AUTHORSHIP AMD LABOR

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 108, 25 April 1908, Page 4

AUTHORSHIP AMD LABOR

•A'."ii;s is an awfully Utzv lite." ly '^ ; im a,nanwno employed,wen-"-low so?" I asked. •«''»" was the answer, you do „, ;"« , vouhtm »olij or bother like we business men. . '-"I isn t the mere fact of writi,,., doing something?- | s .,jd c-rush!;,,''" 1 /' Ut ' S ;l " l'' Ws the tl,3i "' ?! ," ml ' " flel- " """'""''l thought ho added: "And besides even ihmigli it might be termed »■„,-' it onh- ii. .(' . Ltl,Nt( ' WOIK It Is .°«SLureV' ,t - 0,,Wr,,tt, -- l, ' C - l

VUlal do you ,1„, t1,,.,, y". | as |.„. Volt employ men t„ do j. OlIl . Kln% vou do nothing but sit in your office and ''"joy yourself."

I huts all you know," he said, will, a 'High. "I ve nearly all the anxiety all 1 bother of thinking out the way, and ""'.™s; my mind has to lie constantly on the alert "

sii'oT",/ "there you liave ~.,.., Kvnote of the whode subject— 1 kinking.'" I- is curious that, like him. uuuiv people imagine that an author's lih i- a lazy, indolent, but, above all, an ««">■ one; that there is no trouble or anxiety, apart from the labor of writili'v out, in the composition of a story or n»ve. Xot only that, but they imagine hat unless a writer is at his desk he. is idling away his time.

It i seems to In, beyond their comprehension that every novel-nay, even every short story „r article-requires carelul deliberation-that out of the hall-dozen possiMc ideas that present themselves the author lias to consider and select the one which to him appears

One ol our eminent novelists, I I'oroot .lust at present whirl,, said that "it took him a W eek to think out what he could put on paper in a day." 'l'«''<; is a story told of one novelist, which illustrates the point to a nicety! One day, during his trip to America.'a .ma" of money bLgan to cli-.ill'him on the subject of laziness.

"But f do work." retorted lie. "What did you.do 10-dav, then'(" ask ed the other.

"Well, said the novelist, "after due ;"i'l malm* consideration- all (lie morning. 1 decided to strike out a comma in my last poem." ••(loudness, was that, all -ynu did?" asked thV questioner, astonished thai H'" i-diloriilion as to whether a com ma should be kept in or taken out of a poem should be termed work. "No," said the other, '■after further thought in the afternoon J decided to replace, it." Of course, the above is somewhat of

an exaggeration, but none the ks-, v<>ry otti'ii thi' lOusidcration of a paragraph—wn of a single word—takes up a long lime. It in those carefully-thought-out little points that denote the professional author. The amateur simplv takes the lir-f idea that comes to hand, and (joes right ahead, anil thus generally reveals the unpractised hand. But there are other considerations lie sides those of writing. No one but. an author knows the dilliculty of getting M.K.S. accepted. There are various causes for this.

apart from the (piality of the work, or even suitability. Kvery editor has a list of men who are, so to say. no on

but of his stall', These men lie can always rely upon ill the case of emergency; therefore, it is quite natural he should give them the preference over a stranger who happens to have sent an article. .Moreover, anything from one unknown to him may be plagiarised, or even copied Itoldly. There is one editor

I know who on no account, will acecpl the first .M.S. .sent in. If it pleases him, he requests the sender to submit one or two more; then, judging by the uniformity in slj'le and merit, that they are, the bona liite work of the sender, he generally accepts one, and places the author on his list of recognised contributors.

Another cause is that literature, like most other things, is simply overcrowded. There are in Brit-ain at least a, thousand professional writers, apart from those connected with the Press, and amateurism reigns . triumphant

Those amateurs write one or two short stories in a year, and, of course, they run the same chance of b'eing accepted

as any articles written by one who makes literature a profession. The other causes of getting your M.S.S. rejected are various. The editor may already have a number of storife*

similar in idea or plot in his possession, or the want of space, etc. These are what might be termed natural causes; but there are others which do not appear quite so natural to the uninitiated.

One is jealousy ami rivalry between p;ipers. There are several papers thai (in mi account would accept a story or article from the jh-ji of anyone who contributed to their rivals. It' they come across a likely mail who has sent M.S.S. to the other, they use every inducement they can think of, except that of remunerative pay, to persuade him to sign a contract with I hem that lie will not write for any oilier paper. A wellknown writer nmler a noni-de-pluine did m. for live yours with one of the largest firms, mill during that time his income averaged less than a hundred pounds a year. At the end of his contract he hud piles of .M.S.N.; hut what good were llu-v when he had wasted, comparatively speaking, lire y •* of his life? The pay varies. Some journals give a pound per M.S., irrespective of length, or live shillings per column. <if course, Ihe figure may vary to a great, extent, according to the position the author holds in the literary world. Poetry. Ihal outlet for the impassioned lover, I range- from live to ten shillings per piece, according to length, although Ihere are a number nf papers that never I'll v for any poetical clVnsion. line la,| Word l.i those who v coir template elHerimr Ihe raliksjof I'll'ofes. siomil journalism, and that one is the. laconic •Dim'l," unless you have an unlimited income at your command, and can he utterly indifferent to editorial rebuffs.