Employing Subtext: Hemingway's Iceberg Theory, by Ashley Holloway
A craft article
Finding the perfect balance between offering too much and too little information in a story can be a challenge. This is where employing subtext can be helpful. Subtext is a literary device used to convey information about a character, plot, or setting without actually naming it. Instead, these details are provided implicitly; subtext is all about leveraging nuance.
Coined by Ernest Hemingway, The Iceberg Theory, also known as the “theory of omission” applies the concept of negative space in art to a writing context. Or, rather, by telling the reader everything by telling them very little. To compare this to an iceberg, only a small portion of the story’s details are visible or overtly communicated; these portions, which make up about 10% of the story, are “above the water.”