How I write my novels

The Project Gutenberg EBook of How I write my novels, by Mrs. HungerfordThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it,give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online atwww.gutenberg.netTitle: How I write my novelsAuthor: Mrs. HungerfordRelease Date: December 25, 2008 [EBook #27621]Language: English*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOW I WRITE MY NOVELS ***Produced by Daniel Fromont[Transcriber's note: Mrs. Hungerford (Margaret Wolfe Hamilton) (1855?-1897) "How I write my novels" (from MrsHungerford's An anxious moment pp. 275-282)]To sit down in cold blood and deliberately set to cudgel one's brains with a view to dragging from them a plot wherewithto make a book is (I have been told) the habit of some writers, and those of no small reputation. Happy people! Whatpowers of concentration must be theirs! What a belief in themselves—that most desirable of all beliefs, that sweetpropeller toward the temple of fame. Have faith in yourself, and all me, will have faith in you.But as for me, I have to lie awake o'nights longing and hoping for inspirations that oft-times are slow to come. But whenthey do come, what a delight! All at once, in a flash, as it were, the whole story lies open before me—a delicate diorama,vague here and there, but with a beginning and an end—clear as crystal. I can never tell when these ...