You should not publish it in book form at all—­for this reason:  it is only an imitation of Verne—­it is not a burlesque.  But I think it may be regarded as proof that Verne cannot be burlesqued.

In accompanying notes I have suggested that you vastly modify the first visit to hell, and leave out the second visit altogether.  Nobody would, or ought to print those things.  You are not advanced enough in literature to venture upon a matter requiring so much practice.  Let me show you what a man has got to go through: 

Nine years ago I mapped out my “Journey in Heaven.”  I discussed it with literary friends whom I could trust to keep it to themselves.

I gave it a deal of thought, from time to time.  After a year or more I wrote it up.  It was not a success.  Five years ago I wrote it again, altering the plan.  That Ms is at my elbow now.  It was a considerable improvement on the first attempt, but still it wouldn’t do—­last year and year before I talked frequently with Howells about the subject, and he kept urging me to do it again.

So I thought and thought, at odd moments and at last I struck what I considered to be the right plan!  Mind I have never altered the ideas, from the first—­the plan was the difficulty.  When Howells was here last, I laid before him the whole story without referring to my Ms and he said:  “You have got it sure this time.  But drop the idea of making mere magazine stuff of it.  Don’t waste it.  Print it by itself—­publish it first in England—­ask Dean Stanley to endorse it, which will draw some of the teeth of the religious press, and then reprint in America.”  I doubt my ability to get Dean Stanley to do anything of the sort, but I shall do the rest—­and this is all a secret which you must not divulge.

Now look here—­I have tried, all these years, to think of some way of “doing” hell too—­and have always had to give it up.  Hell, in my book, will not occupy five pages of Ms I judge—­it will be only covert hints, I suppose, and quickly dropped, I may end by not even referring to it.

And mind you, in my opinion you will find that you can’t write up hell so it will stand printing.  Neither Howells nor I believe in hell or the divinity of the Savior, but no matter, the Savior is none the less a sacred Personage, and a man should have no desire or disposition to refer to him lightly, profanely, or otherwise than with the profoundest reverence.

The only safe thing is not to introduce him, or refer to him at all, I suspect.  I have entirely rewritten one book 3 (perhaps 4.) times, changing the plan every time—­1200 pages of Ms. wasted and burned—­and shall tackle it again, one of these years and maybe succeed at last.  Therefore you need not expect to get your book right the first time.  Go to work and revamp or rewrite it.  God only exhibits his thunder and lightning at intervals, and so they always command attention.  These are God’s adjectives.  You thunder and lightning too much; the reader ceases to get under the bed, by and by.