Things I’ve learned from Hemingway.

Ernest Hemingway had a distinctive style. Plain, punchy, almost journalistic prose sat in stark contrast to the flowery form of his Victorian predecessors. Although his approach divided opinion, it brought a compelling immediacy to the text.

“Hemingway puts his emphasis on nouns because, among other parts of speech, they come closest to things. Stringing them along by means of conjunctions, he approximates the actual flow of experience” - Harry Levin in ‘Contexts of Criticism’ 1957.

Below you will find two versions of a paragraph intended for the prologue of a book on genetic engineering and ‘GMOs’. Version 1 was written before I became aware of the Hemingway Editor (http://www.hemingwayapp.com/). The editor highlights difficult sentences in yellow, and very difficult sentences in a kind of sickly pink. Adverbs, which Hemingway disliked, are in blue. The passive voice gets green. Purple points out instances when a more simple word could be used. The editor also gives an estimated ‘reading grade’ for the text. The lower the grade required to read the text, the happier Hemingway becomes.

The second iteration below takes some of the editors advice on board. It tells me that this is better, shifting the reading grade required from 12 to 10.

There is still substantial room for improving the readability of this paragraph. Following the editors advice will lead to a Hemingway clone, of course. That is not what I am aiming for. However, it can certainly help to craft a more direct and readable narrative.

According to the editor, Hemingway would have us simplify our writing as follows:

i) Lose the adverbs — they take all the punch out of your writing.

ii) Commit to your narrative. Avoid the passive voice.

iii) Wherever possible / tolerable, use simpler words when meaning isn’t compromised.

iv) Chop difficult sentences up into shorter, less taxing units. Your reader’s will thank you.

“A writer’s style should be direct and personal, his imagery rich and earthy, and his words simple and vigorous. The greatest writers have the gift of brilliant brevity, are hard workers, diligent scholars and competent stylists” — Ernest Hemingway, 1963.

I expect to see my writing light up like a pastel rainbow for some time to come.

)
Johnathan J. Dalzell

Written by

Lecturer in molecular parasitology, @QueensUBelfast, @IGFS_Official. Working on new ways of controlling parasites.

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