39, or 47, Endings

Hemingway famously rewrote the ending of A Farewell to Arms dozens of times, 39 times according to him in his Paris Review interview, 47, if you count all the versions compiled by his grandson as an addendum to the Hemingway Library Edition of the book. The problem? “Getting the words right.”

PROMPT

Whether it’s the end or the beginning or a critical scene that you’re having trouble with, try the 39 ending approach as an exercise and write as many versions of a scene as you can possibly muster up, as fast as you can pump them out. Let yourself be unfiltered, even ridiculous, and see what you come up with. You may find you turn our more than one passage that’s useful, or you may write your way through dross — putting down and shaking off phrases and ideas that are overly familiar — to find a unique and fitting vision for your story.

If you’re so inspired, put some — or all! — of what you come up with in the chat.