REJECTED M.S.S.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 9735, 25 May 1897, Page 2

REJECTED M.S.S.

Sydney Bulletin. Whew! heie'rf a pile—articles, essays, talcs, sketches, paragraphs, verses . . . Srn,—l have wriiteu a norel about bt»h life which I Would like to puhiieh in the ButUtin. There are 193 chapters, and you could print a chapter in each i«eu«. It in very exciting, Sail ot fighu with buslir»niccrs; &<;., ke., Mid I am curt: it would h<> very papular. I'lcftHS let mc know how you pay for n'uvciii, and kimlt.v rcpl.v !>y return past, a* 1 a«ii anxious to lia.v« the uukUvr settled.—Yours respecttlully, H*xr.ir . Ao stamps, no addressed envelope—no fear. Ami a reply by return mail. Say 200 contributions reach the BulUtin every day—ami wmetimes there are more—and *11, or half, or a quarter of the writers were arkSMrerea \sy return ma.il, or any xaa.xi sxX. alt with £b« aocl «*«=t*vil«l reasons -wiiicU the a-verage writer l I II I 'l II deHlres so badly—when, pray, vrouia ike paper be edited ? So Henry's letter is briefly answered in the correspondence column, and that sort of Henry never thinks pf looking in the correspondence columnsHo hn y.me«. ami denounces the JBultetin to Jijrt neighbour,-) ns o pnper which doea its li tint to amotlicr rile ju>x>iratioi3s of native • • • • • If Honry had eyes, and wit?, and used his eyes and -\vits, he would see and know that the Bulletin n&vev dreams o( printing novels ill 193 chapters—that it never prints serial fitoriea at all. Bui that »ort of Henry never bas eyes or -wits—for things external to hiniaell and lii» Ktory, anyway. There ie pathos, of course, in Htnry'a idea that for the lime being he and his novel in 193 chapters are Bitting at the centre of the universe, and the holar Hyetein and the earth and the editors are revolving round him ; hut the edge of the pathos is dulled by habit. There are so many Henrys, whose literary necks have to be wrung in so many seconds if the paper is to come out on Thursday, unci the literary cook rarely has tinie for h qualm ... Oh ! and here you are again— Dear Sir.,—Three day* a'_'o I posted to the Bulletin « MS flrauift ir» ltvu sets, entitled " Abdtir-rahman, or the Moor oi Cadiz." As I htve had no reply, and them in no mention of it in the correspondence column, (Bhc posted it on Wednesday, and devoured iirx , : ''ay's correspondence column —onco, with delicious thrills of anticipation : a second time, with gradual misgivings : and a third time, with blank despair.) 1 wHte to ask whether you have received it.—Youn truly, Jask No mau Irving or dead has ever known tho Bulletin to publish a five-act drama, or to give the least sign of -wanting to publish ft five-act Jraina; but Jane knows that her drama is literature, and she knows that the BulUtin prints literature, and she adde two ' and throe together to make four with all the dexterity oi hei- se.v. Likely enough there will bo trouble with Jane, if her MS. has yone astray ii> the post —as MS. sometimes will, generally because the contributor sends it on a long journey so flimsily-wrapped and slightly-tied that the least shock sends the packet sprawling open—or if in the multitude of contributions (many of them requiring very c&refnl consideration) there is delay, Jane ie quite capable of calling in person ; and that, under the circumstances, is a thing to be avoidod at all costs. So We will hunt Jane up ... yos, here she is . . . and pack her off the premises as speedily as possible. • • • * • And there are many persons who, if not in quite such novel and dramatic extremes as Henry and Jane, yet think and act in similar fashion. It is only when an amateur writer has cent in ten or a dozen rejected MS. that be begins to realise — to really realise — that there are writers in the world besides himself. Before that bo only thinks he realises. But to nearly every beginner the little tale that he bas taken so much pains over (or bas " dashed off" —the Australian beginner has quite a talent for "d&alrisg off") seems the most momentous thing in existence. He never thinks of looking at it as it lies on the editor's desk— ■wallowed in tire surging heap of vastly (the chances are) more interesting and important contributions. If he did, probably, he would write so that he could be read with the least pains possible. Fancy a tired editor-man, whose brain should be always at its best, whose nerves should be always strung, and who never has -time for half the things he wants to do— fancy him wading through forty pages of grabbed script like the tracks of a spider walking in its sleep. Yet that ie what the cheerful contributor asks him to do every liour of his life. With the beet will in the world the editor-man can't do it. He has not time and energy to pnzzle a meaning «Ot of every separate word when he should te catching the xuessage of a sentence or a jPage. Am a matter of duty, he tries to form some opinion on everything submitted to him ; buteometimes it ie impossible. And a •writer never loses anything by making his «oript legible, bis copy attractive. To see the way some people crowd their words and marrow their lines you would think there were only two or three sheets of writing ■paper In creation. Sometimes, ot course, an the far bush that is practically all there jure; and then allowances must be made. But there is doubtfully an allowance for the anaemic-inked person with only nine black <orpuscles to a sheet, or for the lead-pencil jwrson with the smudge. These are they who put out editors , eyes—consoienoelesa, iremorsoleaa, . . . Now, here is a man "who writes plainly, in solid black ink, on good white paper . . . Ha?— 1897. Queensland. DTo thi'editor, D«ak Sm,—l write yon a few lines to let you know that I would like to be a writer to ybur paper. The few verses that 1 enclose niisrht seem ridiculous in the eyes of a person like yourself, but everyone hea their iMjlte, nod this "being my flrat attempt at anything in this lino you must look on itwith lenient eye and if it •u!t« you pray let mc hear from you in your Correspondence ilaw with as much encouragement v you CMtptre. • And Will Oblige, Yours Truly, E. BiiA.vcotmNX (alias). , P.N.-* The ntuua that I signed to this letter i» an flias My Proper Name I will forward it my verge's fcccepUrt, . Si&.E.B. Tm Turns' Fati. Jn« nenrtlK ::;vcr DanVa, Istood While waiting, for my Love When of! toward a hei;vy Wood 1 heard a cry ot pain 2nd Verw. This chanced to be her road, to com*, To mc at earl} , Kight,Wbat clid'l do, but straight tjiere Bun ' But no, it tm too late -~. ' 3rd Verse. , I came up, where 1 heard the scraun And mms of a struggle saw My thought* formed quits unpleasant dream* Of happiness no mor* «h Verw. The idea, came to my mind at one* That ehe hod been assaulted When a twin shot mo, like a laa«, For not having goue to meet Her. Torn over For Keat. 6th Vem. I waded through the water. Xα the vain attempt to see T Or hear, a sound come from Her Bat h«pe, soon died away. • . 6th Verse. The Nigtrt by this had lowered I could ecaroely &c a yard But etill I harried forward WhU« my thoughts, within mc, taid 7th Vers*, Barry en with all your (peed Aa fa»t aa you can go AH your Oounme you will BMd For what jou"U aoon see n«w 7th Verse. My tiurajrbtt had wandered in this ttnHi Wnn suddenly 1 stopped And Found My*«U wiUvia a Lane Quit* poxzled nher* l"d got Tarn over . Bth Vem. I took some eteps ahead, and' found To my horror ami disroav, My future Bride dead, on the ground Hooter* her k>vo for mc. The End, By £. Buiroooun, Aliu Queensland. Vtry likely you will notice the waot of principal in tteea few Uaet. However you cart jtHhp wh«dMr I *»t« a*y nrMuwji ia tate line or not Siff. K.B. * • • • • Well, legible writing isn't everything, it escms; but note, at all events, that " E. (alias)" first contribution got printed—which is more than can be said for moat tmst oontribntione. And he ie a man of ecrwe, too, as well as mettle (whatever his lack of "priwapal"— »t which Lard forbid that a eoribe should cast a stone), for he writes kn letter on the same sheet as his «,S y *- *£H writera "eparate letters, \£*£*£? m * «J*~rm persist in lSta? ?T e * me " e **«fr copy. 150 for , three <**T*l 400 packets SS^SJS* ,,^, ** 1 h * dJffer cnt maOsTwithVilify the sena«s; mis thoroughly! aad • ♦ • tt*tau fc> Uμ editor-man ewiacue l

