scene, just as a literary sketch suggests a whole story. Rosa Bonheur, turning from one of her finished pictures to her portfolio of sketches, exclaimed: "My life lies there!" So the sketch in literature often has the fresh charm of a sketch by an artist. It suggests, rather than expresses. The reader has to do a great deal of work in filling in details. What would be composition in a picture and is plot in a story is often almost entirely lacking from a sketch. The sketch is not a popular kind of literature, because most people want to have all the details supplied. They do not want to do any work themselves. They do not want to use their imaginations. They want a story. Out of all the work of Hopkinson-Smith, most of it excellent, what is most pleasantly remembered, perhaps, is a little sketch called "A Day at LeGuerre's" which described the author as going to a little out-of-doors French restaurant on the Bronx River, being greeted by the proprietor, who tells him he still has a bottle of his favorite wine. The author goes out sketching on the river, rowing past the quaint French colony built along the river as if the river were a street. He describes the joys and disappointments of trying to catch on canvas the gleam of water and the glint of light. He rows home in the dusk, passing a boat containing the proprietor's daughter and a young Frenchman. They exchange greetings. Over an excellent dinner Hopkinson-Smith asks the proprietor who the young man is and. the proprietor tells the young man's history. And is it the same old story?" asks Hopkinson-Smith. "Yes, monsieur," answers the proprietor, "and the one that is always new." This is the end of the sketch. I have not seen it for years, but it remains in my memory a thing of ineffable charm. Many of the masterpieces of literature, especially the Russian, are really sketches and not technically short stories. A whole life is given in a few deft, telling strokes. I am not going to ask you to write a sketch, but write one if you wish to. In writing, as in everything else, you must within some limits follow your star. To do what you hate may result in the creation of moral character — though I personally doubt it- but it will not result in the creation of good art. NEW YORK, N. Y. Richard Bowland Kimball. (To be continued.) A MAP TO HELP IN WRITING FICTION. A map is often of great assistance in writing fiction, not a purchased map, of course, but a sketch showing the general layout of the imaginary place to be written about, or where the action of the story is to be developed. It is often worth while to sketch a map when only a single story is in mind, but a map is of the most value when a series is planned. In any case it helps the writer to visualize the scenes distinctly in his own mind, so that his story gains in clarity of expression. The very act of sketching the place the writer has in mind crystallizes his thoughts. Nor does the value of the map stop there, for a study of it often furnishes inspiration for another story of a series or another single story laid in the same locality. It gives the writer a starting point for new plots and a lo cation for old ones. In many ways the map is very useful. The scale of miles to which the map is drawn depends generally on the density of population. A sheet 8x11, if sketched two inches to the mile, will hold more than twenty square miles and is usually satisfactory for showing roads, buildings, streams, lakes, mountains, etc., in sparsely populated territory. If greater detail is required the scale may be varied to suit, or an insert in one corner of the sheet may be made to show one spot in more detail than is given on the large map. With such a map at hand, the writer is not likely to make the errors in distance, direction, etc., that sometimes occur when the location of the plot is not clearly in mind. HARTFORD, Conn. Ernest Leland Holcomb. THE WRITER is published the first of every 'month. It will be sent, postpaid, for $1.50 a year. The price of Canadian and foreign subscriptions is $1.62, including postage. All drafts and money orders should be made payable to the Writer Publishing Co. THE WRITER will be sent only to those who have paid for it in advance. Accounts cannot be opened for subscriptions, and names will not be entered on the list unless the subscription order is -accompanied by a remittance. The American News Company, of New York, and the New England News Company, of Boston, and their branches are wholesale agents for THE WRITER. It may be ordered from any newsdealer or direct from the publishers. The rate of advertising in THE WRITER is two dollars an inch for each insertion, with no discount for either time or space; remittance required with the order. For special position, if available, twenty per cent. advance is charged. No advertisement of Jess than one-half inch will be accepted. Contributions not used will be returned, if a stamped and addressed envelope is enclosed. The publication office of THE WRITER is Room 46, 244 Washington street, but all com. munications should be addressed: THE WRITER PUBLISHING CO., --- several manuscripts Mr. Currie says he does n't know just how many — including a story by Oliver Herford. The thief was evidently after the choice raiment of Mr. Currie rather than manuscripts, for he tossed aside in the rear seat of the car the manuscript of a short story by Booth Tarkington and an envelope containing some of Mr. Currie's correspondence, which he found on top on opening the traveling bag, but he did not go into it far enough to find the other manuscripts, which were at the bottom. The moral for writers is: Always keep a copy of your manuscripts. THE WRITER has received this anonymous letter, postmarked in a Southern city : Please advise in an early issue the consequences when one sells a short story to two publications, each without the knowledge of the other. Ordinarily I submit but one story to one publisher at a time, but I was in desperate need of money and sent copies to two, who with the irony of fate I generally get rejection slips sent me checks immediately. The money is spent, but