ANSWER TO CORRESPONDENT

New Zealand Tablet, 29 April 1915, Page 29

ANSWER TO CORRESPONDENT

Amateur. — Your story, ‘ Bugler Jimmy’s Convert,’ is not up to publication standard—written at the mature age of sixteen it was not, of course, to be expected that it would be. The faults are those almost necessarily incidental' to a beginner’s work. The plot is on the simple side ; some of the utterances are, to put it mildly, improbable as, for * example, that a priest would address the German soldiers with ‘ Back, dogs,’ or that the bigoted Harris would ‘ feel holy ’ at the mere sight of a scapular and the English leaves a little to be desired. Nevertheless, you show such vim, and snap, and ‘ go ’ in your work, and such a cheerful and breezy self-confidence, that we cannot find it in our heart to do other than encourage you. For your age, you manage your characters, incidents, and dialogue remarkably well, and you write with a sureness of touch that is very welcome and distinctly promising. Your plot is, as we have said, rather simple, but in view of some of the efforts that come our way it is matter for gratitude that there is a plot at all. Do not be in a hurry to • write more stories until your mind has developed a good deal; in the meantime lay a foundation for future work by giving yourself to a thorough study of higher English. if you are too far from any centre to be able to obtain personal tuition, buy a good work on English composition, and another on English' literature, and set yourself to master both. You have the real thing in you, and in due time will be able to tell a good story—we mean, of course, in the strictly literary sense.