Writing for Style: Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist.

He was part of the 1920s expatriate community in Paris, as well as the veterans of World War One later known as "the Lost Generation", as described in his posthumous memoir A Moveable Feast.

("'That's what you are. That's what you all are,' Miss Stein said. 'All of you young people who served in the war. You are a lost generation.'" Stein had overheard a garage owner use the phrase to criticize a mechanic.)

He received the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 for The Old Man and the Sea, and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. Hemingway's distinctive writing style is characterized by economy and understatement, in contrast to the style of his literary rival William Faulkner.

Some say that Faulkner used all the adjectives while Hemingway used none. There is no one better than Hemingway and E.B. White to copy if you want clean, clear, evocative prose.

Novels

(1926) The Torrents of Spring
(1926) The Sun Also Rises
(1929) A Farewell to Arms
(1937) To Have and Have Not
(1940) For Whom the Bell Tolls
(1950) Across the River and Into the Trees
(1952) The Old Man and the Sea
(1970) Islands in the Stream
(1986) The Garden of Eden
(1999) True at First Light
(2005) Under Kilimanjaro

Collections

(1923) Three Stories and Ten Poems
(1925) In Our Time
(1927) Men Without Women
(1933) Winner Take Nothing
(1936) The Snows of Kilimanjaro
(1938) The Fifth Column and the First Forty-Nine Stories
(1969) The Fifth Column and Four Stories of the Spanish Civil War
(1972) The Nick Adams Stories
(1987) The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway
(1995) Everyman's Library: The Collected Stories

For my favourite excerpt from Hemingway and a discussion of Hemingway and the use of repetition, go to the Hemingway page of Writing Tips at Moore Partners.

Writing for Style: Rick Reilly

Richard "Rick" Paul Reilly (born February 3, 1958 in Boulder, Colorado) is an award-winning American sportswriter. Long known for being the "back page" columnist for Sports Illustrated, Reilly announced a move to rival ESPN that begins June 1, 2008. He has won the national Sportswriter of the Year award 11 times.

Reilly is a “popular” writer and probably will not be remembered as long as Chandler or Carver or E.B. White, but he can make me laugh out loud and bring tears to my eyes. What else do you want from a writer?

Reilly's style is usually humorous, poking fun at the absurdities of athletes, coaches, and almost anyone involved in sports at any level. Reilly does have a serious side, and has written on many subjects, from small town heroes to his own personal life. Reilly has also done features, notably one about a week spent with Marge Schott that ultimately helped lead to her suspension from baseball.

He has said in his columns that he doesn't write about sports, but writes "about people IN sports."

Bibliography

Slo Mo! – A fictional diary of a naive 7'8" kid taken from high school to the NBA.

Missing Links – A novel about an eccentric group of golfers who are regulars at the worst course in America

Shanks for Nothing – A novel which is the sequel to Missing Links

The Life of Reilly – An anthology of Reilly's best early works from Sports Illustrated

Hate Mail from Cheerleaders and Other Adventures from the Life of Reilly – An anthology consisting of one-hundred Reilly's best weekly articles from 2000-2006.

Who's Your Caddy – A collection of stories about Reilly caddying for several remarkable people ranging from Donald Trump to the blind golfing world champion.

There's more on the Rick Reilly page of Writing Tips at Moore Partners.

Presentation Skills: Before the Speech

In the days before a speech:

• Practice to boost your confidence. Treat speaking like learning to hit a golf ball or play the piano.
• Videotape your practice sessions so you know what works and what doesn't.
• Learn to project your voice and your presence. Own the room. You can use your car to start, then move on to an empty church or auditorium for trial runs.

In the minutes before a speech:

• Don't eat bananas before a speech. Seriously. Like with dairy products, you'll feel the need to clear your throat. Again and again.
• Drink room-temperature water with lemon to avoid dry mouth. Ice water constricts your vocal cords.

During a speech:

• Make eye contact with people in each part of the room. Look at one person for three seconds, then move on to another. Remember to smile.
• Don't read your presentation or clutch the podium. In fact, stay away from the podium unless you need a sip of water.
• If you do have dry mouth, don’t hesitate to take a sip. The audience will understand. Ask a question to cover the pause or use the pause to dramatize a point. Some speakers take a sip even when they don’t need to because it is such a handy device.

