One can not discuss the subject of fiction writing without prefacing the statement with a warning against sentimentalism. Sentiment is sure, is pure, only when it is aroused by the true and natural evolution of the story itself. To excite the reader's emotions with paltry and showy effects or to set out deliberately to produce spontaneous sympathy by mechanical and tricky writing, is to lapse into sentimentalism.

In general, the appeal to the emotions of a reader is the proof of the story. Just as some fiction intoxicates and some other depresses, so does real literature appeal to the sympathy by its confidential treatment of love, anger, tragedy, humor, etc. Before one begins to write, therefore, he should study the method of approach to the end of his emotional element.

The Love Element

Love stories, long and short, rule the world. A good tale of sentiment, woven about a strong and holding plot, is the most salable commodity in the author's possession. A study of current fiction indicates the demand.

The theme resolves itself into several general divisions. There is the love of the young man for the young lady; there is the love succeeding marriage, ranging from the newly wed couple to the gray-haired sweethearts; there is the parent's love, the children's love; there is the love for a child who redeems a barren life; there is the one-sided love, the illicit love, the love of man or woman for dumb animals and objects. A still more searching analysis shows the many qualities that ally themselves with sentiment, sacrifice, selfishness, jealousy, redemption or damnation of character, and the like. He who aspires to write a love story should be clear in mind as to the general field and as to the specific path he is to follow. More work is ruined by the author's lack of previous conception of his subject matter and method than by any other example of carelessness or oversight.

A love story demands characters that are lovable. It will be seen, therefore, that the first requisite is a hero or heroine whom the reader can respect and like, with whom he can rejoice when love's climax is reached, with whom—to revert to first principles—he can sympathize in every act, thought and word. Here, then, is the starting point of a successful love story—proper characters.

The tale of sentiment demands plot and action. There is no market for the story in which the hero and heroine meet, love and marry without hindrance of any kind. Tersely put, the element of love in no way offsets the need of a sequence of events leading to the climax. The second essential, therefore, is plot or story.

It is with the third requisite that the author must concern himself—the handling. Characters and plot are necessary, but one might have both and lack the vital quality. A man and a woman come together—say, an accident forces a meeting. They are strangers. There is no reason why they should love. Now, the author's task is to show that reason, to trace, step by step, before the reader's eyes, the development of mutual love. Just as in life we are attracted by a face, a form, an exquisite sweetness of character, so in the story must the charms be shown and dwelt upon until the reader, as well as the character, becomes imbued with it. Love at first sight will do for the amateur, but it is simply a snap-shot desire of possession, fleeting and wholly unsatisfactory. There must be a broader emotion, something to cherish, to revere; something that gives zest and purpose to the fight for winning.

There are no specific rules possible. One must live to write, and in life itself is the only recipe. But until the writer can trace, not by cold and judicious analysis, but by appeal to the emotional sympathy, the development, wane, wavering of sex for sex, he can not write a successful love story.

Perhaps a few general rules will aid:

Anger

The emotions are kindred, of course, and the general advice for the development of one applies to all. Anger is in many ways the antithesis of Love, although it may be momentary rather than lasting. It is cited simply because it furnishes the theme of stories of vengeance, parted friends, or is the obstacle that makes plot, etc. It may be divided into temporary and lasting, petty and blinding, and so on indefinitely.

There are a few points about anger, however, that are worth considering:

Tragedy

Tragedy borders close upon sentimentalism and melodrama. The first precept, then, is that it must be simple, natural and sincere.

Death is naturally suggested by the term, and in its broad sense it is an apt definition. But it means more than an ending of mortal life; it is the death of love, of hope, of ambition, the end of what has long been in one's heart. It is repression and denial.

Beginning with an understanding of the term, one is ready to study its importance to fiction. The death of a character offers a climax that for effect can hardly be surpassed. Dickens' "Death of Little Nell," is a good illustration. As it affects children, tragedy is wonderfully touching. Those of us with tender hearts have cried over a child's distorted views of life, both of its own and its parents'. Countless stories of a tragic conclusion have been rated masterpieces.

