Ten rules for writing fiction

[CharleyH]

Yeah, I really want to write like Hemingway...NOT!

I'm not a huge fan of Hemingway, either. However, he did have his moments. I think one of the most beautiful metaphoric scenes ever written was in 'Farewell to Arms'. It's been a long time since I read the book, but I can still see a scene of a pregnant wife back home having pangs and eventually a ceasarian, juxtaposed with the image of soldiers in WWI pushing their way through thick mud, rain and blood to or through the battlefield. Whether I recall the whole scene or not, the image sticks in my mind as the most exquisitely vivid ever written. Hemmingway may have been a cad, but he did have some glorious moments as an author.

 

[CharleyH]

I'm not even going to read the "rules."

No need to read them unless you want a larf. The quoted article seems light, fun and funny to me.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I'm not a huge fan of Hemingway, either. However, he did have his moments. I think one of the most beautiful metaphoric scenes ever written was in 'Farewell to Arms'. It's been a long time since I read the book, but I can still see a scene of a pregnant wife back home having pangs and eventually a ceasarian, juxtaposed with the image of soldiers in WWI pushing their way through thick mud, rain and blood to or through the battlefield. Whether I recall the whole scene or not, the image sticks in my mind as the most exquisitely vivid ever written. Hemmingway may have been a cad, but he did have some glorious moments as an author.

YOUR IDEA OF A BEAUTIFUL SCENE IS HOMELAND SECURITY SHAKING A HOMELESS FAMILY DOWN FOR MONEY TO GIVE TO GENERAL MOTORS EXECUTIVES.

 

[CharleyH]

YOUR IDEA OF A BEAUTIFUL SCENE IS HOMELAND SECURITY SHAKING A HOMELESS FAMILY DOWN FOR MONEY TO GIVE TO GENERAL MOTORS EXECUTIVES.

You are so romantic! If you bring me flowers instead of crude oil to me this weekend? I will be VERY disappointed in you!

 

[Loring2]

That's a new Mag ...

DRIPSTICK

When I was 9 I read MAD Magazine like everyone else. I was into biographies back then.

right Jim? There was no Mad Magazine when I was 9 Jim and only 2 sports were allowed in the dorp were I grew up ... baseball and masturbation... Highly Calvinistic Group they were back there then.

 

[sr71plt]

Yep, I was reading MAD Magazine then.

 

[SweetWitch]

Tried reading through all the rules posted on the page, but I got bored. Seems the most useful ones (before I got bored and quit) were the first five from Margaret Atwood:

Margaret Atwood

1 Take a pencil to write with on aeroplanes. Pens leak. But if the pencil breaks, you can't sharpen it on the plane, because you can't take knives with you. Therefore: take two pencils.

2 If both pencils break, you can do a rough sharpening job with a nail file of the metal or glass type.

3 Take something to write on. Paper is good. In a pinch, pieces of wood or your arm will do.

4 If you're using a computer, always safeguard new text with a *memory stick.

5 Do back exercises. Pain is distracting.

Ol' Margaret is right: Pain is distracting and pencils break, but good luck smuggling a nail file on board an aeroplane. People get arrested for that now days.

 

[3113]

I'm not a huge fan of Hemingway, either. However, he did have his moments.

Oh, I agree. When he was good he was very, very good! My objection is using him as the example to emulate. First, I think writers should try to find their own voice and style, not copy another (although we all do try to do that along the way). Second, those who try to be Hemingway usually have their writing criticized as a "bad imitation of Hemingway." So the advice seems likely to take the person from frying pan to fire.

And finally, the fact that Hemingway didn't describe his characters or was ultra minimalist in his style was't the only or most important thing that made his writing great when it was great. Which is to say, it's not likely that going Hemingway on a bad story is magically going to transform it into a good one. It might make it a bit better (or not) but it's doubtful that if there isn't something already there, restyling it to be like Hemingway isn't going to help all that much. It's altogether possible that the reason Hemingway works when he works is, well, because he's Hemingway.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Mostly, the reason a bad story sounds better after the Hemingway treatment is because there will be *less* of it to be bad...

 

[xssve]

I got a virus attack from that page.

 

[xssve]

Somehow, in reading all those rules, a tangent took me tho this: How to Write With Style, which I like because it dispenses with the whole how to write business, which is really process and everybody's process is different - all those rules can be boiled down to one: write, because if you don't write, you'll never get anything written.

Anyway, I like this article because it's about how to write something interesting.

 

[3113]

Mostly, the reason a bad story sounds better after the Hemingway treatment is because there will be *less* of it to be bad...

LOL! Good point.

 

[driphoney]

I got a virus attack from that page.

From The Guardian?