186 | TTT010 | Writing the Hemingway

Transcend HumanThe Transcendent Trilogy
Written By Daryl McMullen
 
 

July 8, 2024

Welcome back!

Since last time:

  • Father's Day: June 16th

  • 25th Anniversary: June 19th

So that's my update since the last episode. Let's dive into the topic for today:

Today's Topic: Writing the Hemingway

  1. Why Hemingway?

  2. How I incorporate it

  3. "Knee Deep In the Hoopla"

// CHAPTER 1: WHY HEMINGWAY?

So we've spent a lot of time on story, story structure and elements of story.

But what happens when you get right down to the nitty gritty - and you actually start writing?

Turns out - there are just as many articles, blog posts, podcast episodes, books and YouTube videos on this part as there were for story structure.

Spelling and grammar. Dialogue. How to describe things correctly. Show don't tell. Literary vs. commercial prose. And the list goes on and on.

But what I've learned about myself - from all the research I did on story structure - is that its a black hole for me. It's a rabbit hole I can't go down without getting lost.

So I'm trying to steer clear of the bulk of the information about writing well.

Instead - I've adopted a larger strategy to help me write the way I want to write - and at the same time keep from making dumb mistakes along the way. As a newbie to writing I'm not the most eloquent. And I'm not up to speed on all things English language. My spelling is pretty good (especially with the help of spell check) but my grammar is rusty. I couldn't tell you what a dangling participle is if my life depended on it.

Now, I'm not saying I know nothing about writing. As we've talked about before I've always had it in me - somewhere. All the way back to high school. I wrote short stories, and scenes that I could see so clearly in my minds eye. I didn't read a lot when I was younger - but more recently I've always had a book I'm working through.

So I'm reading good writing. And after a while it starts to wear off.

When I go back and read the stuff I've written - I find myself getting into it the same way I would a novel I purchased off Amazon.

So I'm confident that I can do it. At the same time I understand my limitations and need for growth.

So as I dive into my WIP, my Work In Progress, and start the grand adventure of bringing my Big Idea to life - I'll need a little help.

And that help comes straight from Ernest Hemingway. Not the man himself - I never knew him obviously. He passed away in 1961 at the young age of 61:

  • Born in Oak Park, IL

  • Hemingway worked as a reporter

  • He was involved in World War I as an ambulance driver - and was wounded in battle in 1918

  • He also worked as a reporter during the Spanish War, and World War II at the Normandy Landings

  • During this time he published many of his more notable works

  • And was honored with the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954

  • Unfortunately Hemingway struggled with alcohol most of his life (sound familiar?)

  • And this alcohol use may have exacerbated a disease called hemochromatosishis, which ran in his family

  • Shortly before his death he was involved in two plane accidents - on the same day

  • But in the end, it was suicide that ended Hemingways life

  • Sadly: His sister and brother took their own lives. And his daughter Margot also took her life at the young age of 42

Hemingway was larger than life on so many levels. His crazy life experiences, the wars, the drinking, the wild lifestyle, and all of his travels. It's as if he was chasing life with his hair on fire. Searching for the next big thing he hadn't accomplished yet. It's no wonder he was such an accomplished writer - with all of his experiences fueling the words he put to paper.

So why am I talking about Hemingway? Why did I just give you a little history lesson on the life of the famous author?

Well, not because of his life - but because of the impact he had on writing - and literature in general. You see, there are many famous authors out there. And we can definitely learn from them by reading their books. But every once and a while an author comes along and changes the way people write. That's powerful. When you can not only publish works that stand the test of time - but completely change the way future writers do what they do.

According to Donna Radley on the Writers Write website:

  • Hemingway offered a unique writing style

  • It was distinctively lean and economical

  • This is thanks to his journalistic background and his willingness to swim upstream from the elaborate prose popular in his day. His tight style and declarative sentences changed the landscape of American literature, and his writing continues to impact readers and writers alike

The article goes on to list 11 famous quotes from Hemingway on writing:

  1. All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.

  2. There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.

  3. Write hard and clear about what hurts.

  4. All good books are alike in that they are truer than if they had really happened and after you are finished reading one you will feel that.

  5. All that happened to you and afterwards it all belongs to you: the good and the bad, the ecstasy, the remorse and sorrow, the people and the places and how the weather was. If you can get so that you can give that to people, then you are a writer.

  6. The most essential gift for a good writer is a built-in, shockproof, shit detector.

  7. If a writer stops observing, he is finished. Experience is communicated by small details intimately observed.

  8. I always try to write on the principle of the iceberg. There is seven-eighths of it underwater for every part that shows.

  9. Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words? He thinks I don’t know the ten-dollar words. I know them all right. But there are older and simpler and better words, and those are the ones I use.

  10. The hard part about writing a novel is finishing it.

  11. It’s none of their business that you have to learn how to write. Let them think you were born that way.

Good stuff right?

So how am I using Hemingway in my writing?

// CHAPTER 2: HOW I INCORPORATE IT

Simply put - I'm using a tool that was inspired by his way of writing.

It's called the Hemingway App. It is a free, online text editor that edits your work based on the principles Hemingway used to write: https://hemingwayapp.com/

You simply start typing and it highlights areas where you could improve. It identifies things like:

  • Sentences that are hard to read

  • Sentences that are very hard to read

  • Spelling issues

  • Grammar issues

  • Weak language

  • Words that have simpler alternatives

And this is all available in the free version. If you want - you can upgrade to Hemingway Editor Plus:

  • This version adds a few bells and whistles

  • One of which is incorporating the use of AI to help you fix the problems identified by the writing algorithm

I'm currently using the free version - but have entertained the idea of moving to the paid version.