my conscience is busy. What can I do about it? What will they do? CONSCIENCE STRICKEN. The obvious thing for this writer to have done was to return the second check received to the editor who sent it, informing him that the manuscript had unexpectedly been bought by an editor to whom it had been submitted. When the first check was accepted the manuscript was no longer the property of the author, and his or her acceptance of the second check was dishonest. Whether the second check was larger than the first makes no difference; the manuscript belonged to the editor whose check was first received. If the two checks had come in the same mail, the writer would have had a right to accept the larger one, but the other check should have been returned at once. Cashing both checks and spending the money was like stealing from the cash drawer of one of the two publications concerned and spending the money stolen. The best thing the writer can do under the circumstances is to refund the stolen money, if possible, to the editor to whom it belongs, with such explanation and apology as seem necessary. This should be done at once, for if the editor publishes the manuscript the complications will be increased. The editor will no doubt be willing to regard inexperience and impecuniosity as mitigating circumstances, but accepting both checks and spending the money was essentially dishonest, and the offender is subject to the law. In the July WRITER J. G. G. asked the question, “Would it be unethical to have a dozen copies made of a manuscript - a short story, for instance and submit all twelve to different editors at the same time, instead of dealing with one editor at a time, awaiting his verdict?" and the answer was: "It is not good policy to offer several copies of a manuscript to editors simultaneously. There may be nothing unethical about doing so, but there is danger of complications. For instance, supposing a manuscript is so good that all the editors to whom it is offered accept it, offering $100 each, what is the writer going to do? Writers who have tried the scheme do not recommend it." In connection with the observance in Indianapolis of Riley Week, in honor of the seventyfifth anniversary of James Whitcomb Riley's birth, it was announced that the copyright restrictions on Mr. Riley's poems were lifted for a time and that editors would be permitted to print one poem a day for two weeks. Editors generally did not take advantage of the privilege. The action of the holders of the copyright on the Riley poems forbidding the newspapers to print them as they used to do has driven the poems from the papers, which were making some of them household words and so greatly increasing the poet's reputation. The enforcement of the copyright ban is keeping Riley's poems from the knowledge of the multitude, and is depriving the holders of the copyright of a great deal of free advertising, which could be only beneficial to them. They will find out sooner or later that they have killed the goose which laid the golden egg. Ralph Anderson Parker says that Zane Grey told him that his annual income is very much in excess of a quarter of a million dollars. Mr. Grey can well afford to have a home on Santa Catalina island, and one in Altadena. with a large farm in Pennsylvania; but Mr. [ It is perfectly natural that questions like these should be submitted to the editor of THE WRITER as many are but it is not practicable for her to answer them. Giving lists of periodicals is serious work, for which she has not time to spare. Besides, general lists of this kind have only general value, and the information desired is published in "The Writer's Directory of Periodicals," from which any one can make up such class lists as are desired. So far as any specific manuscript is concerned, no advice of any value about placing it can be given without a critical reading of the manuscript. There are literary agents who make a business of reading manuscripts and giving advice about their sale, and those agents whose advertisements are accepted for THE WRITER are believed to be both capable and trustworthy. Even when a manuscript is of such a nature that a good idea of it can be given by description, the editor of THE WRITER cannot in justice to herself suggest a market, since the writer is very likely to say to the editor that she has suggested sending the manuscript to him, and thus she is put in the false position of having recommended to him a manuscript of which she knows nothing in detail and which, if she had read it, she would know he could not use.] LITERARY SHOP TALK. [This department is open to readers of THE WRITER for the relation of interesting experiences in writing or in dealing with editors, and for the free discussion of any topic connected with literary work. Contributors are requested to be brief.] Suggestions from an experienced editor to an ambitious writer : "While your manuscript has in it much of which good can be said and which encourages a faith in your future, yet it gives the impression of having been the offspring of insufficient perspiration.' Some of the sentences, I am sure, you could have constructed much more carefully. If you wish to arrive' as a writer, this never should be. Only the very best of which you are capable ever should go to any editor. 