Papa was right

Ernest Hemingway said, “There is nothing to writing.  All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”

Ernest Hemingway, father of Writer’s Melodrama!  He gave us all some anguish to latch onto, right? 

We are bleeding!  We are suffering!  We are writers!  Nobody knows the trouble we’ve seen!

Hemingway inspired me when I was in 7^th grade and first read his short story “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber.”  That one stuck with me as a prototype for exterior action revealing interior life. 

And his style!  So direct, so clean, so free of the extraneous that I just knew I could do it.  Why, he’s just telling the story, I thought!  How hard can that be?

Good thing I didn’t find out until later how he met his demise…I might have been dissuaded!

As it was, I sat down and wrote.  My stuff at that time was full of teenage angst, but it didn’t have the surplus of adverbs and adjectives that some beginners pepper through their pages.

Papa remains a good model for rookie writers and a good one for apprentice editors as well.  

But maybe you have another favorite in mind.  Jeannette Walls comes to mind as someone who strips away the frills and seizes her readers with unflinching accounts of her wild early life. 

Frank McCourt, same thing.

But here’s the deal ~ you cannot let yourself be distracted by the story!  As writers we have to learn to look at the what and the how of it: 

Ø  What does Walls choose to show and what does she leave out? 

Ø  How is McCourt’s use of language riveting? 

Ø  How does Hemingway reveal his character’s inner life?

Put on your analyst’s cap and give your favorites a second read.  This is one of the best ways to quit bleeding and learn the craft.  


Matter of fact, for all his drama, Hemingway also said, “It’s none of their business that you have to learn to write.  Let them think you were born that way.”

Start your story in the thick of it

Today’s readers have the attention span of a gnat.  No patience!  No appreciation of the written word! 

OK, you’re right, video games did it.  Or maybe it was CSI, solving all those crimes so fast.  Or maybe it was all that tedious buildup getting in the way of what’s immediate in your story. 

Folks ~ facts is facts and writers have to face ‘em!  Too many words is too many words.  Like they say in the movies:  Cut to the chase! 

Eliminate all that verbiage that explains the motivation of the tortoise and the hare.  You can come back around to it later.  We want to see the race. 

Don’t expect your reader to dredge through the deep and lengthy psychological explanation of what happened when the man was a little boy that makes him want to set his parents’ house on fire before he even stops at the gas station.   

Start with him in their bedroom, the spilled liquid, the fumes rising around him and the match in his hand.  After I’ve seen that, I’ll want to know why.  I’ll keep reading. 

What?!!  But I have to set the scene!  I have to give some back-story!  Otherwise my readers won’t know who’s on first!  They’ll be confused.  

Really?  Or do you just love your own writing so much that you can’t cut the superfluous? 

Be honest now, which of these story starters would keep you reading: 

Madeline Harris was dating an organic apple farmer from Lodi.  She drove a school bus in Moravia.  [Ho hum!  Not confused, but also, not interested.] 

Or, 

Madeline Harris showed up out of nowhere one night at Lucy’s Tavern and beat Hank, the owner, three times in a row at darts.  [Really!?  Who is this Madeline?  Is she married?  Why is she alone at night in a bar?]
 

******** 

Bill Kane had a lean, tough face and sandy-colored hair.  He had sworn off women since his last girlfriend.  [Zzzzzz.] 

Or, 

Bill Kane watched partly because Madeline was good-looking and partly because he liked to see Hank, his boss, lose.  [Hmmm!  What kind of man is Bill Kane?  How did his face get so tough?  What’s up between him and Hank?] 

[These examples excerpted and paraphrased from “later, at the bar,” by Rebecca Barry.] 

Today’s takeaway ~  

Don’t get all self-righteous and indignant about your “literature.”  

Jump into the action to snag your readers.  They’ll hang around for the back-story when your story’s well told.

Please! Climb down from there and WRITE!

If you're a writer, there's no question about it. 

The true question, perhaps too often asked, is not, "Am I a writer?" but "Why don't I write?" 

Only a writer asks that question!  If you're asking it, you're a writer. 

But, but, but, you say.  How can I claim to be a writer when I'm stalled?  I haven’t written anything in (fill in the blank – days, months, eons).  

Cue the shrieking from Psycho! 

I'm non-productive!  Wait for it – the "B" word of the writer's world - I'm BLOCKED! 

Well, no.  You're not.  And here's how you can tell:  Write something. 

OK.  It's dross.  It's dregs.  It’s…what's a nicer word for 'crap'?  

The nicer word is 'words.'  How about 'brainstorming'?  Or '1st draft'?  That crap is words on the page.  It’s a start.   

If you're above writing the crap first, you have strayed onto that fork in the dark, forested landscape of a writer's mind that leads to the cul-de-sac of mental turmoil, frustration, dismay, self-loathing and cliche`. 

But you wouldn't be there if you weren't a writer. 

And, if you weren't a writer, not writing wouldn't bother you.   

So turn around and go toward the light.  You’ll feel so much better. 

Get off it Dream Writers, and WRITE!

Don't Clutter Your Writing with Too Many Words!

Here is my poem.  It is twenty lines.  If I'd had more time, it could have been ten.

~Maya Angelou (I think!)

I originally wrote:  "I attribute this quote to Maya Angelou, though I am unable to confirm that these are her words."

Which attribution is better? 

~Short and pithy almost always wins!

That last sentence first arrived on the page thusly:  "Nevertheless, for a writer of poetry or prose, the advice this quote contains is among the most sound we will find."

~ Powerful writing uses few words to say profound things. 

That sentence started out like this:  "Good writers use the fewest words possible to say the most profound things."

While the edited 'powerful writing' version may not win any prizes, it's better, stronger, yes - more powerful than its first iteration.

So the moral of the story is cut to core.  Say what you mean with the sharpest word choice. 

Get it?  Got it?  Good!

And write, Dream Writers!

~ Who's your favorite clean, clear, impactful author?  I'd love to hear from you!

Stand Up to Passive Voice!

To be, or not to be?  Easy!  Not to be!

I know. It brings back junior high school English.  Conjugation! Yikes.

Grit your teeth!  Here's your refresher:

'To Be' ~ the ultimate in passivity!  Bolded here in an ironic twist:

I am
you are
he, she, or it is
we are
you (plural) are
they are

Just get rid of those milk-toasty, shoulder shrugging passive forms!  Save no quarter for was and were, either!

To wit ~
     Beth Ann was hungry and looked in the fridge.

Vs.

     Famished, Beth Ann searched the shelves of the fridge.

Or ~
     Henry and Joe are mad.  They are ready to fight.

Vs.

     Fighting mad, Joe and Henry stood toe-to-toe.

And, not to get too personal ~

                                   Grandpa’s feet are stinky. 

     Vs.

                                   Grandpa’s feet stink.

While we cannot extinguish the nefarious 'state of being' verb, we can shrink its status to that of a pesky flea in line for extermination.

Kill it before it kills your writing!

Make it 'Sweep #1' when you polish your work.  Scan and rewrite to cast off the passive and weave in the active.

And Write, Dream Writers!  Write!