Writing Better

"All you have to do is write one true sentence."

In my effort to write better, I read up on Ernest Hemingway. More than anything, Hemingway was a master at the discipline required to write well. He also had, perhaps unwittingly, a keen insight into the psychology of writing. Here are nuggets of wisdom on writing from a Nobel Prize winner in literature.

What a good writer is made of

“A writer’s style should be direct and personal, his imagery rich and earthy, and his words simple and vigorous. The greatest writers have the gift of brilliant brevity, are hard workers, diligent scholars and competent stylists.”

Thinking about it and dialogue

“I do most of my work in my head. I never begin to write until my ideas are in order. Frequently I recite passages of dialogue as it is being written; the ear is good censor. I never set down a sentence on paper until I have it so expressed that it will be clear to anyone.”

Keeping the momentum day after day

“The most important thing I’ve learned about writing is never write too much at a time…never pump yourself dry. Leave a little for the next day. The main thing is to know when to stop. When you’re still going good and you come to an interesting place and you know what’s going to happen next, that’s the time to stop. Then leave it alone and don’t think about it; let your subconscious mind do the work.”

Keeping it interesting for yourself

“The next morning, when you’ve had a good sleep and you’re feeling fresh, rewrite what you wrote the day before. When you come to the interesting place and you know what is going to happen next, go on from there and stop at another high point of interest. That way, when you get through, your stuff is full of interesting places and when you write a novel you never get stuck and you make it interesting as you go along.”

Rewriting for the reader

“Don’t get discouraged because there’s a lot of mechanical work to writing. There is, and you can’t get out of it. I rewrote A Farewell to Arms at least fifty times. You’ve got to work it over. The first draft of anything is shit. When you first start to write you get all the kick and the reader gets none, but after you learn to work it’s your object to convey everything to the reader so that he remembers it not as a story he had read but something that happened to himself. That’s the true test of writing.”

Short sentences

Hemingway used short sentences often and is known for his simplified direct prose. He worked hard constantly pruning and clipping his work. He did so for clarity so readers could understand what he was saying. Also for dramatic effect. Short sentences have a cumulative effect pounding home the image or idea. He used it add variety and music to his writing – combining longer and shorter sentences for a euphonious effect.

Overcoming writer’s block and dry spells

“Do not worry. You have always written before and you will write now. All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know. So finally I would write one true sentence, and then go on from there. It was easy then because there was always one true sentence that I knew or had seen or had heard someone say. If I started to write elaborately, or like someone introducing or presenting something, I found that I could cut that scrollwork or ornament out and throw it away and start with the first true simple declarative sentence I had written.”

Allow you subconscious to work

“Never think about a story you are working on before you begin again the next day. That way your subconscious will work on it all the time. If you think about it consciously or worry about it you will kill it and your brain will be tired before you start.”

Convey emotion by noticing it in yourself

“The key is to not only watch and listen closely to external events, but to also notice any emotion stirred in you by the events and then trace back and identify precisely what it was that caused the emotion. If you can identify the concrete action or sensation that caused the emotion and present it accurately and fully rounded in your story, your readers should feel the same emotion.”

On talent and persistence

“Sometimes you can go on writing for years before it shows. If a man’s got it in him, it will come out sometime. The only thing I can advise you is to keep on writing but it’s a damned tough racket. The only reason I make any money at it is I’m a sort of literary pirate. Out of every ten stories I write, only one is any good and I throw the other nine away.”