Kurt Vonnegut's 8 Rules for writing

a short story. They are...

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

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

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

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

5. Start as close to the end as possible.

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.

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.

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 wonder what his rules for a novel would have been.

You didn't post this because of Vonnegut dying did you? Well, if not, it's a bit of synchronicity, because he just did. He was 84. Cheerio, Kurt Vonnegut. I liked your books.

Actually, Yes I did write this after reading of Vonneguts death. Also, most of his books were short stories that were extended somewhat running in the 200-300 page range. I think these are wonderful rules, and thought that maybe someone would find them useful.

From what I've read here, a wise man, he was. I've been writing my stories with such amateurism that they ashame me as soon as I re-read them. Except maybe for 8 (playing down suspense is an odd thing to do; what about detective short stories?) and 3 (I like non-conventional, Beckett-like characters, so I guess I'll disregard this one), I'll try to keep these principles in mind, they seem to be excellent guidelines.

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Originally Posted by blp

I wonder what his rules for a novel would have been.

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Spot on, blp :)

hey you beat me to it kandaurov, I was going to say I like those rules, except 8 :)

~~~goodbye Kurt Vonnegut, rest in peace~~~~
I've never read any of his books, but maybe I'll read Slaughterhouse 5 with the bookclub

Quote:

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Originally Posted by blp

I wonder what his rules for a novel would have been.

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Yeah, so do I. On the other hand, he may not have been conscious of any, at least not as an articulate list of rules or guidelines.

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John Irving, author of The World According to Garp, described Vonnegut as having a self-effacing presence, adding that he "didn't have an agenda about what the novel should be".

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read whole article here
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6551319.stm[