The State’s Most
Prolific Writer
lie is TaliiKige Powell, of Asheville
and lias hail as many as nine stories
published in the nia^azines during*
a single mouth. He still continues
to grind them €>ul.
By RAY PITTMAN
26- YEAR-OLD Asheville
writer has ground out nearly
a million words of printed fic¬
tion during his three career years
and today is emerging as one of
the better-known contributors to
detective and adventure story
magazines.
He is slender, unassuming Tal-
mage Powell — a man who found
that an agile mind and nimble
fingers are his biggest assets — and
the chances are you can find his
name emblazoned right now on the
cover of a handful of "pulps” and
"slicks" down at the corner drug
store.
Nine stories in news-stand maga¬
zines during a recent month estab¬
lished the current highwater mark
in Powell’s career, but the regular¬
ity with which the young writer
flails his portable typewriter and
the apparent fertility of his inven¬
tion bode a status of impermanence
for this record.
Included in Anthology
At this writing two of his short
stories — “The King of Hell" and
"Blood Money" — have been chosen
for incorporation in an anthology
of the best detective stories for
1945, to be edited by an ex-war-
correspondent. David C. Cooke, and
published by E. P. Dutton.
Powell has turned out most of
his work in Asheville, where he
has spent the bulk of his years and
where in 1939 he was married to
the former Miss Mildred Morgan,
daughter of Wilbur K. Morgan. The
author was born in Hendersonville,
the son of DeWitt Powell and Mrs.
Cora Powell. Like her son, Mrs.
Powell now lives in Asheville.
Short stories and novelettes are
Powell’s forte but an adventure
novel or two may be somewhere in
the oiling. He works through a
New York agent, who has placed
his stories in virtually every type
THE STATE. July 6. 1946
of "pulp" detective magazine on
the market and in many "slicks."
On occasion, the Asheville man
has produced patterned stories by
request and last winter once inter¬
rupted other writing to comply
with a telegram from his agent and
turn out two featured short stories
in the space of about three days.
Plenty of Hard Work
Powell crashed the writing field
through hard work and persever¬
ance, and after a series of rejec¬
tions his first story was accepted in
January of 1943. Since then he
estimates he has sold at least 100
magazine contributions.
His ever-present interest in writ¬
ing began to pay off after he had
graduated from high school in
Kingsport. Tenn., in 1937 and taken
an extension course in creative
writing offered by the University
of North Carolina. He moved to
the Tennessee town after taking
grammar school and high school
work at the William Randolph and
Lee Edwards schools of Asheville.
His chief trouble at the outset,
he says, was in proper plot develop¬
ment. He soon found it to his ad¬
vantage to take "an ordinary
human being" for his chief charac¬
ter and "involve him in a murder
situation," rather than write about
a crime that was perfect in all save
one detail, which had originally
been his approach.
He has recently conjured up a
character named Mr. Murder, who
ironically enough is a private detec¬
tive, and he has a monthly market
for episodes from this gentleman’s
hectic life.
Powell ascribes his success to
hard work and a genuine interest
in writing — and in good reading.
For diversionary reading, he favors
the Russian short story writers
over the French and the English.
"I turn out a lot of wordage, it
is true," he said, "but none of it
comes too easy. Writing is hard
work, be sure of that.
"I try to get a good basic idea
and work from there,” he con¬
tinued, "although I often stray a
bit afield from my original intent.
"The secret of the thing, I be¬
lieve, lies in spotting the right
material to work on and then
having the technical ability to
weave that into an integrated, true-
to-life story."
He is never without a well-filled
notebook and pencil and is con¬
stantly jotting down plot ideas and
catchy titles for future use.
In addition, he keeps a small
library of reference books, some of
them self-compiled, others pur¬
chased from the book market.
Occasionally he refers to several
master formulae which experience
has indicated often provide effec¬
tive framework for the various
types of stories he favors.
Powell is slight and youthful-
appearing but voluble and ener¬
getic. An easy conversationalist,
he appears quick-witted and facile
in the art of expressing himself and
evidently in originating and de¬
veloping his ideas.
Since moving to Asheville when
he was of third-grade age. he has
spent a large part of his time and
all of his summers there. He has
never met his agent in New York.
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