Kurt Vonnegut
on Creative Writing 101
- Use
the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel
the time was wasted.
- Give
the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
- Every
character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
- Every
sentence must do one of two things—reveal character or advance the action.
- Start
as close to the end as possible.
My first
thought was, “What does this mean?”
Then I
remembered this friend who loved to tell the stories of his life, but never
started near the end. He thought every detail of the back story was essential
to understanding the event to be shared. I am afraid I was terribly impatient
every time he started to speak. If he were going to tell you about a recent auto
accident he had to start with when he bought the car five years ago and then
revert to the reason he needed a new car. Then would follow a brief history of
the repairs of the wrecked auto. Then before we got to the wreck he would tell
you the back story on the other person and the other car. Five minutes could
pass before you found out it was a fender bender and no one was hurt.
I find
the other way to approach this is to bring as much action forward as possible
and reveal the back story as the plot swings into action.
So if
there is a life point to this it is to realize that people’s time is precious and
not to be wasted or abused so we do well to get to the point.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
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