“We need to first be limited in order to become limitless.”—Phil Hansen
THE SIX-WORD STORY
Ernest Miller Hemingway was one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. He coined a style of writing that exercised the reader’s intellect and wisdom. The style is known as the Iceberg Theory. The Iceberg Theory is a minimalistic style that allows readers to infer underlying deeper meanings by letting them shine through the words instead of explicitly stating them. He mastered the power of knowing what not to say. Hemingway wrote elegantly while conveying most of the information and emotion in a few words. He believed that the meaning of a story should be hinted at and left to the reader’s interpretation, like an iceberg where only a small part is visible above the water while the majority is beneath the surface.
There’s a tale about when Hemingway was challenged to limit his creative freedom. He was having lunch with fellow writers, and Hemingway claimed he could write a six-word sto…