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Volume 7049

ERB DISCUSSES
HIS WRITING METHODS
A short article by ERB from 1919 from
The Editor vol. 51 no. 3 1919-08-10 pgs 144-145.
It is discussed on pg. 327 of Porges.
Clipping from the Dave Sorochty Collection

ERB Painting by son John Coleman Burroughs
ERB DISCUSSES HIS WRITING METHODS
The Editor vol. 51 no. 3 1919-08-10 pgs 144-145
The Editor has asked me to write something about the genesis, development and writing of "The Golden Locket," a short Tarzan entry (a chapter in TARZAN THE UNTAMED) which appeared recently in The Red Book. I doubt if I can say anything that will apply any more particularly to "The Golden Locket" than to any of my other stories. 

I presume that each man has his own methods. I have tried two. At first I merely carried in mind a very broad and general plot and then let one situation suggest the next. I did not kow what my characters were going to do or where the plot was leading in the next paragraph. As I was writing merely to entertain I sought to put action or the suggestion of future action into each paragraph.

I found this a very interesting way to write stories and enjoyed it thoroughly. Then I tried plotting my stories. I worked out a very eleaborate chart covering the principal situations and action in each chapter. This chart I found rather difficult to follow, and the writing of the story became tedious labor by comparison rather difficult to follow, and the writing of the story became tedious labor by comparison with my former method, and so I went back to the old plan which I follow in practically all my stories. This would not be possible where a story depended for its principal interest upon an intricate plot, but in work of the kind that I do it is action that counts for most, the plot merely being a simple clothes-horse upon which to hang the action.

If I were to be asked to advise a young writer, the first thing that I should tell him would be not to take himself or his work seriously. Nature has given each of us a physique, a physiognomy and character that differ in one way or another from those of every other created creature, and nature has also given each of us a method of expressing himself which differs from the methods by which all other men express themselves. 

This method of expression is our style. It is affected naturally by our environment, our association and our reading, but I believe that it cannot be materially altered either for better or for worse. If you take yourself and your work too seriously you will devote too much effort to mastering a style which you believe will insure your success. Forget style while you are writing. Write in the way that interests you most, tell the stories that you are interesting in, and if you cannot succeed in this way it is because nature never intended you for a writer. 

     The Red Book Magazine [v33 #1, May 1919]
 https://www.erbzine.com/mag4/0460.html
CONTENTS
        21 · Bruce Barton’s Common-Sense Editorial · Bruce Barton · ed
        23 · The Thing on the Hearth [Sir Henry Marquis] · Melville Davisson Post · ss
        26 · The Stars Incline [Part 1 of 4] · Jeanne Judson · sl
        32 · In Lilac-Time · Kennett Harris · ss
        37 · A Checkered Career · Will Payne · ss
        42 · The Little Moment of Happiness [Part 4 of 9] · Clarence Budington Kelland · sl
        47 · The Sum of Life · Edgar A. Guest · pm
        48 · Tarzan the Untamed: The Golden Locket · Edgar Rice Burroughs 
        54 · Vicious Lucius [Anderson Crow] · George Barr McCutcheon · ss
        59 · The Cup of Fury [Part 9 of 10] · Rupert Hughes · sl
        64 · For Revenue Only · Albert Payson Terhune · ss
        68 · The Rider of the King-Log [Part 5 of 8] · Holman Day · sl
        74 · It Happened in China · William Ashley Anderson · ss
        79 · The Long Game and the Final Goal · Philip Corner · ss
        83 · You Never Can Tell About a Guy · John A. Moroso · ss 
Another of the Tarzan short stories, "The Golden Locket," appearing in Red Book, May 1919, brought a request from William R. Kane, of The Editor, for an account of the genesis and development of the story. Kane, on April 25, explained his need for information that would inspire other writers, and in replying to him, rather than focusing upon "The Golden Locket," Burroughs chose to offer general suggestions about writing. He spoke of two methods he had tried, the first one based upon a "very broad and general plot" around which he extemporized, letting "one situation suggest the next." He stated, "I did not know what my characters were going to do or where the plot was heading in the next paragraph; as I was writing merely to entertain I sought to put action or the suggestion of future action into each paragraph."

The second method, in which he plotted his stories more carefully, involved a chart "covering the principal situation and action in each chapter." However, he found the chart difficult to follow, and his writing "became tedious labor" by comparison with his former method. As a result, he returned to the old plan and used it in most of his stories. Interestingly, Burroughs maintained that this system would not work if the story depended upon an "intricate" plot; he believed that in his writing, the action was of most importance and the plot was "merely . . . a simple clothes-horse upon which to hang the action." A consideration of the intricacies of some of his stories, not necessarily in plot, but especially in the lengthy gallery of characters, the complex details of equipment, and the various customs and backgrounds, indicates that this evaluation of his stories as mere improvised sequences of actions is far too limited. Both plot and content could be intricate — for example, in the Martian works, where on occasion the stories were unified around a. central theme, and the fact that Burroughs could produce these complicated plots from a general idea, with very little outlining or planning, is quite remarkable.

For the Kane article, Burroughs' advice to young writers related first to their attitude; they were not to take themselves or their work "seriously." He stressed that each writer had his own method of expressing himself — his style. Here Burroughs revealed his own distrust of style, perhaps because of the criticisms of his works as being superficial or nonliterary and his suspicions that style was associated with lofty literary creations, often written for a select audience:

If you take yourself and your work too seriously you will devote too much effort to mastering a style which you believe will insure your success. Forget style while you are writing. Write in the way that interests you most, tell the stories that you are interested in and if you cannot succeed in this way it is because nature never intended you for a writer.

Through his own experiences he viewed the best writer as the natural or untrained one. He rejected the concept of writing as a craft that required an apprenticeship period, like any other profession, a period in which the writer would develop through careful study, practice, and analysis of other authors' stories. This, Burroughs, a natural storyteller, had never done. A conflict of goals was also involved; he could conceive only of writing to entertain. The subtler and more refined uses of language — those that he might regard as a kind of stylistic pretense — were of course integral to the story's aims and the demands it made upon the reader. If the challenge were intellectual and the goals included a psychological probing of the characters or a perception of social issues, the language and style of the story were not separable from its content. These goals, often associated with realistic or "literary" stories, were beyond Burroughs' scope.~ Porges Page 325




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