Writing influenced
by Hemingway.

Hemingway's prose looks simple because it is doing enormous work invisibly.

The iceberg theory · Journalism-trained precision · Dignity in difficulty

Hemingway is the founding figure of the tradition Tumbleweed Words works in, but the influence is more complicated than it first appears. The early Hemingway — the Nick Adams stories, the Paris sketches, the first Sun Also Rises — is doing something formally radical: using the rhythms of journalism to create literary fiction, using repetition as structure, using declarative sentences to build cumulative emotional weight. The later Hemingway becomes a parody of himself. Study the early work.

"The iceberg theory is not about omission for its own sake. It is about earned omission — the writer knows everything and the reader feels everything. The iceberg floats because of what is below the surface, not despite it."

David — Tumbleweed Words — on Hemingway

The Hemingway influence in Tumbleweed Words is felt in the sentence-level work — the short declarative, the compound structure using 'and' as a load-bearing word, the resistance to adverbs and adjectives that do not earn their place. Read your sentences aloud. If a word does not change the sentence when removed, remove it. This is Hemingway's practical lesson.

David — Tumbleweed Words Flash fiction and poetry in the minimalist tradition. Published in Litro, Adelaide Magazine, Cleaver Magazine. Pushcart-nominated. Read the newsletter.