One True Sentence

I've been reading Ernest Hemingway's A Moveable Feast partially for pleasure and part for class. That's the beauty of taking a Hemingway/Fitzgerald class; not only do you have to read the novels, but you also have a chance to enjoy them. Each English major has to present to his Seminar class a topic regarding their relative subject (either Hemingway or Fitzgerald).

I decided to talk about A Moveable Feast, because of its relation to the both of them. Sure, it was written by Hemingway. But it is a memoir about his time in the early 20's in Paris, France. In beautiful Paris, Hemingway became a close friend of F. Scott's (however, not so much of Zelda). Allow me to demonstrate:

-Zelda forever deemed Hemingway as "phony as a rubber check". It never really bothered him though, he kept on calling her a hindrance to Fitzgerald's writing and more than likely a closet lesbian.

-Zelda actually got pretty jealous of Scott's friendship with Hemingway. It became so heated that she once told Scott that his "manhood" was too small. Downhearted, he confided in Hemingway. Laughing, Hemingway took Fitzgerald to the Louvre, where they compared the individual statue's pieces to Fitzgerald's word on his size. Apparently, he doesn't have much to worry about.

But I'm not just presenting the story itself, but I'm rather talking about its accuracy. While it is very possible that most of these stories, it is hard to believe they happened they way they are told. Honestly, while Hemingway seems to be a cool guy, he did write these stories over 30 years after they happened. I'd like to know how he remembered them all.

Nonetheless, I learned one of the best hints on writing that I have ever received from this book. Hemingway writes that "All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence you know". This instruction has become a golden rule for me now. Whenever I sit to write something, I wait for that one true sentence that he talks about. The best place I have found to do this is at my Starbucks. I just linger, listening to the conversations and wait. Once someone says something that seems like an actual true sentence, I'll copy it down and then go from there.

My most recent one that I love is this:

"Are you sure you want to go through with this? I don't find it to be very smart."

Boom. And like that you have something going. The lines already have a life of its own, you just rearrange the furniture, paint the walls and you have a working short story. I love it. And I love Hemingway!

BTW: the man on the left of the picture is Hemingway. He's sitting with most of the people that influenced the characters of The Sun Also Rises.