Ruth Sawyer
This Way to Christmas
Paperback
(Independently published Jan. 23, 2020)
I wonder if you know that stories have a way of beginning themselves? Sometimes they even do more than this. They tell themselves—beginning and ending just where they please—with no consideration at all for the author or the reader.Perhaps you have discovered this for yourself; you may have in mind this minute some of the stories that you wished had begun long before they did—and others that ended before you thought they had any business doing so. These have a very unpleasant way of leaving your expectations and your interest all agog; 2and I have not a doubt that you have always blamed the author. This is not fair. In a matter of this kind an author is just as helpless as a reader, and there is no use in trying to coax or scold a story into telling itself her way. As sure as she tries the story gets sulky or hurt, picks up its beginning and ending, and trails away, never to come back; and that story is lost for all time. You may try it yourself if you do not believe me.Now, if I could have had my way, I should have begun with David in the window nook at dusk-hour, looking out on the Hill Country all white with the gathering snow; and I should have said:“It was the year after last—and the year before next—and just seven days before Christmas—”I have begun this way a hundred times, and every time the same thing happens. The story behaves disgracefully. It will have none of my way. I have actually heard it screaming: “No! I won’t begin there! I won’t—I won’t—I won’t!” After which it always runs for the door. As a result I have become completely cowed and I have given in. I am making believe now (and so must you, for it never does to 3let a story get in a bad humor) that after all this is the best beginning.
- ISBN
- / 9798603316000
- Pages
- 121
- Weight
- 8.5 oz.
- Dimensions
- 6.0 x 0.3 in.
Enjoy reading This Way to Christmas? You may also like these books
-
Ruth Sawyer
The Way of the Storyteller: A Great Storyteller Shares Her Rich Experience and Joy in Her Art and Tells Eleven of Her Best-Loved Stories
Paperback (Penguin Books Jan. 27, 1977) -
ruth-sawyer
The Long Christmas: Stories and Carols for Christmas
Hardcover (The Bodley Head Jan. 1, 1972) -
Ruth Sawyer
THIS WAY TO CHRISTMAS - Stories for when you're snowed in at Christmas
(Abela Publishing Jan. 23, 2020)
