wilkeson, A Point of Honor, 7

Oppenheim, James, Are You Related to E. Phillips
Oppenheim? 232

Parker, Fava K., Ideas - Catch 'Em! 143

Paul, George F., Eugene Field Gives Advice to
Young Authors, 66

Poem, How to Write a, Werner, 128

Poetry. The Technique of Modern, Hillyer, 46, 85,
164, 200, 230, 256, 287, 309

Poetry, Writing for Fun, Holbrook, 323

Prize Offers and Awards. 27, 71, 108, 149, 182, 218,
246, 274, 300, 330

Public. Pressing the, Swift, 202
Publishers, A Shanty for, McCord, 166

Ray, Louis Duncan, The Value of Manuscript Clubs,
141, The Trick of the Gripping Story, 205
Richardson, Eudora Ramsay, The Ingenious Mind,

81

Richardson, G. W., Metropolitan Versus Provincial
Readers, 267

Ross. Malcolm, Fiction's "Great American Desert,"
316

Satirists Afield, With the, 19
Saunterer, The, Johnson, 17, 58

Scott, Gladys Guilford, In Defence of Temperament,
212

Selling, Patience in. Huie. 293
Selling Points, Wickham, 260

Short Story, Realism in the, Hooper, 269
Short Story Writer, The Equipment of, Fagin, 93
Sinclair, Van Buren, Literary Flickers, 19
Smith, Bertha W., Zona Gale, 95

Smith. Maude Sumner, What Will Be the Significant
Things for 1927?

Song Writing, On, Kennedy, 249

Stewart, E. C., The Friendly Critic, 145

Store Cupboard, The, Chapman, 204

Stories, Better Film, 252

Story, Beginning the, Volney, 157

Story Telling as an Aid to Story Writing, Trachsel,

283

Story, The Trick of the Gripping, Ray, 205
Subscription Book Clubs, The, 168

Swift, Ivan, Pressing the Public, 202

Style and Vocabulary Test, 136

Tanner, William M., Writing the Familiar Essay,

277. Writing the Informal Personal Sketch, 311 Talk, If There Were a Tax on, Barton, 315 Trachsel, Myrtle Jamison, Story Telling as an Aid to Story Writing, 283

Tucker, Gertrude Brevoort, An Agent Advises Beginners, 87

Turner, Ann Price, More about Ben Ames Williams, 105

Versatility Prize Contest, 303, 333

Volney, Dex, Beginning the Story, 157
Vox Clamantis in Deserto, Wheelock, 97
Waite. L. S., Note-Taking, 267
Warwick, Jean, Reading It Over, 176
Watts, Julia, From Another Hillside, 319
Werner, W. L., How to Write a Poem, 128
Wheelock, John F., Vox Clamantis in Deserto, 97
When the Tail Wags the Dog, Emmett. 133
Whitaker, Robert. An Unrealized Realism, 64
White, William Allen, Mary White, 305
Whitehead, Henry S., A Few from the Chest, 258
Wickham, Harvey, Selling Points, 260
Wilder, Doris R., Chimney Sweeps, 293

Wildey, Alice, Help Me Escape! A Story Quick, 142 Women Writers, Playing Lot's Wife with, Johnson, 290

Woolley, Edward Mott, Snaring Editors in New York, 221

Writers, Stimulants for, Fagin, 213

Writing and Placing the Children's Play, MacKay, 130
Writing for Pay, Young, 291

Writing. Persistence in, Mundell, 142
Writing Poetry for Fun, Holbrook, 323
Writing the Familiar Essay. Tanner, 277

Writing the Informal Personal Sketch, Tanner, 311
Wyatt. Neal, Original Copy, 174

Young. Willa B., Writing for Pay, 291

CAN AUTHORS' MONTHLY FORUM

Volume 39

IT

BOSTON, January, 1927

The Manuscript Club Idea

By WILLIAM D. KENNEDY

has undoubtedly been noted by many readers of THE WRITER that, while our editorial policy has been constructive in matters of technique and markets as they affect the individual writer, it has so far been frankly destructive or noncommittal toward all the agencies which offer their services to the writer and toward any "movement" in literature. I choose the beginning of a new year as an appropriate time to announce a change of policy, or rather the introduction of an added policy, which may have important consequences on the character of this magazine.

