How to Write Like Hemingway: 3 Examples of Powerful Brevity

Ernest Hemingway didn’t write short because it was easy. He wrote short because it was true.

Known for his spare, precise language and emotionally charged silences, Hemingway believed in the Iceberg Theory—that only a small part of a story should be visible, while the rest lies beneath the surface.

If you're entering the Legacy Hemingway Contest, here are three examples that show how to say more by saying less.

1. “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”

The most famous six-word story ever written (or at least attributed to Hemingway) contains no explanation—just implication. The reader supplies the grief, the loss, the entire narrative. The silence is the story.

What to try: Write one quiet detail that suggests something louder.

2. The final line of The Sun Also Rises:

“Isn’t it pretty to think so?”

After an entire novel of love, war, and disillusionment, this one line collapses every romantic fantasy built by the protagonist. It's devastating—because it's quiet.

What to try: Use the last line to reveal what the narrator can’t say out loud.

3. The beginning of Hills Like White Elephants:

“The hills across the valley of the Ebro were long and white.”

A scenic opening that masks tension. The story is about an abortion—but the word is never used. Everything unfolds in subtext, glances, and what’s left unsaid.

What to try: Let two characters talk around a subject, never naming it.

In the Legacy Hemingway Contest, you have just 300 words to craft a story that simmers with restraint. So cut the fat. Keep the truth. And let your silence do the talking.

Deadline: June 30 Submit Your Entry → legacycontests.com/ernesthemingwaycontest