What Writers Say, Part 15: Ernest Hemingway on Reading His Work

Ernest Hemingway once said that he occasionally reads his own novels to cheer himself when he is having a hard time writing. 

Not a bad idea for all writers. When struggling with a difficult piece. pick up something you've already published or readers have praised. That quality standard could be the goal of your next literary work.

What Writers Say, Part 14: Ernest Hemingway on Movement and Flexibility

In responding to a question about his usual conception of a short story, Ernest Hemingway implied that no system consistently works for him. "Sometimes you know the story," he said. "Sometimes you make it up as you go along and have no idea how it will come out." Hemingway's conclusion to this point is of special importance to beginning writers: "Everything changes as it moves." 

While the changes in a story a writer is composing may be palpable, they are not always. This inevitable encounter with the constant state of flux inherent in settings, characters, plots, and even premises in story-writing demands patience with the process as well as flexibility with preconceived notions about narrative lines and dramatic outcomes. 

What Writers Say, Part 13: Ernest Hemingway on Interpretations of His Work

In response to a question about whether symbolism appears in his novels, Ernest Hemingway dismissively said that he'd rather leave that answer to the critics, concluding, "Read anything I write for the pleasure of reading it. Whatever else you find will be the measure of what you brought to the reading."

In skillfully deflecting the question, Hemingway reminds us that while we may write to entertain others, we have our personal reasons for writing, too.    

What Writers Say, Part 12: Ernest Hemingway on His Diverse Influences

In response to a question about his literary forebears, Ernest Hemingway recited a litany of writers, including Twain, Chekhov, Dostoevsky, and Shakespeare, but he also mentioned composers (Bach and Mozart) and painters (Tintoretto, Breughel, Goya, van Gogh, Cezanne, and others).

Hemingway's eclectic selection suggests, as WORDS ON THE LINE has often stated, that writers can find inspiration not only from their favorite authors but also from painters, sculptors, photographers, composers, musicians, choreographers, dancers, and actors. 

What Writers Say, Part 11: Ernest Hemingway on the Work Destroyers

It's often said that artists are selfish. The nature of their work demands that they spend long stretches of time isolated from others. When Ernest Hemingway was asked which places are most advantageous to his writing, he responded that he could work in most any quiet place and concluded, "The telephone and visitors are the work destroyers." When asked about the optimal emotional time to write, he curtly answered, "You can write any time people will leave you alone and not interrupt you."

Sounds selfish, right?

But truth be told, the writers I have met are not much different from everyone else I know. Some are generous and some greedy, graceful and some crude, some mature and some puerile, some sensitive and some cold, some grounded and some neurotic, some energetic and some lethargic, some ambitious and some lazy, some sensible and some superficial, some happy and some depressed, some talkative and some quiet. This observation tells me that what distinguishes writing from other professions is that it is performed in places of intimacy, where non-writers might consider writers antisocial or selfish because writers perform their work where and when others are at their leisure.

Lesson learned? When writing, keep people and telephones out. If Hemingway were alive today, he would add smartphones to his list. 

What Writers Say, Part 10: Harold Pinter on How Writing Feels

Harold Pinter did not much like talking about his creative works, and especially his writing process, not because he was secretive but because he saw such disclosures as little more than time-wasting, deceptive chatter. Moreover, he said he could not recall precisely how his plays develop from conception to completion. The closest he seemed willing to express about his writing process was his feeling throughout it: "I think what happens is that I write in a very high state of excitement and frustration."

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's classic books Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience and Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention examine in depth what happens during the creative process. Hours can pass like seconds to an artist in the midst of creating. But what I appreciate about Pinter's observation is its pragmatism. When we are excited and frustrated, we tend to work through those feelings until they fade, making writing an activity in which our intellect and emotions collaborate.

What Writers Say, Part 9: Edward Albee on Writing as Discovery

When Edward Albee said, "Writing has got to be an act of discovery," he did not mean that writers should approach their story clueless as to what comes next. Indeed, they might begin writing a book knowing what every chapter might look like. Nevertheless, the act of writing is an act of discovery, a means of exploring one's creativity, introducing unique characters, disclosing singular situations, and inventing new phrases.

Understanding this point can liberate writers. They begin to realize that they are engaged in much more than self-expression. They are trying to find what they've envisioned, to learn what comes next, to get to the bottom of things. Some writers compare this journey to detective work and some to the construction craft. Others prefer to call it simply what they do as artists. If the work isn't exhilarating, it's not writing.