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Meg Waite Clayton

Author of the international bestsellers The Postmistress of Paris, The Last Train to London, and 6 other novels

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January 7, 2009 By Meg Waite Clayton

Hemingway's Advice to Writers

For a new slant in the new year right, I’ve decided to mix author guest posts with advice from other writers on how a writer might … do whatever it is we do. This week, the advice comes from Ernest Hemingway on Writing, edited by Larry W. Phillips, and the quote is drawn originally from By-Line: Ernest Hemingway:
How can a writer train himself? … Watch what happens today. If we get into a fish see exactly what it is that everyone does. If you get a kick out of it while he is jumping remember back until you see exactly what the action was that gave you the emotion. Whether it was the rising of the line from the water and the way it tightened like a fiddle string until it drops started from it, or the way he smashed and threw water when he jumped. Remember what the noises were and what was said. Find what gave you the emotion; what the action was that gave you the excitement. Then write it down making it clear so the reader will see it too and have the same feeling that you had.
I’d also like to recommend the post Growth Mindset and Writing: A Celebration of Risk and Failure on author Elizabeth Stark’s wonderful blog, Write Angles: The Art of Craft.

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Meg Waite Clayton


Meg Waite Clayton is the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of eight novels, including the Good Morning America Buzz pick and New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice THE POSTMISTRESS OF PARIS, the National Jewish Book Award finalist THE LAST TRAIN TO LONDON, the Langum-Prize honored THE RACE FOR PARIS, and THE WEDNESDAY SISTERS, one of Entertainment Weekly’s 25 Essential Best Friend Novels of all time. Her novels have been published in 23 languages. She has also written more than 100 pieces for major newspapers, magazines, and public radio, mentors in the OpEd Project, and is a member of the National Book Critics Circle and the California bar. megwaiteclayton.com

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