I'm just a little wary of the use of AI in the writing process. At some point I may do an entire podcast episode on AI - as it cannot be ignored. It's here to stay - so at some point you have the decide for yourself if and how it fits into your writing career.

But that's for another day...

So back to the way I use the Hemingway App.

In a previous life, I knocked out 5 chapters of my Big Idea. These sat, collecting dust for many years because I didn't know enough about plotting, planning and story structure.

But now that I have some of those tools in my tool belt - I wanted to attack those early chapters and incorporate them into my new structure.

So I sliced and diced - finding large chunks of story that worked well as scenes. I separated them out and then started to write.

I had two scenes for my Prologue - so I took the first chunk from Google Docs - and pasted it into the Hemingway App.

Immediately the App lit up like a Christmas Tree - identifying sentences that were hard to read. Numerous adverbs, and a lot of passive voice.

So I dove into the deep end and started to rewrite. Both for content purposes - so the story matched my newer story structure and the future world I envisioned. But also to fix my writing so it better matches the Hemingway style of writing.

2,000 odd words later - and Scene 1 was in the books. I sat back and smiled. My first real scene. And it finally felt right. The scene works for many reasons - but three that stand out:

  1. Because it is part of my larger story - it has a place and a purpose in the larger outline

  2. Because it follows the Story Grid requirement of having the 5 Commandments of Storytelling within it. Inciting Incident, Progressive Complications, Crisis, Climax and Resolution

  3. Because it has been vetted by Hemingway himself - or at least the App he inspired

So I took that scene, copied it, pasted it back into Google Docs, did some formatting, and then moved on to the second Scene of my Prologue.

And that's what I've been doing since we last spoke.

I completed my Prologue - consisting of two Scenes - each telling the story of Trinity - an ancient artifact found by a research team 75 years before our story begins.

Next, I completed the first Sequence of Scenes in the actual Story:

Scenes 1-3 tell the story of Jordan Sullivan - an Archaeology Professor who is down on his luck. Life hasn't gone the way he expected it to - and he isn't sure there is anything worth living for at this point.

Then, men show up at his door and require him to come with them to Washington DC - where he is briefed about an artifact found 75 years ago. He's asked to lead a Task Force that will study the artifact and determine if it has any significant impact on the world.

Jordan meets the team, agrees to go on the adventure, and gets on a plane headed for a far away land.

And that's it - the first three Scenes, and my first cohesive Sequence.

5 Scenes in total - written in the Hemingway App - and created from my original content.

// CHAPTER 3: "KNEE DEEP IN THE HOOPLA"

So this is where I find myself - 5 Scenes in. I'm ecstatic - but a few new questions have arisen.

QUESTION 1: Am I on the right track?

  • My guess is that this happens to every writer

  • You hit the ground running - you're having fun

  • Everything seems to be going along as planned

  • Then you hit a wall:

    • It's like driving to El Capitan to do some rock climbing

    • You research it - watch videos of it - and you're stoked

    • So you drive up, get out of the car, hike to the base and get all roped up

    • Then you look up and freak out

    • It's much taller than I thought

    • This is going to take a really long time

  • And so it is with the book

  • You get a few scenes in and you realize - I have like 75 to go

  • And in my case - 75 for Book 1, but then another 80 for each of the following books

  • And you start to second guess yourself

  • Did I outline things well?

  • Are these 5 Scenes going to work when I get to Scene 62? Are these going to work when I'm on Book 3?

  • All good questions - but I just need to keep moving forward - each of these things can be addressed in time

  • If at some point I need to come back to these 5 Scenes and make adjustments - that's what I'll do

  • But for now - just keep writing...

QUESTION 2: Am I writing in my world?

  • Let me explain...

  • The book (or Trilogy) I'm writing takes place in the future

  • About 75 years in the future

  • Let's say the year is 2100

  • So it's a world we probably wouldn't recognize - right?

  • The differences between 2024 and 2100 would be obvious and jarring

  • And my 2nd Sequence will make that obvious

  • Scenes 4-6 tell the tale of a Space Rover crew preparing for a deep space hop

  • Obviously futuristic - something that could very well happen in 2100

  • So that's good - but when I look back at my first Sequence - Scenes 1-3 - there is little to nothing suggesting we are anywhere but 2024

  • Because I'm writing what I know - as if these people exist in my world today

  • And that's wrong...really wrong

  • So this needs to be addressed immediately

  • Unlike the first question, I can't just keep writing

  • Because this is a significant error - a continuity thing, a world building thing

  • And if I can't get the tone and the environment right in the first Scenes - there is going to be a major disconnect for the reader in the next Scenes

So there you go - "Knee deep in the hoopla." The name of a 1985 album by Starship. And a phrase defined by the Urban Dictionary as "being very involved, mixed up in the excitement or fervor of the moment."

That says it all. I'm now involved, I'm mixed up in it. I'm excited. And I feel the fervor of the moment.

There are anxieties, and there are things to fix - but at the end of the day I'm doing what I love. And I can't wait to overcome the hurdles in my way so I can keep moving forward.

Let's Land the Plane:

Thanks for joining me yet again - for another installment of the Transcendent trilogy.

I'm glad to have you along on the journey. At this point we're off to the races. Writing away and experiencing all the things. The good, the bad and the ugly.

But we're on the journey - and that's all that matters.

Next time we'll dive back into the progress I've made. And possibly address a new road block I've encountered along the way.

But for now - have a great week friends - and keep Transcending Human!

Daryl McMullen
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187 | TTT011 | New Ground, New Problems & New Ideas
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185 | TTT009 | Here We Go!