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METHODS OF AUTHORS

ERICHSEN

WP Co




    COPYRIGHT, 1894,
    BY WILLIAM H. HILLS.

    _All Rights Reserved._




    _To

    R. E. FRANCILLON,

    who is admired and loved by novel-readers on
    both sides of the Atlantic,

    THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED,

    by his permission, with sincere regard, by
    the Author._




PREFACE.


When I began to gather the material for this volume I was quite doubtful
as to whether the public would be interested in a work of this kind or
not. As my labor progressed, however, it became evident that not only
the body of the people, but authors themselves, were deeply interested
in the subject, and would welcome a book treating of it. Not only M.
Jules Claretie, the celebrated Parisian literarian, but the late Dr.
Meissner and many others assured me of this fact.

Nor is this very surprising. Who, after reading a brilliant novel, or
some excellent treatise, would not like to know how it was written?

So far as I know, this volume is a novelty, and Ben Akiba is outwitted
for once. Books about authors have been published by the thousands, but
to my knowledge, up to date, none have been issued describing their
methods of work.

In the preparation of this book I have been greatly aided by the works
of Rev. Francis Jacox, an anonymous article in _All the Year Round_, and
R. E. Francillon's essay on "The Physiology of Authorship," which
appeared first in the _Gentleman's Magazine_.

I was also assisted in my labor by numerous newspaper clippings and many
letters from writers, whose names appear in this volume, and to all of
whom I return my sincere thanks.

    H. E.
    DETROIT, Mich.




CONTENTS.


       I. Eccentricities in Composition.

      II. Care in Literary Production.

     III. Speed in Writing.

      IV. Influence upon Writers of Time and Place.

       V. Writing under Difficulties.

      VI. Aids to Inspiration--Favorite Habits of Work.

     VII. Goethe, Dickens, Schiller, and Scott.

    VIII. Burning Midnight Oil.

      IX. Literary Partnership.

       X. Anonymity in Authorship.

      XI. System in Novel Writing.

     XII. Traits of Musical Composers.

    XIII. The Hygiene of Writing.

     XIV. A Humorist's Regimen.




METHODS OF AUTHORS.


I.

Eccentricities in Composition.


The public--that is, the reading world made up of those who love the
products of authorship--always takes an interest in the methods of work
adopted by literary men, and is fond of gaining information about
authorship in the act, and of getting a glimpse of its favorite, the
author, at work in that "sanctum sanctorum"--the study. The modes in
which men write are so various that it would take at least a dozen
volumes to relate them, were they all known, for:--

    "Some wits are only in the mind
      When beaux and belles are 'round them prating;
    Some, when they dress for dinner, find
      Their muse and valet both in waiting;
    And manage, at the self-same time,
    To adjust a neckcloth and a rhyme.

    "Some bards there are who cannot scribble
    Without a glove to tear or nibble;
    Or a small twig to whisk about--
      As if the hidden founts of fancy,
    Like wells of old, were thus found out
      By mystic tricks of rhabdomancy.

    "Such was the little feathery wand,
    That, held forever in the hand
    Of her who won and wore the crown
      Of female genius in this age,
    Seemed the conductor that drew down
      Those words of lightning to her page."

This refers to Madame de Stael, who, when writing, wielded a "little
feathery wand," made of paper, shaped like a fan or feather, in the
manner and to the effect above described.

Well may the vivacious penman of "Rhymes on the Road" exclaim:--

    "What various attitudes, and ways,
      And tricks we authors have in writing!
    While some write sitting, some, like Bayes,
