Monday, May 7, 2012

"Use short sentences."


"This month, The Toronto Star released The Hemingway Papers consisting of more than seventy original Hemingway articles presented in news-print form exactly as they appeared in the newspaper over ninety years ago. Complete with vintage adverts and comics, I dare any man or woman to unearth a relic of journalism so fine as this.
     It was not until prying open the over-sized daily (adorned with a blow up of Hemingway’s 1923 passport photo) that I came to discover a certain pattern, a cipher if you will, in the technical arch of the man’s Pulitzer Prize winning writing style.
     Ernest Hemingway was a negative guy. He was a fine writer, sure, but not exactly the portrait of a buoyant disposition. He entered the feral arena of news writing by way of The Kansas City Star during his late teens. The daily had a specific ‘style guide’ to which their writers must adhere: 'Use short sentences. Use short first paragraphs. Use vigorous English. Be positive, not negative.'"
— Jeff Campagna, Sabotage Times
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You can buy this collection here...

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