{"id":774,"date":"2011-12-03T08:18:17","date_gmt":"2011-12-03T16:18:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/?p=774"},"modified":"2011-12-03T08:25:05","modified_gmt":"2011-12-03T16:25:05","slug":"hemingway-a-master-of-less-is-more-more-or-less","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2011\/writing\/hemingway-a-master-of-less-is-more-more-or-less\/","title":{"rendered":"Hemingway, A Master of Less Is More, More or Less"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Ernest Hemingway<\/a> was the master of saying a lot with less.\u00a0 Everything I read suggests novice writers\u2014and some published writers\u2014use too many words to get their point across. They use \u00a0too many explanations; they do too much telling rather than showing. Not for Hemingway, the use of unnecessary adjectives and adverbs. \u00a0Nor did his writing suffer from too long descriptions of settings and characters. In other words, he determined that less is more.<\/p>\n

As I mentioned in my previous post, I\u2019ve been reading the master, Stephen King. His book 11\/22\/63 has kept me up the last few nights. It\u2019s not so much that I need to keep turning the page, but rather it\u2019s because I can\u2019t wait to get to the end so I can read some other book.\u00a0 Much as I admire his ability to weave compelling stories, I wish he had told this one with less words. His novel could easily be used as a doorstop. It\u2019s humungous at 842 pages. Too big for me to carry on a trip. This would\u2019ve been a good one for an e-reader.<\/p>\n

As for keeping things simple, it\u2019s the same advice teachers \"\"<\/a>of other art forms give. In acting, less is often more. I still remember reading about Meryl Streep’s<\/a> bravura performance in Sophie’s Choice<\/a>. She was in a concentration camp scene and someone asked her what she\u2019d been thinking at the time the scene was shot and she said she was thinking what she was going to have for dinner that night. Her answer was reasonable. No matter what pain the character may have been feeling, she also could\u2019ve been thinking about dinner, and in those circumstances, even more so. The point is, she didn\u2019t overact and scrunch her face up in agony. She was in the moment. \u00a0She allowed the music and her stillness to convey her despair. We, the audience, filled in the blanks. Much as we do when we read a book. Whatever is missing, we fill in, as long as there\u2019s a coherent story and the tension is enough to keep us delving further.<\/p>\n

How often I\u2019ve stood in front of one of my paintings not knowing if there is something more I could add, something that would make it appealing to the viewer. But again, if the composition isn\u2019t there in the first place or the colors are all wrong, or the technique faulty, it wouldn\u2019t matter what I\u2019d add, it would still be a lousy piece of art. But here too, less is more. Picasso<\/a> once said\u2014more or less\u2014not only do you need to know how to begin, you also need to know when to stop.<\/p>\n

I think Hemingway had it right. Less is more. I\u2019d love to hear your thoughts on this.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ernest Hemingway was the master of saying a lot with less.\u00a0 Everything I read suggests novice writers\u2014and some published writers\u2014use too many words to get their point across. They use… <\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[14,82,87,4],"tags":[224,225,228,9,227,226,134,33,5],"class_list":["post-774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art","category-film-2","category-theatre-2","category-writing","tag-hemingway","tag-meryl-streep","tag-more-or-less","tag-novel","tag-picasso","tag-sophies-choice","tag-stephen-king","tag-writer","tag-writing-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1LuVB-cu","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1979,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2015\/writing\/hemingway-in-cuba\/","url_meta":{"origin":774,"position":0},"title":"Hemingway In Cuba","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"17 \u041a\u0432\u0456\u0442\u043d\u044f, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"After two weeks in Havana, I have many stories about Ernest Hemingway in Cuba. There are tours to all of the Nobel prize-winning author's haunts: the bars that he frequented, the hotel room where he wrote, and his home outside of Havana. Not surprisingly, he's revered by Cubans. He wrote\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Hemingway in Cuba","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Oldmansea.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1313,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2013\/writing\/unsung-writers\/","url_meta":{"origin":774,"position":1},"title":"Unsung Writers","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"8 \u0411\u0435\u0440\u0435\u0437\u043d\u044f, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Now that I\u2019ve immersed myself in all manner of writerly pursuits, I\u2019m discovering wonderful writers who have no fame. They\u2019re a mixture of talents\u2014some who\u2019ve been at the game for decades, others who are just starting. And yet, they all have something to say and they say it well.\u00a0 Their\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Writing"","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Random House","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Random-House-288x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1192,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2012\/writing\/ramblings-on-the-lowly-writer\/","url_meta":{"origin":774,"position":2},"title":"Ramblings on The Lowly Writer","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"11 \u0413\u0440\u0443\u0434\u043d\u044f, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"As I navigate the waters of pitching, writing, editing, revising, and marketing, I wonder about this profession of writing.\u00a0 As a writer, I am\u00a0 expected to work for hours, days, months, years developing my craft, and honing that story, all at my own cost of time and energy. Since I'm\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Writing"","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/250px-Francisco_de_Goya_y_Lucientes_-_Gaspar_Melchor_de_Jovellanos.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2557,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2016\/writing\/writers-gold-found-memories\/","url_meta":{"origin":774,"position":3},"title":"Writers’ Gold Found In Memories","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"31 \u0411\u0435\u0440\u0435\u0437\u043d\u044f, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Drawing On Memories With Easter come and gone, I'm struck by how memories, of what once was, hit me during this time. A few tears were shed as I recalled generations sitting around the table feasting on my mother's delicious cooking, followed by the cracking of coloured eggs and Ukrainian\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Writing"","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Memories","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/IMG_6384.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/IMG_6384.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/IMG_6384.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/IMG_6384.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2033,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2015\/writing\/finding-graham-greene-and-the-mob-in-a-havana-hotel\/","url_meta":{"origin":774,"position":4},"title":"Finding Graham Greene And The Mob In A Havana Hotel","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"1 \u0422\u0440\u0430\u0432\u043d\u044f, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The Hotel Mercure Sevilla, where we recently stayed in 2015, is where Hemingway wrote some of Farewell To Arms,\u00a0but it's also known as the place \u00a0Graham Greene chose to write one of his many prize-winning novels. Hotel Mercure Sevilla Typically when we went on holidays to some other country, I\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Our Man In Havana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/819.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/819.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/819.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/819.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/819.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1417,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2013\/writing\/spilling-your-guts-on-the-page\/","url_meta":{"origin":774,"position":5},"title":"Spilling Your Guts On The Page","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"17 \u0427\u0435\u0440\u0432\u043d\u044f, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Spilling your guts on the page is a tough one for writers.It requires bravery. But then, one only has to look at some of the greats and see that that\u2019s what they did to create their stories.\u00a0 F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Anton Chekhov, Philip Roth, Jane Austen, Tennessee Williams,\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Anton Chekhov Wikipedia","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Chekhov-212x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}