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writers on writing: "a five finger exercise"
1111 sats \ 4 comments \ @billytheked 30 Jul 2025 the_stacker_muse

"Watch what happens today. If we get into a fish see exact it is that everyone does. If you get a kick out of it while he is jumping remember back until you see exactly what the action was that gave you that emotion. Whether it was the rising of the line from the water and the way it tightened like a fiddle string until drops started from it, or the way he smashed and threw water when he jumped. Remember what the noises were and what was said. Find what gave you the emotion, what the action was that gave you the excitement. Then write it down making it clear so the reader will see it too and have the same feeling you had. Thatʼs a five finger exercise.”

--Ernest Hemingway
"Monologue to the Maestro: A High Seas Letter"

he certainly had a knack for peeling away all the needless veneer and showing us what had substance. take it or leave it, this was his advice.

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44 sats \ 2 replies \ @ek 4 Feb

Wow. I just read it, thanks to your link in #1424366, and you quoted exactly the part I just wanted to quote.

It made me realize that my writing has no sound.

I also need to observe and listen more, and judge less. This goes for the world inside as well as the world outside.

I wonder if observation for the purpose of writing is also judgement.

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100 sats \ 1 reply \ @billytheked OP 4 Feb

I'm glad you could take something from it. It is a fantastic quote.

I wonder if observation for the purpose of writing is also judgement.

Yes, I believe it would be. If I recall correctly the part you are referring to, I think Your Correspondent wants to encourage Mice to not try and live for the sake of writing, but to hold back on judgement and focus on living, listening, feeling and seeing what is in front of him. I remember also him saying that he doesn't like to think about his projects unless he is in the act of writing, because it takes the air out of his tires. I can't remember if it was in the same article, but it seems to explain a little more about his philosophy.

Every language has its own music. I also remember hearing that Hemingway was interested in the Germanic roots of English, I think in the interest of paring down his prose to be as direct and short as possible (many of the more erudite words came from the French/Latin aristocratic influence.)

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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @ek 4 Feb
I think Your Correspondent wants to encourage Mice to not try and live for the sake of writing, but to hold back on judgement and focus on living, listening, feeling and seeing what is in front of him.

I think that's what I used to do, and it felt wrong:

But still, one thing comes to my mind which is antithetical to me being a writer: it still feels forced. I want to be a writer. I want to write about something interesting. So I do all these things like observing people and taking notes. But since my thinking has adapted to my writing, I am not sure if I am still being authentic in some moments. Am I still living or am I just thinking to write, so I can write to think?

I wasn't sure what to make of it. I kept thinking: "Is this just how it is to be a writer, or am I doing something wrong?"

Again, thanks to you and your link, I now know that yes, I was doing something wrong. Thank you!!

This turned out to be a real gem.

I remember also him saying that he doesn't like to think about his projects unless he is in the act of writing, because it takes the air out of his tires. I can't remember if it was in the same article, but it seems to explain a little more about his philosophy.

Yes, it was mentioned!

Always stop when you are going good and donʼt think about it or worry about it until you start to write the next day. That way your subconscious will work on it all the time. But if you think about it consciously or worry about it you will kill it and your brain will be tired before you start.
Every language has its own music. I also remember hearing that Hemingway was interested in the Germanic roots of English, I think in the interest of paring down his prose to be as direct and short as possible (many of the more erudite words came from the French/Latin aristocratic influence.)

I ordered Franz Kafka's Die Verwandlung (English: The Metamorphosis) a few days ago. I read that translating Kafka is hard. Fortunately, I grew up in Germany. Really looking forward to seeing if I can notice this quality of Kafka:

Subject, object, and verb, always close together in English, tend to become spread out in German, so much so that you often have to read until the very end of the sentence to see where the author is going — a quality Kafka uses time and again to play with tone, irony, and suspense.

I can't remember the last time I read something in German.

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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @billytheked OP 30 Jul 2025
Mice (undeterred): Tell me some more about the mechanics of writing.
Y.C.: What do you mean? Like pencil or typewriter? For chrissake.
Mice: Yes.
Y.C.: Listen. When you start to write you get all the kick and the reader gets none. So you might as well use a typewriter because it is that much easier and you enjoy it that much more. After you learn to write your whole object is to convey everything, every sensation, sight, feeling, place and emotion to the reader. To do this you have to work over what you write. If you write with a pencil you get three different sights at it to see if the reader is getting what you wanted him to. First when you read it over; then when it is typed you get another chance to improve it, and again in the proof. Writing it first in pencil gives you one-third more chance to improve it. That is .333 which is a damned good average for a hitter. It also keeps it fluid longer so that you can better it easier.
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