Who better**?**
Many business people faced with the task of writing for marketing purposes are quick to say:
Hey, I’m no Hemingway*!***
But really, who better than Hemingway to emulate**?** Rather than embracing the flowery prose of the literati, he chose to eschew obfuscation at every turn and write simply and clearly**.**
So let’s see what Ernest can teach us about effective writing**.**
Hemingway was famous for a terse minimalist style of writing that dispensed with flowery adjectives and got straight to the point**.** In short, Hemingway wrote with simple genius.
Perhaps his finest demonstration of short sentence prowess was when he was challenged to tell an entire story in only 6 words:
For sale: baby shoes, never used*.***
See opening.
Here’s David Garfinkel’s take on this one:
It’s muscular, forceful*.** Vigorous English comes from passion, focus and intention**.** It’s the difference between putting in a good effort and TRYING to move a boulder… and actually sweating, grunting, straining your muscles to the point of exhaustion… and MOVING the freaking thing**!***
Since Hemingway wasn’t the cheeriest guy in the world, what does he mean by be positive**?** Basically, you should say what something is rather than what it isn’t**.**
This is what Michel Fortin calls using up words:
By stating what something isn’t can be counterproductive since it is still directing the mind, albeit in the opposite way*.** If I told you that dental work is painless for example, you’ll still focus on the word “pain” in “painless**.**”*