Because tragedy is a more moving emotion than any other, the beginning writer grasps at it, only to find his story quite worthless. To him must be offered the precept, Tragedy, purely as tragedy, is unsalable. It is only when it accomplishes some other end that it is effective. It is easy to recall fiction— deaths that have aroused pity and yet that from an artistic standpoint, possibly that other characters might be happy, were absolutely essential. Often a tragedy teaches a powerful lesson. Often it emphasizes some great truth of life. Bret Harte's stories of blunt and rough characters who endured hardships for a purpose, and Maupassant's grim, ironical tales that succeeded because of a study of the motives, are worth a close analysis. Almost always, also, tragedy" makes for character development. In cases of this kind, a tragic story has a chance of sale.

Pathos is so closely allied with tragedy that it has been considered under the general head. A pathetic tale may be enjoyable because of the sweetness and sympathy of the emotion.

A discussion of tragedy and pathos leads to these conclusions :

Humor

To attempt to teach one to write humor is an example of the unconscious type, and there's an end on't! If a writer can see life through waggish eyes, well and good! But if one is born without the sense of the ridiculous, any attempt to write humor will be a failure.

Humor in general is of two types, dependent upon the subject matter and upon the treatment. The theme may be laughable of itself, or -the writing may put into it a wholesome amount of fun. The rollicking note may be in the characters, the plot, the attitude of one toward the other. It" may be burlesque, which is difficult to classify, or wit, or humor, or satire, or irony, or some other delicate shading. Nothing is so exacting in its demands as the bright, light, frolicsome laugh-fiction ; and nothing sells as readily and for as high a price. The magazines never have enough humorous fiction.

There are no rules for its conception. The world in general is a bit awry, and if one can see it that way, a-grin, with its hat on its side, and can make the world see it that way, the road to authorship is strewn with roses. But:

Reading will offer a solution of minor points of difficulty that may arise. For love stories one has the current magazines and more than half the fiction in existence. To offer specific examples would be only to catalogue titles as they come to the mind. Kipling and London have done some capital stories of anger, particularly those of vengeance. 0. Henry produced the best humorous fiction among contemporary magazine writers. Dickens, Bill Nye, Mark Twain, and scores of others have produced capital humor; here, once more, the list could be extended indefinitely, giving a wide variety of fun in all its attributes. Tragedy has been Bandied by practically all the better known writers at some time or another. Maupassant and Dickens have been cited; Kipling and London have been mentioned in another connection. Any attempt to classify writers who have stirred the emotions is of course futile, for any writer whose work lives must have done this.

As in all writing, it is practice and study that makes for success. For this reason, the general discussion would be incomplete without some general exercises for the student:

Love

3. Write a story showing

Vary the characters and conditions as much as possible, and the exercises will be of vast help in cataloguing the sentiment.

Anger

Tragedy

Avoid sentimentality and melodrama. Be simple and sincere and brief,

2. Turn to one of your "Scenes or Setting" exercises and work it into a sympathetic interpretation of character as affected by surroundings.

3. Write a story treating of a child's distorted ideas

(2) of the tragedies of its parents' or friends' lives.

4. Combine in one story the love and tragedy elements.

It would not be fair to end the lesson without warning the student that tragedy is a drug upon the market and must be of exceptional merit to win recognition. To the beginner, tragedy seems to offer a large field because of a certain crude appealing power resulting from the turmoil of emotions.

Humor

2. Write a humorous story in which the appeal centers (1) in the humor of the principal character, (2) in the humor of the situation, (3) in the grotesque attitude of serious characters, (4) in pure burlesque.

3. Write simple exercises illustrating clearly wit, humor, satire, irony, etc. Be sure to understand the exact shades of meaning-

4. Write a humorous story of child life, utilizing the tragic view-point of your child in the exercise under "Tragedy," paragraph 3.

5. Write a one-act humorous play or vaudeville sketch. Howell's "Parlor Farces" will serve as examples.