Yesterday I started writing a short story, and thankfully I was able to finish it during the day. I had intended to leave it for another day. But when I started it suddenly, when my head was empty, the end came quickly. I had a lot of fun writing it, but there was one point that was important to me.
I had to face my most difficult subject while writing it. Writing short, or in this context, writing to a limited word count. As the limit we set for our writing club is around 3000, we are careful not to go over it, and this is a real challenge for me.
I may sound cynical or narcissistic, but I'm not. I find it hard to write short and I respect those who can, so I actually like this kind of challenge where I have to limit myself. I see it as a kind of exercise.
I was doing some reading and research today and came across Ernest Hemingway's concept of “Iceberg Theory”. He invented and coined this writing technique himself. He started using it when he was a young journalist and remained faithful to it throughout his writing career.
It is actually a very “simple” concept and technique. The application part can be tiring. Hemingway believed that writing should be done with as few words as possible. He thought they should be simple and concise, without any verbiage.
On the other hand, the story should be like an iceberg; the parts on the surface should reveal the deep and hidden meanings underneath. See, the situation has suddenly changed, hasn't it?
According to him, the reader should be given basic information and not always go into detail. What is necessary should be conveyed and not be too long. Emotional depths or subtexts should always be hidden.
Eventually, the reader does the work, not the writer. If you think “if the content is short, then there is less to think about”, then you are completely wrong. That is why I like those who can write short stories. Also, a quote from “Death in the Afternoon”.
“If a writer of prose knows enough about what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of movement of an ice-berg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water. A writer who omits things because he does not know them only makes hollow places in his writing.”
As we read in the quote, another important point is to know what we are writing about. When I write, I occasionally stop and ask myself: "What am I writing about?" If I have difficulty answering this question, I either change direction or force myself to simplify. It is not easy, of course, but in order to create a narrative I must first settle my inner debate. The reader should be able to explain in a few sentences what they have read. And as they analyse the details, they should be able to channel them into the flow of their imagination. If we can achieve this, we can create a work that both parties can produce/consume with peace of mind.
Then let's summarise. Our language should be simple. This does not mean that we leave our descriptions incomplete. There is no need to make garish and confusing examples that distract from the subject. We should keep the reader in the subject and give descriptions without going over the top. In short, we should cut out meaningless excess.
It should stay on the surface. All the feelings and thoughts of the characters should not be given. They should be presented to the reader through the events that happen to them. Let me give you a random example. If a man who we say is rude smiles childishly after saving and comforting a drowning child, he is a person full of emotion, contrary to what we think. The incident itself gives us an idea of his feelings. It is the reader who should understand this, there is no need for the author to emphasise it again and again.
Photo by Alexander Hafemann on Unsplash
Hemingway was an author who often edited his writings. Before writing a new chapter, he would always read the previous chapters and make changes. He saw it as a last chance. I revise my writing too, but I am not as disciplined as he was. I don't know if that's what makes his short stories good, but I personally think it's a routine he does to ease his mind. He says he wrote the ending of his work "A Farewell to Arms" thirty-nine times.
Finally, I would like to remind you that this writing technique is not the best or most accurate. It can be a useful and (as we can see from Hemingway's quality) effective way of writing concisely. Of course, there are some of your writings where you do not use exactly what is described here. Sometimes we think that writing more will make us feel better. Sometimes we think too much and write too little, who knows. In the end, the writing process is about trying again and again and making an inner connection with the writing.
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