Does anyone have any Ernest Hemingway parody ideas?

Answer 1

One idea could be a parody where Hemingway's famous characters struggle with modern technology, like using smartphones or navigating social media. Another idea could be a story where Hemingway's signature terse writing style is applied to trivial or absurd situations, such as ordering a coffee or grocery shopping.

Answer 2

I wrote a Hemingway parody a few years ago, "For Whom The Bull Tolls." I listen to "The Archers" on Radio4 and the parody was to do with one of the serial's most dramatic story lines - Brian the wealthy gentleman farmer was having an extra-marital affair (and a child) with the local doctor's estranged wife.( And the Bull is the village pub.) I reflected the events in the style of Hemingway (sort of) and hoped the humor would come from the juxtaposition of the two matrices augmented by caricature of each.

You might try something like that, eg an episode of "Casualty" or "Dr Who" in the style of Hemingway. I would suggest you choose something or someone you are very familiar with and enjoy. You then use its characters to people your own plot and create that plot in accordance with the conventions of the original. Or else you just use an existing story line and write it as written by Hemingway.

To pick out key notes of style, (eg Hemingway's) I just skim-read random passages of the author I am trying to parody and find that stylistic opportunities jump off the page offering themselves for exploitation.A useful image is to think of the person you are parodying, eg Hemingway, being given a piggy back by the cast of "Casualty" who are gagged. So Casualty is in charge of what's happening but Hemingway is doing the talking - great fun. I chuckle aloud at what I write, which makes me sound very self-satisfied. I wish I was, of course, I am the usual mass of seething insecurities, but I do have a small talent for parody.

The problem is that this stuff often has a very short shelf-life. My Hemingway parody is unlikely to amuse people now in the way it might have done when Brian's affair was current. But this can be overcome if the vehicle for carrying your parody is as fairly timeless - eg, Winnie the pooh (as used by Alan Coren) - and the plot isn't either Pooh's or Hemingway's, but something you've created that will accommodate both.