Thoraiya DyerKurt Vonnegut's Rules in Writing
November 7th 2006 19:53
He doesn't know me but I wrote an essay about him back in 2003 for a contest entry on the topic "My Favorite Author". The manuscript was hidden somewhere in my dog-eared boxes of papers and books. Whether it won or not, I didn't know anymore. But if I find it within the week, I'll have it posted here. But just in case you're an aspiring writer who wants to follow Vonnegut's tracks, make sure you don't miss out on his rules. They'd been with me since college days:
1. Find a subject you care about.
2. Do not ramble, though.
3. Keep it simple.
4. Have the guts to cut.
5. If a sentence, no matter how excellent, does not illuminate your subject in some new and useful way, scratch it out.
6. Sound like yourself.
7. Say what you mean to say.
I'm not one to tell whether I stuck to his rules or not. I just know that writing is thinking and if you got hazy thoughts, you write the hazy way.
(I thought I heard that from someone, too. Will give him the credit later on.)
1. Find a subject you care about.
2. Do not ramble, though.
3. Keep it simple.
4. Have the guts to cut.
5. If a sentence, no matter how excellent, does not illuminate your subject in some new and useful way, scratch it out.
7. Say what you mean to say.
I'm not one to tell whether I stuck to his rules or not. I just know that writing is thinking and if you got hazy thoughts, you write the hazy way.
(I thought I heard that from someone, too. Will give him the credit later on.)
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Comment by Homer Joyce
Thanks for posting Vonnegut’s rules. I’ve never seen them before. Very helpful. (I’m currently 50pp in on another re-read of Slaughterhouse 5). Two of the books I most commonly revisit are Slaughterhouse 5 and Catch 22.
Some smart-arse wrote: There are only three rules of writing but no-one knows what they are.
Homer …
Comment by Adele
Lost Fanatic
Day Break TV
Yours, too, Homer.