Ernest Hemingway Quotes, Plotting Stories, and Arrested Development

If you don't know who Ernest Hemingway was, I suggest you go to your closest bookstore, ask for an Ernest Hemingway book, get yourself a cup of tea/coffee, and spend the rest of the day reading. He is a classic of American literature. He is praised for all of his works, winning various prizes and honors like the Pulitzer and the Nobel Prize for literature. Simply put, if you love books and writing, you should listen to his words of wisdom carefully. Here’s seven of his (millions of!) quotes I that find most inspirational.

1. "There is no friend as loyal as a book"

2. "My aim is to put down on paper what I see and what I feel in the best and simplest way."

3. "The first draft of anything is shit."

4. "Write drunk. Edit sober."

5."There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed."

6."As a writer, you should not judge, you should understand."

7. "All you have to do is write one true sentence. The truest sentence that you know."

I find all of them pretty great, and they have really inspired me (don't worry, I don't drink) to write more, and better. Also, I found this link through reddit, which explains the two ways of plotting a story, which are both very useful, but I found the second way (architect) to be more sophisticated, yet very effective. If you're too lazy to click on the link and read it, here is the overall order of how an architect story should go:

• Beginning
• “Uncomfortable” event
• Plot turn 1
• Midpoint
• “Everything’s wrong” event
• Plot turn 2
• Resolution

I have also been watching Arrested Development with my mom, and we both find it hilarious. But I think the reason why everybody loves it so much (well most of it is the hilarity) is because it uses the architect story plot very intensely. Arrested Development follows various different characters, all with their own problems and sort of mini-plots, that all lead to the resolution, and somehow they manage to connect all those mini-plots into one huge problem that later gets resolved.

Anyways, I hope you get inspired by Hemingway and write your very own story using the architect and gardener way and later watch some Arrested Development.

Have a good day!

Sam