It's OK to feel nervous, just re-define it as excitement or anticipation. It is energy, use it. You might be aware of it but the audience won't notice. Unless you aren’t nervous at all. Then you will be flat and boring, and the audience will certainly notice that.

Writing for Style: Ten Quick Tips for Better Writing

Better writing isn’t an accident. It takes practice and intention, just like learning to hit a golf ball, shoot a puck, or ski. Whether a letter, email, essay, or blog, we should keep in mind the competition for the time and interest of our readers and write clearly and directly.

Institute one of these tips a week and in ten weeks you will be a better writer. They are divided into four subject areas: words, sentences, paragraphs, and editing.

Words

1) Use active verbs. Don't overwork the passive voice or forms of the verb "to be." Instead, use active verbs in the active voice.

No: The profit and loss was calculated by our staff.
Yes: Our staff calculated the profit and loss.
No: The figures were checked by the research department.
Yes: The research department checked the figures.

Active voice is preferable to passive for the majority of your sentences. Even in scientific writing, overuse of passive voice or use of passive voice in long and complicated sentences can cause readers to lose interest or to become confused.

2) Use specific nouns and verbs. Use concrete and specific word to convey your message clearly and keep your readers engaged.

No: A period of unfavourable weather.
Yes: It rained every day for a week.
No: He showed satisfaction as he realised his market gains.
Yes: He grinned as he sold the stock for a profit.

Call a one-person earth-moving implement a spade. Let’s face it. Vitally challenged or chronologically stunted is still dead.

There's more on the Ten Writing Tips page of Writing Tips at Moore Partners.

Writing for Grammar: Editing S to X

sans serif
A typeface that does not have a serif (crossline) decorating the main strokes of the characters.

sentence style
Capitalization style for heads and titles in which all words are in lowercase except those that would be capitalized in a sentence. Also called initial cap only.

serial comma
Comma preceding and or or in a list of items (one, two, andOxford comma.

serif
A decorative line crossing the main strokes of a letter in some type styles such as Times Roman.

sidebar
A short article or news story that complements or amplifies a major article or story.

signposting
Cross-references to topics previously discussed in a document.

sink
Distance from the top of a printed page to a specific element on that page.

solidus
Name of the / character. Also called slash or virgule.

specs
Type specifications indicating typeface, point size, spacing, margins, and the like.

stet
Latin for "let it stand." Indicates that text marked for deletion should be restored.

style sheet
Form filled in by a copy editor as a record of editorial decisions applied to a manuscript.

subhead
Small headline in the body of a text.

T of C
Short for table of contents. Also called TOC.

TK
Short for to come. Refers to material not yet in place.

trade books
Books meant for general readers, as distinguished from books intended for professionals, scholars, or students.

trim
To reduce the length of a story. Also called boil.

trim size
Dimensions of a page of a book.

UC
Short for uppercase (capital letters).

UC/lc
Short for uppercase and lowercase. Indicates that text is to be capitalized according to headline style.

unnumbered list
Vertical list in which items are not marked by either numbers or bullets.

widow
The last line of a paragraph that appears alone at the top of a page. Sometimes also refers to an orphan.

x-ref
Short for cross-reference.

Writing for Grammar: Editing K to R

Killing orphans and marking up roughs.

kerning
Tighten spacing between the letters of a word.

kill
To order deletion of text or an illustration.

line editing
Editing copy for clarity, logic, and flow.

linespacing
Space between lines of text. Also called leading.

mark up
To put composition or editing instructions on copy or layouts.

MLA style
Editing conventions recommended by the Modern Language Association in the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing--the primary style guide used for academic writing in languages and literature.

monograph
A document written by specialists for other specialists.

orphan
The first line of a paragraph that appears alone at the bottom of a page. Compare to widow (later).

pass
Read-through of a manuscript by a copyeditor.

pica
A printer's unit of measure: 12 picas equal one inch.

point
A typesetting unit of measure used to indicate font sizes.

query
An editor's question.

ragged right
Text aligned at the left margin but not the right.

redline
On-screen or hard-copy version of a manuscript that indicates which text has been added, deleted, or edited since the previous version.

rough
A preliminary page layout, not in finished form.

rule
A vertical or horizontal line on a page.

running head
One or two lines of copy, such as a chapter title, set at the top of each page of a document. Also called header.

