Blog de Puree

As most folks know, Kurt Vonnegut Jr. passed away this week. He’ll be long remembered for his classic books such as Slaughterhouse Five, Cat’s Cradle and Hocus Pocus.

Naturally, I was saddened by the news. But as a writer, I felt guilty for wondering what his secret to success was as thousands mourned his passing. It’s common for all writers to spend a lot of time and thought on how others got published, and what they did to become famous writers. No matter how inappropriate the timing. Most may not admit that, but deep down, it’s true.

Today, I found a tidbit that answered this very question and it was from Mr. Vonnegut himself; it was from his book Bagombo Snuff Box. A blog called they must need bears was kind enough to list Vonnegut’s short story tips and I’ve taken the liberty of copying them here.

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.