John ShaqiResearch Library

Opening the text

The Fiction Factory: Being the experience of a writer who, for twenty-two years, has kept a story-mill grinding successfullyCook, William Wallace

Philosophy

The Fiction Factory: Being the experience of a writer who, for twenty-two years, has kept a story-mill grinding successfully

Name: The Fiction Factory: Being the experience of a writer who, for twenty-two years, has kept a story-mill grinding successfully
Author: Cook, William Wallace

Cook, William Wallace

Authorship; Fiction

Many readers will be found whose interest in a writer's work is so keen
that they are tempted to offer suggestions. Such suggestions are not to
be lightly considered. Magazines are published to please their readers,
and they are successful in a direct ratio with their ability to
accomplish this end. Naturally, the old doggerel concerning "many men
of many minds" will apply here, and a single suggestion that has not a
wide appeal, or that fails to conform to the policy of the magazine,
must be handled with great care.

                                 "Cincinnati, Ohio, Oct. 31, 1905.

  Mr. John Milton Edwards,
    Care Frank A. Munsey Co.,
         New York.

  Dear Sir:

  Because of the increasing interest in Socialism, would it not be a
  good idea to write a story showing under what conditions we should
  live in, say, the year 2,000, if the Socialists should come into
  power?

  You might begin your story with the United States under a Socialistic
  form of government, and later on Socialize the rest of the world.

  Your imaginative stories are the ones most eagerly sought in the
  pages of _The Argosy_, and I think that a story such as I have
  suggested would serve to increase your popularity among the readers
  of fiction.

                                                Sincerely yours,
                                                     J. H. S----."

It frequently happens that a comedian will get after a writer with a
stuffed club or a slapstick. Some anonymous humorist, upon reading
a story of Edwards' in _The Argosy_, labored and brought forth the
following:

                                               "November 19, 1904.

  John Milton Edwards,
    Care Frank A. Munsey Co.,
          New York.

  My dear John:--

  I have read with much pleasure and delight the first six chapters of
  your latest story, 'At Large in Terra Incognita,' as published in the
  December number of _The Argosy_.

  I cannot understand why you failed to send me the proof-sheets of
  this story for correction, as you did with 'There and Back.' It
  is evident so far as I have read the person who corrected your
  proof-sheets was as ignorant as yourself.

  Where you got the material for this story is not within my memory,
  retrospective though it is, and I am sure you must have been on one
  of your periodical drunks, otherwise the flights of fancy you have
  taken would have been more rational and not so far removed beyond the
  pale of the human intellect.

  Now, my dear John, I beg of you to give up going on these habitual
  tears, because you are not only ruining your constitution but your
  reputation as a writer is having reflections cast upon it. I trust
  you will not take this letter as a sermon but rather in a spirit of
  friendly counsel.

  I hope you will send me at once the remaining chapters of this great
  'At Large in Terra Incognita.'

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

The Fiction Factory: Being the experience of a writer who, for twenty-two years, has kept a story-mill grinding successfullyCook, William Wallace

Philosophy

The Fiction Factory: Being the experience of a writer who, for twenty-two years, has kept a story-mill grinding successfully

Cook, William Wallace

Authorship; Fiction

Many readers will be found whose interest in a writer's work is so keen
that they are tempted to offer suggestions. Such suggestions are not to
be lightly considered. Magazines are published to please their readers,
and they are successful in a direct ratio with their ability to
accomplish this end. Naturally, the old doggerel concerning "many men
of many minds" will apply here, and a single suggestion that has not a
wide appeal, or that fails to conform to the policy of the magazine,
must be handled with great care.

                                 "Cincinnati, Ohio, Oct. 31, 1905.

  Mr. John Milton Edwards,
    Care Frank A. Munsey Co.,
         New York.

  Dear Sir:

  Because of the increasing interest in Socialism, would it not be a
  good idea to write a story showing under what conditions we should
  live in, say, the year 2,000, if the Socialists should come into
  power?

  You might begin your story with the United States under a Socialistic
  form of government, and later on Socialize the rest of the world.

  Your imaginative stories are the ones most eagerly sought in the
  pages of _The Argosy_, and I think that a story such as I have
  suggested would serve to increase your popularity among the readers
  of fiction.

                                                Sincerely yours,
                                                     J. H. S----."

It frequently happens that a comedian will get after a writer with a
stuffed club or a slapstick. Some anonymous humorist, upon reading
a story of Edwards' in _The Argosy_, labored and brought forth the
following:

                                               "November 19, 1904.

  John Milton Edwards,
    Care Frank A. Munsey Co.,
          New York.

  My dear John:--

  I have read with much pleasure and delight the first six chapters of
  your latest story, 'At Large in Terra Incognita,' as published in the
  December number of _The Argosy_.

  I cannot understand why you failed to send me the proof-sheets of
  this story for correction, as you did with 'There and Back.' It
  is evident so far as I have read the person who corrected your
  proof-sheets was as ignorant as yourself.

  Where you got the material for this story is not within my memory,
  retrospective though it is, and I am sure you must have been on one
  of your periodical drunks, otherwise the flights of fancy you have
  taken would have been more rational and not so far removed beyond the
  pale of the human intellect.

  Now, my dear John, I beg of you to give up going on these habitual
  tears, because you are not only ruining your constitution but your
  reputation as a writer is having reflections cast upon it. I trust
  you will not take this letter as a sermon but rather in a spirit of
  friendly counsel.

  I hope you will send me at once the remaining chapters of this great
  'At Large in Terra Incognita.'

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

The Fiction Factory: Being the experience of a writer who, for twenty-two years, has kept a story-mill grinding successfully

The Fiction Factory: Being the experience of a writer who, for twenty-two years, has kept a story-mill grinding successfully

No reviews yet