1. The Writing Style of
Ernest Hemingway

2. Iceberg Theory:
• Hemingway strippes everything but the bare
essentials from his stories and novels, leaving
readers to sift through the remaining dialogue
and bits of narrative on their own.
• Just as the visible tip of an iceberg hides a far
greater mass of ice underneath the ocean
surface, so does Hemingway’s dialogue belie
the unstated tension between his characters.

3. • Hemingway firmly believed that perfect
stories conveyed far more through subtext
than through the actual words written on the
page.
• The more a writer strips away, the more
powerful the “iceberg,” or story, becomes.

4. Hemingway’s Economy of Style:
• Hemingway is known for his economic prose—his
writing is minimalist and sparse, with few adverbs
or adjectives.
• He includes only essential information, often
omitting background
information, transitions, and dialogue tags such
as “he said” or “she said.
• He often uses pronouns without clear
antecedents, such as using the word it without
clarifying what it refers to.

5. • Hemingway applies the “iceberg principle” to
his stories: only the tip of the story is visible
on the page, while the rest is left
underwater—unsaid.
• Hemingway uses fewer words and lets the
effect of his style speak for itself.

6. • Hemingway’s technique is uncomplicated,
with plain grammar and easily accessible
language.
• Hemingway is also considered a master of
dialogue. The conversations between his
characters demonstrate not only
communication but also its limits.
• The way Hemingway’s characters speak is
sometimes more important than what they
say, because what they choose to say (or leave
unsaid) illuminates sources of inner conflict.

7. • Sometimes characters say only what they
think another character will want to hear. In
short, Hemingway captures the complexity of
human interaction through subtlety and
implication as well as direct discourse.

8. Hemingway Quotes on Writing:
• “All my life I've looked at words as though I were
seeing them for the first time. “
• “All our words from loose using have lost their
edge. “
• “For a long time now I have tried simply to write
the best I can. Sometimes I have good luck and
write better than I can. “
• “I don't like to write like God. It is only because
you never do it, though, that the critics think you
can't do it. “

9. • “It's none of their business that you have to learn how
to write. Let them think you were born that way. “
• “My aim is to put down on paper what I see and what I
feel in the best and simplest way. “
• “There is no rule on how to write. Sometimes it comes
easily and perfectly; sometimes it's like drilling rock
and then blasting it out with charges.”
• “There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a
typewriter and bleed.”
• “When writing a novel a writer should create living
people; people not characters. A character is a
caricature. “