"He's a coward; he dassn't hit me," came the wasp-like taunt of the switchman. "Let him alone, fellers; his girl's give him the shake, and——"
Those were the last words Simpson spoke. The murderous coupling-pin had descended like a scimitar and crushed his skull.
An awed silence fell upon the little group as they raised the fallen man and saw that he was dead.
"Ye'll be hangin' fur this, Mikey, me bye," whispered one of his horrified companions as the police dragged off the unresisting murderer.
"Oi don't care," came the sullen reply, with a dry sob that belied it. Then, with a look of unutterable hatred, and a nod towards the white, upturned face of his enemy, he added under his breath, "He'll niver git her now."
This is enough to give the beginner an idea of the way in which stories and plots sometimes "occur" to writers of fiction. It is, however, only one of a thousand ways, and my advice to the novice is this: Keep your eyes and ears open; observe and inquire, read and reflect; look at life and the things of life from your own point of view; and just as a financier manipulates events for the sake of money, so ought you to turn all your experiences into the mould of fiction. If, after this, you don't succeed, it is evident you have made a mistake. Be courageous enough to acknowledge the fact, and leave the writing of novels to others.
FOOTNOTES:
[13:A] "The Art of Writing Fiction," p. 43.
[18:A] Shuman, "Steps into Journalism," p. 208.