The following is based mainly on William Cane’s “Write Like the Masters” (2009) and R. Andrew Wilson, PhD’s “Write Like Hemingway” (2009):
Ernest Hemingway took the newspaper prose style he learned at the Kansas City Star and turned it into high art. He wrote some of the best American novels of the 1900s and yet did it with a writing style built on short, simple words and short, simple sentences. He is why books from the 1800s seem overwritten.
On Hemingway’s first day at the Star the editor gave him the “Star Copy Style”: 110 commandments of writing. It starts out like this:
Use short sentences. Use short first paragraphs. Use vigorous English. Be positive, not negative.
Here is Rule #21:
Avoid the use of adjectives, especially such extravagant ones as splendid, gorgeous, grand, magnificent, etc.
He took the commandment thing seriously.
Later as a young writer in Paris, Gertrude Stein and Ezra Pound taught him what they knew as poets about rhythm, about less is more, about making words count and making them stronger. His prose rose above the everyday.
Here are some of the rules that Hemingway seems to follow in his writing:
- The point of writing is to be clear and easy to understand, not to show people how much education you have.
- Prefer short, everyday words. Faulkner said you did not need a dictionary to read Hemingway – as if it was a bad thing!
- Prefer strong nouns and verbs, avoid adjectives and adverbs. “Is” does not count as a strong verb.
- Prefer short, simple sentences of the subject-verb-object kind. Short means ten words or less. Use long sentences to speed up the action, show flowing movement or to give a short sentence that follows a stronger effect.
- Avoid commas and more advanced punctuation. It is a sign your sentences are becoming too long and twisted.
- Use “and” to make your sentences simpler: not “When it rained, he went inside,” but just: “It rained and he went inside.”
- Stick to the facts. Keep your opinions to yourself.
- Prefer dialogue, avoid long descriptions. A few well-chosen facts are enough for a description – your readers will fill in the rest:
- Iceberg Theory: just like 91% of an iceberg is underwater, the art of writing is knowing what your readers will fill in.
- Know your subject inside out: Hemingway not only went to see bull fights but he read all he could about them too.
- Write what you know but less than you know. Readers can tell when you are saying less than you know and that makes your writing seem deeper and ring truer.
- Read, read, read: half of writing is reading other authors. Hemingway read Sherwood Anderson, Joyce, Tolstoy, Chekhov, Dostoevsky and others. Oh, and Faulkner too.
Hemingway got up every morning at seven and wrote till noon. He produced about 400 to 500 words a day, but he spent three-fourths of his time strengthening sentences and cutting, cutting, cutting. Sometimes he cut as much as two-thirds of his words – but what remained was a jewel.
See also:
- Stephen King: On Becoming a Good Writer
- How to write like Orwell
- How to write like the Reader’s Digest
- prose:
- style guide: rules for writing
- Other Hemingway stuff:
Great advice, I guess, but I must admit I’m not a huge fan of Hemingway’s writing style.
He is why books from the 1800s seem overwritten.
To be honest, I don’t have any problems with a “richer” style, as long as it’s not pretentious. The style should match the story, not the other way around. You can’t write “1984” using Tolstoy’s style, but that doesn’t mean said style is bad per se.
LikeLike
Hemingway worked for the Toronto Star in the early 1920s.
LikeLike
I liked the premise behind many of his stories but it usually ends there. I always thought of his writing as choppy and childlike, (sorry Abagond!)
In comparison I really like F. Scott Fitzgerald’s style–a bit flowery but in a sensual way so that you hear and smell the scene. It weaves in and out between class and age of it’s characters without ever seeming high brow or stuffy.
Go to the website “I Write Like” to see which author your writing style is comparable…
http://iwl.me/
LikeLike
According to that website I write like Cory Doctorow.
LikeLike
That website says I write like Cory Doctorow too, but I don’t think our writing styles have much in common, Abagond. Interesting…
LikeLike
Wow you just explained why I’ve always loved Hemingway and never knew exactly why. The stories themselves were never that exciting, but his writing style always pulled me in. It is a shame he ended his life the way he did, he was a very troubled man.
LikeLike
I write like Lovecraft!
I tested it using my latest blog entry. But I’m more interested in testing one of my stories. Blog writing and story writing is not the same and requite different styles (at least in my case).
LikeLike
Three different texts and I get “Douglas Adams”, “Edgar Alan Poe” and “David Foster Wallace”. And the “Adams” text actually mentioned “The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy”.
Something fishy in that logarythym there.
LikeLike
Or maybe your writing kick ass?
LikeLike
LOL. I’d like to believe so, Mira, but even I am not that arrogant.
LikeLike
I do not trust it either. I submitted a different blog post and it said I write like Gertrude Stein.
LikeLike
Something’s fishy because they claim I write like Cory Doctorow as well!!!
LikeLike
Interesting how it only claims that we write like a handful of very pop authors. Mencken is one of my literary heros, but I doubt he’s on the ‘bot’s list of writers.
LikeLike
[…] of their style sheet. It’s a great read for anyone. The first paragraph makes it clear how Hemingway’s writing style was […]
LikeLike
That site said I write like Raymond Chandler. Then I pasted a passage from The Old Man And The Sea and it said Hemingway also writes like Raymond Chandler.
LikeLike
[…] The builder of the story. A good writer or blogger needn’t be stout with honors or have the smooth prose of Hemingway. A good writer merely needs to be passionate about the subject he is writing on and stick to the […]
LikeLike
Both Hemingway and Chandler worked all their lives writing with the same aims is sight. They both strived to improve the Iceberg Technique. So, in many ways they did write alike. Both accomplished in their writing what television accomplishes today. They are worth studying.
LikeLike
I totally deprecate the vulgar styles of King, Chandler, and Hemingway. I love adverbs, passive voice, and prepositional clauses. None of your propaganda will ever be able to deter me from using adverbs and passive voice shamelessly and religiously.
LikeLike