The Understated Style

Being a journalist first, I tend to follow what’s called the “understated style.”  Ernest Hemingway, who also began as a journalist, first popularized it.  He wasn't the first writer to adopt an understated style, only the first to become really famous for using it.  Almost always "to the point" in what he wrote, he once famously said:  "The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them."

Hemingway focuses on sensations rather than ideas.   And he often lived what he wrote about.

While he was many things, some of them admirable, some not, he was a great observer of life, of the human condition, and of nature.  If you want to read some great short stories, read his The Hills are White Elephants, and The Killers – I believe to be among the best in the English language.