'I just did that in a hurry' is no legitimate apology; for you have no license to do work in that way. "What you need most is to make an exhaustive study of words. And this may be done right along with the pleasure of creative writing. When you have made a first draft of an article, get into an easy chair, or a cool, shady nook and then study it. "Find a sentence which expresses a keythought. Keep this thought in the light all the time; but just make a game of seeking in how many ways you can portray it. Write it at the top of a sheet; fold over the paper so that you cannot see what has been done; then write it again, with new expletives, new verbs, or a new arrangement of phrases. When you have evolved from a half dozen to a dozen ways of expressing the idea, study them all, to discover which conveys the thought in the clearest, most forceful way; and use that in your article. "You now have a scheme for the study of all leading sentences. Apply it in a milder form to the less important (if any sentence of a literary work can be less important than the others), till your whole manuscript is in the best possible style of which you are capable. If you want to know why I was called to my present post, it is because I spent hours, days, weeks, and months, at just this kind of work on my writings, many of which no editor ever saw. "And now for a few specific references to the manuscripts that you have submitted: "Never split infinitives! You write who expects to some day enjoy'; which should be, 'expects some day to enjoy,' or 'expects to enjoy some day'; though the latter is neither so strong nor so euphonious as the former. "Do not over-work any one word. It wearies the ear and makes the reading dull, for, in a way, the sensitive ear 'hears' these things even in silent reading. In the article you have offered the oft repetition of 'price' becomes tiresome; by the use of synonyms and pronouns you could have easily avoided this. "Place emphatic words in emphatic positions. So many writers fail in this; and there is scarcely a more serious flaw, for it so weakens the force of what is said. "Never write carelessly. The writers who succeed are those who have developed a style on which the publisher can depend for production of 'copy' that will stand the test of the printed page." THE MANUSCRIPT MARKET. [ This information as to the present special needs of various periodicals comes directly from the editors. Particulars as to conditions of prize offers should be sought from those offering the prizes. Before submitting manuscrints to any periodical, writers should examine a copy of the magazine in question.] Joy Lidman, the Juvenile Editor of Henry Holt and Company (19 West Forty-fourth street, New York), asks THE WRITER to say that the Company would be interested in re ceiving good juvenile manuscripts, preferring books for boys and girls of from nine to twelve, or non-fiction material-- readable stories in science, and such matter. Miss Lidman adds that judging by the proportion of fairy-tales received by Henry Holt and Com pany, it is evident that many people who are trying to write for children think that a juvenile story must be a fairy-tale. The Lumber Worker (Nashville, Tenn.) is a monthly magazine of national circulation, which prints articles of a practical nature regarding the various aspects of producing and refining forest products. S. F. Horn, the editor, will be glad to examine manuscripts of articles relating to better ways of doing things in logging, in the sawmill, the planing mill, dry kiln, and wood-working operations. Payment is made on acceptance, at the rate of one-half cent a word. Illustrated articles are preferred. The Commonweal (25 Vanderbilt avenue, New York) wants some short stories and some brief well-written essays and articles. R. H. Davis, managing editor of the Munsey publications, says that it is always difficult to answer questions about the special manuscript needs of his magazines, because it is a shifting market. The reading public, he says, changes its mind frequently. Rules, regulations, constitutions, and by-laws are being broken. Perhaps some unspeakable putrid stratum of vulgarity is tapped and the public goes mad over something that never had any right to be printed; or the radio begins to buzz in the ears of the populace; or from that they turn suddenly to cross-word puzzles. Mr. Davis says he might ask definitely for certain kinds of manuscripts only to find that out of the confusion leaps a brand-new product, very much better than the thing he sought. It goes without saying that he always wants interesting short fiction and good serials. All-Sports Magazine (14 East Jackson boulevard, Chicago) is in especial need of sport stories of all kinds. College Humor (110 West Chicago avenue, Chicago,) is to be enlarged, beginning with the February number. Its greatest need at present is for light-hearted stories about young people, stories with a collegiate background, or stories that touch college life, however re motely. The ideal length is 3,500 words. The editors are anxious to see the work of new writers and to read first novels. During 1925 they expect to serialize two novels. They buy only first American serial rights, and pay on acceptance. Sam. T. Clover, editor of the Argonaut (0. T. Johnson Building, Los Angeles, Calif.), says that the magazine has a staff both in Los Angeles and in San Francisco, so that the manuscript needs from outsiders are very limited. The Grocer's Magazine, which has changed its name to Boston Grocer and Provision Dealer (Lock Box 2464, Boston), wants short sketches of some clever plan a grocer or meat dealer has used to increase trade. The Fiction House, Inc., (461 Eighth avenue, New York) publishers of Action Stories, True Adventures, and Novelets, with J. B. Kelly as editor, wants manuscripts as follows: For Action Stories: Stories that live up to the title both in drama and style, -redblooded fiction of adventure, of the West, the North, the South Seas, sports, and similar subjects. Romantic interest, while not barred, is not necessary. Stories should start quickly and stop when the story is told. Short stories should contain from 3,000 to 6,000 words; short novelets, from 8,000 to 10,000 words; and complete novels, from 20,000 to 25,000 words. For True Adventures: Stories must be startling, based on actual facts, and must ring absolutely true. The characters, scenes, and incidents must be taken from actual life, and the diction must be snappy and convincing. Short stories should contain from 3,000 to 6,000 words, and feature stories from 8,000 to 12,000 words. Book-length stories that are exciting, colorful, with powerful themes, preferably, though not necessarily, located outof-doors, are also used. For Novelets: Stories must be rugged, wholesome yarns, with Western or Northern settings, containing from 8,000 to 10,000 words. The essential elements are action and dramatic |