The Mentor: Makers of American Fiction, Vol. 6, Num. 14, Serial No. 162, September 1, 1918

Transcriber’s note: The Table of Contents was added by the Transcriber and placed into the Public Domain.
LEARN ONE THING EVERY DAY
SEPTEMBER 1 1918
SERIAL NO. 162
MAKERS OF MODERN AMERICAN FICTION (MEN)
By ARTHUR B. MAURICE
DEPARTMENT OF LITERATURE
VOLUME 6 NUMBER 14
TWENTY CENTS A COPY
There is a popular notion that anyone can write a story. A good novel is easy reading, and it seems, on that account, to be easy writing. Many a reader, in the comfortable enjoyment of good fiction, misses the genius of it altogether. He is like the skeptical young man who could see nothing difficult in the art of sculpture. “All you need to do,” he said, “is to get a block of marble, then take a hammer and chisel, and knock off the parts you don’t want.” So stated, sculpture does seem very simple. But, after all, there is some importance in knowing what parts of the marble to knock off.

Many of us feel, at times, an inward stir that prompts us to express ourselves in the written word. We are quite sure that we could write a novel or a play. That we don’t do so is simply because we are so busy—or something else. “I could write plays as well as Shakespeare if I’d a mind to,” said someone years ago to Charles Lamb. “Yes,” answered the gentle humorist, “anyone could write plays as well as Shakespeare—if he had the mind to.”