3 tips from Hemingway that forces the reader to continue reading.

In Hemingway’s Hills as White Elephants, delivered both poetically and concisely, you can’t help but reread it.

Many of his writings, whether prose or not, are inspired from moments in his life; reading this story feels no different.

What I learned from it are 3 writing techniques that effortlessly pull the reader in.

1. Start in the middle.

What makes this short story so concise is that, after a brief paragraph illustrating the setting, you’re thrown straight into the middle of a conversation.

There’s no formalities or introductions; you’re thrown right into the action, sitting there with the characters.

A suspenseful build-up isn’t always necessary.

Simply give your reader what they’re looking for: suspense, drama or love.

2. Allow the reader to catch their breath.

His dialogue is short and punchy.

But rather than pages of endless dialogue, he breaks it up—allowing you to catch your breath—with various tangents and angles.

Here comes the waiter here, look at the train over there, don’t forget the mountains over yonder and so forth.

For your stories, the sentences you can use may revolve around progressing the story with non-verbal actions, describing the setting and even actions being taken from others in the vicinity.

Anything that breaks the dialogue and allows the story to be slightly unpredictable will work.

3. Know what theme you want to talk about and shut up.

Why this works so well is that it’s partially done in tandem with the first rule I mentioned.

With your reader sitting in on a conversation from rule 1, allow the dialogue to revolve around a theme without giving it away.

Your reader, being in on the conversation, will slowly begin to decipher your underlying message.

With some curiosity and intuition, they should be able to figure it out.

Before you know it and when the story’s getting good, wrap it all up and bring it to an end.

There’s no climax or resolution in Hills as White Elephants.

Hemingway finishes his story abruptly, leaving you wishing it was resolved in some way.

Which, frankly, is probably a better ending.

To wish that it was longer. To wish there was an ending. To wish that the story felt whole.

Anyway, to recap:

Start in the middle, give them breaks and find something you want to talk about and shut up.

— George

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