Interviewer: How much rewriting do you do?
Hemingway: It depends. I rewrote the ending of Farewell to Arms, the last page of it, 39 times before I was satisfied.
Interviewer: Was there some technical problem there? What was it that had stumped you? Hemingway: Getting the words right. — Ernest Hemingway, The Paris Review Interview, 1956
Hemingway and Self-Editing
Interviewer: How much rewriting do you do? Hemingway: It depends. I rewrote the ending of Farewell to Arms, the last page of it, 39 times before I was satisfied. Interviewer: Was there some technical problem there? What was it that had stumped you? Hemingway: Getting the words right. — Ernest Hemingway, The Paris Review Interview, 1956
No, I Am Not Promoting Drunkenness!
Please, do not take this advice literally! In fact, I cannot think of even one occasion when I was “drunk” while I was writing. (Phew!) My contemplation is more in line with the possibility that one could feel “drunk” due to the heat of the moment of passionate (as in being engaged, involved, driven, etc.) while one writes creatively. As soon as we are done writing, however, we must make sure to be as alert as we can to attack our written or audio-recorded draft – one version of it after another, if it need be.
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