The Elinor Glyn System of Writing Volume 2 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1922 edition. Excerpt: ...murmurings, in her physical, moral, and human aspects. The Mental Tonics That Successful Writers Employ.--Nearly all writers get their ideas under different circumstances. Balzac arose at midnight and took a long draught of the hottest, blackest, and strongest coffee obtainable. "H. G. Wells," says Tit-Bits, "is one of those fortunate individuals who brim with ideas. His collection is so great that no pen could clothe them with stories in a lifetime. He gets his ideas at night, and then brings them down to breakfast in the morning, where he dictates them to his secretary." F. Marion Crawford got his ideas on foot. To think out a novel, he would often walk forty miles. The imagination of Stanley Weyman is warmed and lubricated by the sound of running water; therefore, he does his writing in a houseboat. Robert Hitchens' thoughts do not begin to flow until he has his pen in hand. De Quincy wrote under the influence of opium, while Stevenson received a multitude of ideas for his stories from the coastline of Scotland. ' Frankly, however, it is very doubtful whether any of this extraneous paraphernalia was absolutely necessary to assist these various writers in securing suitable ideas. I believe that they liked to live under such odd circumstances and to indulge in such peculiarities. We all have desires for certain locations, posi tions, atmospheres, conditions, and so on. Consequently, if We are placed as nearly as possible in an ideal location our ideas are bound to work out more harmoniously. How to Enlarge Your Creative Abi1ity.--The solution is simple, so simple, in fact, that by its very manifestness alone will it have failed to occur to the majority of writers. Most beginners are determined to have...