LADIES' GOSSIP.

Otago Witness, Issue 3467, 24 August 1920, Page 49

LADIES' GOSSIP.

There is no royal road to success :n fiction (says Annie *S. Swan in an interview with a representative of the Weekly Scotsman); the road is |ust tne timehonoured pathway to success in any other branch of human activity—patient, painstaking effort Curious as it may appear I cannot help thinking that it is a distinctly easier thing to write a long story than 'a short. The writing of a chort story is an art in itself, the last word in fiction writing. Many people eeem to think that the present time is the rosiest the story writer has ever experienced, but is it? Personally, I should say that just prior to the war was the period vmc-n writers had the ideal opportunity of making headway in their vocation. Nowadays the editors are beginning to become somewhat scared by the army of new writers which has recently invaded the field ; it is to the old favourites they seem to be clinging more devotedly than ever.