In today’s Journal
* How Ernest Hemingway Wrote
* The Writing
* Of Interest
How Ernest Hemingway Wrote
That’s the plainest, best title I could have given this topic. Had I seen that title at ANY time during my life, I would have shoved through crowds to be sure I was allowed to read what was below it. Yet dozens of writers will glance at the title and not bother to read the text. Oh well. That’s why God invented Jim Beam and Jameson & Sons Irish whiskey.
If you would like to learn a LOT about how Ernest Hemingway wrote fiction, and if you would like to read it directly from the man himself, I suggest you read his last novel, The Garden of Eden. You can find it in paperback and hardback on Ebay and in Kindle on Amazon.
In that novel, he tells the story of a man and his wife traveling in Europe and of the exotic woman his wife met and brought into their marriage. Naturally, the whole thing dissolves (mostly because the wife, Catherine, is insane), not into a triangle but into two couples derived from only three people.
There are things in the story you might or might not like, but the main story is not the reason for a writer to read The Garden of Eden.
Throughout the main story, the protagonist (David Bourne, whom I have absolutely no doubt is Ernest Hemingway) also writes stories and puts down details about how he writes them even as he’s writing them. Those segments are invaluable if you want to know Hemingway’s process and what was going through his mind as he was writing fiction.
I found those segments of the book nothing short of fascinating. I’ve even thought about going through the book again and typing-in all those sections where David Bourne is writing stories and talking about writing stories. Just for my own use, of course. But there’s no law saying you can’t do the same thing.
It will be difficult if not impossible to glean everything you can learn from those passages with only one reading. I suspect it will take at least three readings, maybe at different times of day and on different days of the week to mine all that’s available to you.
That said, I suspect you would learn something new and fresh on your tenth or eleventh reading that you hadn’t seen or noticed or understood before. This novel should be required reading in any fiction writing class.
I was pleasantly surprised to see that my own process isn’t much different from his, especially that when he’s in the world of the story the “real” world ceases to exist for him, and that even when he was through writing for the day, sometimes the world of the story stayed with him for a bit and blurred the lines of reality.
The Writing
I started on something titled “He sat in his chair” and wrote 2187 words. I have no idea whether or what it will be, but the words are publishable words of fiction so I’ve added them to the total below.
I’ve removed “The Gate” from its place under “Numbers” below, but it is still very much alive. I’ll report on it again when I’ve done more with it, as I will with any other writing.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
See “Special Extra Stretch Goal” at https://deanwesleysmith.com/special-extra-stretch-goal/.
See “Your Elusive Creative Genius” at https://killzoneblog.com/2023/04/your-elusive-creative-genius.html.
See “Business Musings: Assessing Pandemic Damage” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/business-musings-assessing-pandemic-damage/.
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………………… 580
Writing of “He sat in his chair” (short story)
Day 1…… 2187 words. Total words to date…… 2187
Writing of Wes Crowley: Deputy US Marshal 2 (WCG9SF4)
Day 11… 0323 words. Total words to date…… 19819
Day 12… 2445 words. Total words to date…… 22264
Day 13… 3184 words. Total words to date…… 25448
Total fiction words for April……… 17276
Total fiction words for 2023………… 83464
Total nonfiction words for April… 14970
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 77230
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 160694
Calendar Year 2023 Novels to Date…………………… 1
Calendar Year 2023 Novellas to Date……………… 0
Calendar Year 2023 Short Stories to Date… 4
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 72
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 9
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 221
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31
Disclaimer: I am a prolific professional fiction writer. On this blog I teach Writing Into the Dark, adherence to Heinlein’s Rules, and that following the myths of fiction writing will slow your progress as a writer or stop you cold. I will never teach the myths on this blog.