The Art of Writing Prose
Ernest Hemingway said, "Prose is architecture, not interior decoration, and Baroque is over." 1.
The Baroque period (1600-1750) was celebrated for its elaborate ornamentation, dramatic flourishes, intricate designs, and extravagant architecture. Buildings were adorned with elaborate carvings, gilded ceilings, and decorative embellishments. Your writing should not be.
Breathe life into your thoughts without employing extravagant words.
How does one apply Hemingway's approach to your own writing?
Restrain the temptation to elaborate.
The unrestrained prose:
"Skies overhead, filled with dark clouds, laid a shadow of overwhelming dread upon the slender and frail man as he stepped out onto the pier."
The restrained prose:
"Head bowed, the old man stepped onto the pier beneath a dark sky."
Unrestrained prose:
"Skies overhead" is redundant.
"Filled with dark clouds," "Slender and frail," add more work than the scene requires.
Restrained prose:
We still have the man, the pier, the dark sky, and the suggestion of sorrow. However, His posture is what suggests an emotional state without defining it.
Prose. The succession of small, seemingly insignificant moments that gradually become something meaningful. The art of writing prose begins with writing one thought after another. A small breath escaping the lips, a drop of water vanishing into the air, a leaf falls to the ground.
The art of writing prose is not merely in the arrangement. It is knowing which words belong, which to remove, and when enough has been said.
The art of writing prose is not how much the writer can say, but how much the writer can convey.
Hemingway, Ernest. Death in the Afternoon. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1932.
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