Listen a little longer, and hear the contributors swearing becaasp the unidentified i copy isn't answered, or isn't printed, or isn't returned. But no contributor ever hwears at himself. . When, a.3 an unknown contributor, yon are sending in copy to any editor whatsoever, don't write a letter, bat vmfce your name and address legibly on the copy, and preferably on every sheet- of the copy. If you have a tttgnaturo which is an ahagram and a conundrum and an acrosticroUed;ieto one, don't use it: write leffibhj. Letters aren't wanted : the eopv is the only thing of importance: 9999 out "of 10,000 cases the copy tells the editor all he wants to know. It you desire a pen-naoie or initials to be u|ed or tlKmjrt Vhjjooj printed. Ifut aon't" &> say it's your nit unit f jwr -i" .n middle one. Don't write to say the incident happened to your annt, or your mother-in-law, or your mate Bill. Don't write to ask for return if unavailable, bat tether a stamped and addressed envelope firmly to your copy, »r»cl let: it l>e yoxtx- silent arici JLMdittu. In ft wl ilflfl't writi letters or if you feel voo. Txnxssfc "write tHafc tithing in the world" will stop you from writing, then write your name-and a«.ldress on tho copy a* well, and the editor-man will Cheerfully low the letter and say no more about it. Bat don't write letters.