Writing for Grammar: Editing D to H

In the editing world, a bastard title is really nothing to be ashamed about, but it should be kept out of the gutter.

dagger
Name for the † character.

dead copy
Manuscript that has been typeset and proofread.

dingbat
An ornamental character, such as a smiley face.

display type
Large type used for chapter titles and headings.

double dagger
Name for the ‡ character.

ellipsis
Name of the . . . character. Plural ellipses.

em dash
Name of the — character. In manuscripts, the em dash is often typed as -- (two hyphens).

en dash
Name of the – character.

endnote
Reference or explanatory note at the end of a chapter or book.

face
The style of type.

figure
An illustration printed as part of the running text.

first ref
First appearance in a text of a proper name or of a source in reference notes.

flag
To call someone's attention to something (sometimes with a gummed label attached to hard copy).

flush
Positioned at the margin (either left or right) of the text page.

flush and hang
Way of setting indexes and lists: first line of each entry is set flush left, and the remaining lines are indented.

FN
Short for footnote.

folio
Page number in a typeset text. A drop folio is a page number at the bottom of a page. A blind folio has no page number though the page is counted in the numbering of the text.

front matter
Material at the front of manuscript or book: title page, copyright page, dedication, table of contents, list of illustrations, preface, acknowledgments, introduction. Also called prelims.

front slash
Name of the / character.

glance
A brief listing of information that accompanies a story.

gutter
The space or margin between facing pages.

head
Title that indicates the start of a section of a document or a chapter.

headline style
Capitalization style for heads or titles of works in which all words are capitalized except articles, coordinating conjunctions, and prepositions. Sometimes prepositions longer than four or five letters are also printed in upper case. Also called UC/lc or title case.

headnote
Short explanatory material following a chapter or section title and preceding the running text.

house style
The editorial style preferences of a publisher.

Writing for Grammar: Editing A to C

In the editing world, sans serif is not a holiday resort and curly quotes aren't a cheese snack.

Copyediting (or copy editing) is the work that an editor does to improve a manuscript or a report or a proposal. Here we reveal some of the jargon of the copyediting trade: terms and abbreviations used by editors in their efforts to produce copy that is clear and correct.

When do writers need to understand these terms? When they have the privilege of working with a conscientious copy editor, or working as a conscientious copy editor.

Both are fun.

AA
Short for author's alteration, indicating changes made by an author on a set of proofs.

air
White space on a printed page.

ampersand
Name of the & character.

angle brackets
Name of the <> characters.

CP style
Editing conventions recommended by The Canadian Press Stylebook (usually called the CP Stylebook) and The Canadian Press Caps and Spelling—the primary style and usage guide for most newspapers and magazines.

apos
Short for apostrophe.

art
Illustration(s) (maps, graphs, photographs, drawings) in a text.

back matter
Material at the end of manuscript or book: appendixes, endnotes, glossary, bibliography, index.

backslash
Name of the \ character.

bastard title
Usually the first page of a book, which includes only the main title, not the subtitle or author's name. Also called false title.

block quote
Quited passage set off from the running text without quotation marks. Also called extract.

boilerplate
Text that is reused without changes in multiple documents.

box
Type that is framed in a border to give it prominence.

brackets
Name of the [ and ] characters.

bubble
Circle or box on a hard copy in which an editor writes a query or comment.

callout
Note on hard copy to indicate the placement of art or to signal a cross-reference.

caps
Short for CAPITAL LETTERS.

character
An individual letter, number, or symbol.

Chicago style
Editing conventions recommended by The Chicago Manual of Style--the style guide used by some social science publications and most historical journals.

clean up
Incorporating an author's responses to the copyediting into the final hard copy or computer file.

close paren
Name of the ) character.

content edit
An edit of a manuscript that checks for organization, continuity, and content.

copy block
A sequence of lines of type treated as a single element in design or page makeup.

copy edit
To prepare a document for presentation in a printed form. The term copy edit is used to describe the kind of editing in which errors of style, grammar, word usage, and punctuation are corrected. The spelling copyedit is often used in magazine and book publishing.

copy editor
A person who edits a manuscript. The spelling “copyeditor” is often used in magazine and book publishing.

copyfitting
Calculating how much space a text will need when typeset, or how much copy will be needed to fill a space.

corrigendum
An error, usually a printer's error, discovered too late to be corrected in a document and included in a separately printed list. Also called addendum.

credit line
Statement that identifies the source of an illustration.