Fishing with Papa: Hemingway’s Lesson on Art, Algorithms, and Authenticity

(🎧 Audio Version) Fishing with Papa: Hemingway’s Lesson on Art, Algorithms, and Authenticity

[📖 Prefer reading? Here's the story in script format.] ⬇

(Scene: By the River, late afternoon. YOU and HEMINGWAY sit side by side, fishing rods in hand.)

You: I’m tired, Hem.

Hemingway: Then rest.

You: I don’t mean physically. I’m tired of… all of it. Creating something, and then watching it sink. A few likes. A few views. It’s like screaming into the void.

Hemingway: Screaming won’t catch a fish.

You: I know. But it’s like no one even notices the hook’s in the water. What’s the point?

Hemingway: The point is the cast.

You: That’s easy to say when you’re Hemingway! You didn’t have to fight algorithms.

Hemingway: No, I fought editors, critics, and drunks in bars. Everyone fights something.

You: I feel like I’m not making art anymore. People like seeing cats, so everyone draws them—cats fishing, cats skiing, cats being cute. It all feels so pointless.

Hemingway: But why do they keep drawing them?

You: Because it works. I mean, why fill the world with cats and dogs when what really matters in this world is humans?

Hemingway: Don’t care about what other artists do. Draw what you think is important.

You: But it’s hard. Everyone’s shouting, and if you don’t shout louder, you disappear.

Hemingway: You’re fishing in the wrong stream.

You: What does that mean?

Hemingway: Who’s your audience?

You: Anyone. Everyone.

Hemingway: That’s your problem. Draw for someone who’ll feel it.

You: What if they never see it?

Hemingway: Your work will find them if it’s good enough.

You: So what would you do if you were a writer in this age?