| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson by Robert Louis Stevenson: just what I desire; and I have had some good times walking along
the glaring roads, or down the poplar alley of the great canal,
pitting my own humour to this old verse.
Far have you come, my lady, from the town,
And far from all your sorrows, if you please,
To smell the good sea-winds and hear the seas,
And in green meadows lay your body down.
To find your pale face grow from pale to brown,
Your sad eyes growing brighter by degrees;
Far have you come, my lady, from the town,
And far from all your sorrows, if you please.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu by Sax Rohmer: "That will do," he said at last. "There is nothing here and I
have no time to search farther."
We returned to the library.
"Inspector Weymouth," said my friend, "I have a particular
reason for asking that Sir Crichton's body be removed from
this room at once and the library locked. Let no one be
admitted on any pretense whatever until you hear from me."
It spoke volumes for the mysterious credentials borne by my
friend that the man from Scotland Yard accepted his orders
without demur, and, after a brief chat with Mr. Burboyne,
Smith passed briskly downstairs. In the hall a man who looked
The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Art of Writing by Robert Louis Stevenson: unsuspected, short-cuts and footprints for his messengers;
and even when a map is not all the plot, as it was in
TREASURE ISLAND, it will be found to be a mine of suggestion.
CHAPTER VI - THE GENESIS OF 'THE MASTER OF BALLANTRAE'
I WAS walking one night in the verandah of a small house in
which I lived, outside the hamlet of Saranac. It was winter;
the night was very dark; the air extraordinary clear and
cold, and sweet with the purity of forests. From a good way
below, the river was to be heard contending with ice and
boulders: a few lights appeared, scattered unevenly among
the darkness, but so far away as not to lessen the sense of
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