However sound the advice on technical problems, and however accurate and up to date the information concerning markets offered to writers in magazines and books, he who works alone, outside the circles which revolve around the publishing houses and editorial offices of large cities, does, it must be admitted, labor under disadvantages. Especially does he suffer from lack of unbiased critical opinion of his work. This need is vital.

Number I

ture," in his book, "Fundamentals of Fiction Writing":

"Naturally enough," he says, "authors are inclined to a kind of reversed ostrich habit. If a point was clear to them when they wrote it, they take for granted that it must be clear to the reader. They forget that they have full knowledge of all that is or happens in their fiction, while the reader can know only what comes to him from the printed page. Often when an editor points out an unclearness they argue with him, blissfully ignoring the fact that the editor is himself a reader and that the reader found it unclear. Possibly the author proves his case— that is, 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 connections. The fact that, in the actual test, these passages failed to produce the intended results on the reader slides off the author like water off a duck. Still less does he get the idea that a reader should n'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 platter. Even if several editorreaders found the point unclear, he stands

"The successful writer often does not know whether or not he has succeeded in conveying the thought he intended," comments Mr. Arthur Sullivant Hoffman, editor of "Adven- by his guns."

If experienced writers must sometimes be straightened out on their lack of clarity in personal conferences with editors or literary agents who have good business reasons for straightening them out, what of the writer at a distance who has no such connections? And yet it is not a subtile problem of technique at point, but only an issue which might well be settled by a jury of reasonable men who have never seen the inside of an editorial office. How much more valuable can such criticism be if the jurors have even a smattering of technical and professional knowledge? Much as the writer may require unbiased criticism of his work on points of technique, he needs still more the inspiration of working together with others. Everyone knows of cases where mere association with creative workers has brought to life talent which would otherwise have lain dormant, and, although this can never be proved, we all are quite certain that talent has frequently languished, not for mere lack of sympathy, but for want of a worker on the bench alongside. There appears to be something social in the very nature of artistic creation. It may be argued that the finished work of a master should be both sufficient example and inspiration to the student. But it is n't—it never has been. Studying the work of a master is a far different thing from studying under a master. The copyist never goes beyond the original the apostle or the coworker frequently does. The history of painting, sculpture, and music contains abundant evidence of this.

I have touched upon two needs of the developing writer, professional or amateur: first that of a jury to decide whether or not he has written as he thinks; second, of association with a group of co-workers. There is one other, of cardinal importance. It is of a laboratory where he can test out by trial and error the relation of his individual talents to the demands of the reading public. It is especially important that he learn of his capacities or limitations before he proceed far in his professional career. I believe that

more modern writers of real promise have been ruined by early success in a special restricted field a certain type or genre of writing than by any other agency. A negro story, say, sells for a good price - second brings still more. The writer throws up his regular job at once and starts to grind out negro stories. When it is too late he discovers that he is good for nothing else. Writing to a pattern has set his creative imagination in a groove. Instead of an explorer he has become a miner, and his vein runs out. He might have learned to experiment a little if he had had the opportunity. What is the remedy, but to find an experimental laboratory?

For the past year I have been looking about for some individual, some institution, some idea which promised to fulfill these three needs, willing to give full editorial support to any that showed real promise. For a long time I found nothing. During this time I have talked to many editors, and many writers. I have had thousands of letters from all kinds of people interested in writing for publication. I have read most of the advertisements of the agencies which proffer aid to the writer and I have examined many of their "propositions."

Correspondence schools, literary agents, manuscript critics, literary bureaus, publishing clubs, literary societies a strange mixture of vanity peddling, fool-baiting and commercialized pedantry, with here and there someone of real capacity, something of real value. But the good things are mostly oneman affairs to advertise them would destroy their usefulness to the limited few who are profiting from them. The literary agent is a real aid to well established writers, practically none to the unknown. There seems to be a place for the manuscript critic. But an expansion of any of the existing agencies to render service to all those who needed help seemed on the face of it impossible.

Yet out of this chaos, from a direction where we expected nothing, something real began to emerge. A rather half-hearted editorial experiment suddenly struck fire: the

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