How to Write with Style (Kurt Vonnegut) | Hacker News Reader

How to Write with Style (Kurt Vonnegut)

literature.sdsu.edu

86 pointssmanek18 comments

I've always suspected Vonnegut's classification under "fiction" rather than "science fiction" is a result of the way his books are written. The man's all style - he could pretty much write about any subject and I'd find it interesting.

Ironically, that's exactly contrary to his first point -- to write about something you care about.

That isn't necessarily true. You are mixing up defunkt's reading about something he may not care about with the prerequisite that the author care about the subject to write well about a subject.

"And lucky indeed is the writer who has grown up in Ireland, for the English spoken there is so amusing and musical."

Jaysus! Hasn't a bleedin' notion what he's bleating on about there; we're not like that at all, like. A right lula.

for some reason I read that with a Scottish accent.

And I heard it totally Cockney, not that I hear much of these accents outside of the telly (that's what you call it right?).

Vonnegut's writing about writing is good, but PG's essay about essays is better: http://www.paulgraham.com/essay.html

I also recommended: http://www.paulgraham.com/writing44.html

PG's essay on essays helped me a lot when I was stagnating. particularly his metaphor of a river. looking at the overall flow of a piece and shaping it with editing has immensely improved my writing. I now enjoy deciding whether to make an essay inductive or deductive, and playing with the order in which I introduce things to create weird effects (used a lot by one of my favorites Douglas Adams).

I've come to value structuring an argument so that it mimics the process of reaching the conclusion.

For example, I might write an essay on gender. When I start, I might think that there are two genders: male and female. By the end, I might have concluded that gender is meaningless. If I stopped there, my essay would be: gender is meaningless because a, b and c.

However, I find it more interesting to rewrite and end up with a journey through my abandoned conclusions. This allows the reader to reason along with me as they read, thus strengthening my conclusion. For example:

1. There are two genders: male and female because a and b.

2. a and b are faulty because c and d. Gender as a continuum between male and female fits with c and d.

3. c and d are unsound because e and f and g. Gender as a vector of n points on n continuums might work.

4. ...

This is neat, thanks! Vonnegut is one of my favorite authors; I would read his books instead of reading the assigned books back in high school.

My school had us read Slaughterhouse Five. I wish they gave us one of his other books though.

A wonderful essay that I haven't seen before. Thanks for posting.

A great essay by one of the true geniuses of American literature. His books should be required reading for every high school student in the country.

RIP Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

PG recommends sending drafts to friends for revision. Does anybody know of a website/forum/mailing list where one can do this?

Email the draft to people you know.

Often essays come up in talking with someone, and when you're working on them you'll often feel a need to mention what you're writing about. I keep a list of names and emails at the bottom of the file as my draft readers.

You could try reddit.com. There are sub-sections for Writing and Poetry submissions:

http://www.reddit.com/r/writing/ http://www.reddit.com/r/Poetry/

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