Less is More

Hello everyone,

Today we’re going to talk about Hemingway. And how his entire writing career was consumed with writing as little words as possible. Hemingway even inspired the challenge of a six word story. Before we go there you notice how less is more completely contradicts its self and it makes sense.

His ideology was write bold and clear. Nothing more, nothing less. It’s a difficult style to write in, at least for me. Because I love adjectives or drawing out a story. That and I’ve spent most of my life trying to be politically correct. And it makes it difficult to write what I really think. Another one of my many excuses is I’m a girl. Yes, I pulled the girl card. Let’s face it overdramatizing things is kind of one of my genders strong suits.

Luckily for you and me, I’ll stop there.

If you can relate to any of these excuses or can list some of your own, then we could assume it’s just as hard for you to write Hemingway style.

Now that we’ve established the dilemma! What is the solution?

First try using the Hemingway app. The reasoning behind this is it will show you what you need to work on.

Next painstakingly type words that invoke strong feeling. English: don’t use words like (like, adjectives, adverbs, etc.)

Disclaimer: You still can use adjectives and adverbs, but sparingly.

Identify when you should use adjectives and adverbs. When you think about it in writing your statement can be bold (active) or it could be passive. No one likes passive aggressive people, conclusion don’t write in a passive voice.

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One major thing to consider is…

There are no rules in writing, only GUIDLINES. Don’t throw the baby out with that bath water either. If your using pesky filler words that aren’t necessary or passive words, then toss them. If you need them to keep them, keep them. It depends on you.