September 1, 2009 by Robin Dickinson | 1,191 views | Comments (24)
What topics should you focus on? Nobel Prize winning author, Ernest Hemingway had a very simple but incredibly effective formula for deciding what to write.
The Hemingway Test
When there are so many topics to write about, and so many temptations to continually broaden your offering based on what’s popular, it can be easy to lose focus and drift into mediocrity. This is where the Hemingway test is so useful.
When choosing what to write, he would simply ask himself two questions:
1) What do I know best?
2) What do I care about the most?
Next time you are deciding what to write, ask yourself these two questions. They will quickly reveal what topics to say ‘Yes’ to and just as importantly, what to say ‘No’ to.
How do you decide what to write?
24 Responses to this post
September 6, 2009 at 1:56 am |
That’s succinct and useful advice, although I think there’s an important qualification to the idea of “write what you know”: if you don’t know enough about something to write about it, you can learn. As an example, cartoonist Scott McCloud, who already had two very successful graphic novels about graphic novels, didn’t feel that he had enough information to write a good book about how to make graphic novels (since knowing how to do something is different than knowing how to teach about it), so he did a lot of research and combined that with his own experience to produce “Making Comics,” which is widely acknowledged as the best book of its kind and which seems to be available in almost any local library of a certain size.
Thanks for the useful posts; looking forward to reading more.
September 27, 2009 at 12:24 pm |
Luc,
Your point adds value. Yes, I would not want to be limited in my writing because I didn’t know something. My real takeaway from Hemingway is as a stimulus for those situations where we are stuck and not sure what to write next.
Best, Robin
October 5, 2009 at 11:54 am |
Well, I do pick what I feel like writing about most from the many topic ideas I come up with. I think that’s the only way to work so number 2 is covered. But for number one, I love to read, research and incorporate all the info into one document which sums it all up for me. At least when I blog. For fiction writing, I think Hemmingway is right. Well, I suppose he would be!
Now, what do you do when you’ve written it? Go to the bar/hang around in Africa? Mmmm, I think EH had that right too. I suppose you also need to do what you love apart from writing to come up with the inspiration to write more…
October 13, 2009 at 9:03 am |
Thanks, Annabel.
Just building on your excellent thoughts…
The online world makes it so easy to come up with sources of inspiration and things to care about. Take commenting for example. Find a bunch of blogs with topics that interest you, then write comments that engage with, challenge and/or build on the topic. This will provide rich sources of ideas and inspiration.
I appreciate your contribution,
Robin
October 7, 2009 at 9:11 pm |
Robin, Hemingway knew how to boil it down, didn’t he? Blogging is a superb example of the truth of his suggestion. When a blogger has passion for his topic, you can sense it a mile away. When the blogger knows his or her topic – same thing. And when those things are true, even if the writing is rough around the edges, readers come and readers stay.
October 13, 2009 at 8:58 am |
Thanks, Brad. Economy of expression is so valuable. It’s something I struggle with, but learn much from reading well-written blogs such as your http://www.wordsellinc.com/ and Annabel Candy’s http://www.getinthehotspot.com/.
Best, Robin
October 12, 2009 at 8:47 pm |
I’d say the second is the more important question. If you can decide what you love, the learning part becomes easy.
How about “Write what do you love?”
October 13, 2009 at 9:07 am |
Hey Greg,
Thanks for your contribution – and excellent blog : http://livefitblog.com/.
You may be interested to hook up with my brother, Andy who’s really into teaching healthy lifestyle http://www.modernmartialartist.com.au.
Best, Robin
October 12, 2009 at 8:48 pm |
Check that — “Write what you love…”
October 15, 2009 at 7:44 am |
Sometimes the best things we can write about are the things we need to learn or implement within ourselves.
Great post Robin!
Cheers,
Dayne
October 18, 2009 at 7:31 pm |
I agree, Dayne – especially if you are passionate about learning. That passion can then seep through the words and phrases.
Thanks for contributing,
Robin
October 16, 2009 at 12:48 am |
Hi Robin,
Nice article, enjoyed it. With regards to the question ‘what do I know best?’ I’m reminded of when Saul Bellow was famously asked what he thought of some recent happening by an interviewer, and he replied ‘I don’t know, I haven’t writen about it yet’. Writing for me is an uncovering process, finding out about how I feel about certain things. Sometimes, I’m pleasantly surprised that I know more than I thought I did. Then the job of sharing that with others is the hard part. Thanks for the insights.
October 18, 2009 at 7:35 pm |
Thanks, Jimmy. I’ve never thought of writing as an ‘uncovering process’. That’s an excellent way of looking at it.
Your art is amazing! http://www.jimmykellyart.com/ I’ll be keeping a close eye on your site from now on.
Thanks for your contribution,
Robin
October 16, 2009 at 7:51 pm |
What do I know best? How to learn. What do I care about the most? Using that information. I decide what to write about based on what I’ve learned and how I can turn it around to help other people develop on their own endeavors. Almost every single one of my blog posts is inspired by something I learned in the past or just that day.
October 18, 2009 at 7:39 pm |
Thanks, Corey. I really like your writing style – economical, yet full of value. That’s a real gift you have.
Keep shining!
Best, Robin.
October 17, 2009 at 3:05 am |
hey Robin!!
really love things like this.
and it’s really good advice. kinda.
it took me almost 4 days to write my latest article. it usually takes me around an hour. why?
…well, mainly because i was writing about something really deep and seemingly complicated and tried to distill it into something really simple.
so i had to read a whole bunch of stuff to fill out my understanding about it. it was something i DIDN’T know a lot about to begin with. but it was something i really cared about.
interesting.
keep well mate. and thank you. really cool to have read. about to write something now so i’ll def keep in mind.
have a rocken weekend
alex – unleash reality
October 18, 2009 at 7:43 pm |
Hey Alex,
I really enjoy your fresh thinking. It’s passionate, gritty and full of confidence. It’s great that you cared enough about the topic to go and learn more. So many people just seem to ‘go through the motions’ in their writing – and it shows. It becomes dull and boring.
Thanks for your contribution.
Best to you,
Robin
October 20, 2009 at 5:27 pm |
The two qualification seem simple but hard to abide. I will incorporate this in my writing and see its effects.
November 6, 2009 at 3:55 pm |
Thanks, Walter. Great to see you. I hope all is going well for you. Best wishes, Robin
October 23, 2009 at 6:19 am |
1) What do I know best?
If my niche clear than I know the best.
2) What do I care about the most?
I should care about what people want to know or have contraction on. Thanks to Twitter who made it easy.
honestly, still need to work on 2.
November 6, 2009 at 3:56 pm |
Hi Mohammed, thanks for participating.
I’ve always really enjoyed reading your blog posts. They are valuable and to the point.
Best wishes, Robin
July 22, 2010 at 12:00 pm |
I mostly write about what I care about. For me, that’s helping writers sharpen their writing.
It seems I often come across a number of examples of ‘grammar gripes’ that I then write about – not judgementally, but in a way that I hope gets the message across without being ‘teachy’.
And so often I need to go back to my style manual to refresh my understanding or to find out more, so I’m always learning.
I hope my passion for excellent business writing is obvious, and that I’m about helping writers.
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