So You Wanna Be a Writer, Huh?

Kurt Vonnegut Writing Tips

For those of you who don't know, Kurt Vonnegut is a famous author who has written novels such as Cat's Cradle, Breakfast of Champions and Slaughterhouse Five.

And today, I have for you 8 writing tips given by Vonnegut himself. I will be stating the tips and giving a little bit more information as to what it means and how you can apply it.

Please note: There are only tips which are suggestions and/or advice. Sometimes these tips won't apply to your book, depending on what you're trying to accomplish.

1. Use the time of total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.

Don't have random characters in your story if they don't serve a purpose.

2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.

If your reader hates all of your characters, then there's no reason for them to continue reading.

3. Every character should want something, even it is only a glass of water.

This is mainly for personality reasons. I've seen so many characters in books who are there just to be there. They serve no purpose. They have no personality. They seem to not have any motivations. In real life, incentives are what drive human behavior. So all of your characters should want something, that includes side/supporting characters!

4. Every sentence must do one of two things - reveal character or advance the action.

Nothing much more I can say. Don't write pointless dialogue or pointless sentences that don't help the plot of the story.

5. Start as close to the end as possible.

Now this really depends on the author. By this, Vonnegut means that you shouldn't waste time building a background that isn't necessary. If your character is moving to a new city and there's no crucial reason why that would reveal more about her character, then you shouldn't write about the drive to the new house or unpacking the uHaul and stuff like that. Start at or close to where the drama/conflict is. All other information can be added in over time.

6. Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them-in order that the reader may see what they are made of.

This is mainly for character development reasons. If bad things happen to your characters, it forces them to deal with the situation and shows the readers exactly that. Now that doesn't mean make all of your characters get into car accidents, but maybe Bob fails his math test, Tina's boyfriend breaks up with her, Johnny doesn't get the girl in the end. These are things that will set up the stage for good character development.

In the end, your main characters should strive to be dynamic characters. Dynamic characters are those who change/develop/grow throughout the story. Static characters are those who remain the same throughout the story.

7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.

That one person is you. Always write for yourself. You can't please everyone when it comes to writing but you can please yourself.

8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.

I don't really agree with this, because I like suspense and I like mystery. I think a little confusion is okay, but a lot of confusion is not. It will only turn your readers away because they won't be able to keep up if their questions are not answered promptly.

So in that sense, yes, your readers should know exactly what's going on.