g, pirouetting, going like marionettes through all their paces.
At night I have had my gayest thoughts, at night my saddest. All things
seem open then to that giant, Imagination. Here, lying in the dark,
with as yet no glimmer of the coming dawn, no faintest light to show
where the closed curtains join, too indolent to rise and light the
lamp, too sleepy to put one's foot out of the well-warmed bed, praying
fruitlessly for that sleep that will not come--it is at such moments
as theses that my mind lays hold of the novel now in hand, and works
away at it with a vigor, against which the natural desire for sleep
hopelessly makes battle.

Just born this novel may be, or half completed; however it is, off goes
my brain at a tangent. Scene follows scene, one touching the other; the
character unconsciously falls into shape; the villain takes a rudy hue;
the hero dons a white robe; as for the heroine, who shall say what dyes
from Olympia are not hers? A conversation suggests itself, an act
thrusts itself into notice. Lightest of skeletons all these must
necessarily be, yet they make up eventually the big whole, and from the
brain wanderings of one wakeful night three of four chapters are
created for the next morning's work. As for the work itself, mine is
perhaps strangely done, for often I have written the last chapter
first, and founded my whole story on the one episode that it contained.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The story of my first novel; How a
novel is written, by Mrs. Hungerford

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FIRST NOVEL; HOW WRITTEN ***

***** This file should be named 27622.txt or 27622.zip *****
This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
http://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/6/2/27622/

Produced by Daniel Fromont

Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
will be renamed.

Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules,
set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project
Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
charge for the eBooks, unless