Kurt Vonnegut's 8 Basics of Fiction Writing And What We Can Learn

Kurt Vonnegut (1922 -2007) was an American novelist and essayist. Some of his classics include Slaughterhouse-Five, Cat's Cradle, and Breakfast of Champions.

His work is famous because of the way he explores themes of politics and humanitarian values, primarily with a science-fiction bent.

Vonnegut has what he calls “8 basics of fiction writing” and we can use these to improve our own writing or thinking about our process. While we have gone over the 8 elements of fiction writing before, Vonnegut presents his rules in a way that is meant to help writers understand the practically of some of the bad habits we might find ourselves doing.

Vonnegut’s rules are as followed:

USE TIME WISELY

The Rule:

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

Meaning:

No one wants to feel like they are wasting their time, and you do not want to be the cause of that either. That means you need to use the readers' time wisely. In other words, every action, piece of dialogue, scene, etc., should serve a specific purpose.

AT LEAST ONE CHARACTER SHOULD BE LIKEABLE  

The Rule:

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

Meaning:

You could certainly write a story full of unlikeable, purposely villainous characters, but would this be interesting? No, not really. If every character is unlikeable, how do you expect your audience to care?

Even the best villains are relatable. For instance, consider the classic protagonist Robin Hood. By his nature, he is a thief; however, because he steals from the rich only and then distributes wealth amongst the poor, the audience wants him to succeed.

Always create at least one character that your audience wants to follow.   

ALL CHARACTERS SHOULD HAVE DESIRES

The Rule:

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

Meaning:

Too often, I see writers only focus on their main characters, and as a result, the story becomes stagnant. Do not make your characters into cardboard cutouts.

We covered this in the previous section, but it bears repeating - every single character wants something out of every action. For instance, suppose your story is about a knight who sets out to kill a swamp creature who has been wreaking havoc on the village. The story would be that much more interesting if the audience knew that this creature was so angry because this monster was ousted long ago from the kingdom. Thus, this becomes a tale of revenge and gives the monster more personality, which in turn makes the story more exciting.

This is the exact plot of Beowulf, a classic piece of Old English literature.

CUT OUT ALL THE FLUFF

The Rule:

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

Meaning:

While vivid and detailed prose can be engaging, sometimes, it has the opposite effect of making the story enjoyable if you focus only on length. There is a reason why one of the most famous pieces of fiction advice is to "cut out the adverbs." Although you may get tired of hearing this suggestion, it still rings true. Get your point across as quickly as possible. The more time you spend making your story meatier for the sake of having longer prose (and wanting to showcase your entire vocabulary) the more likely your story is to become convoluted.

MAKE THE POINT CLEAR

The Rule:

Start as close to the end as possible.

Meaning:

This can apply to both novels and short stories. It can also apply to other forms of writing, like with movie or TV scripts.

What is the end of your story?

Do two characters fall in love?

Is this a coming-to-age-tale about one character?

Then you need to make these themes clear at the beginning of the story. For instance, you can open for a romance with the reference of one character being single, just getting over a breakup, feeling incredibly lonely, etc.

For the second, you must mention childhood dreams and desires, anything that lets the audience know that this may be a tale about innocence lost.

KNOW WHAT IS AT STAKE

The Rule:

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.

Meaning:

As mentioned, there must be something at stake for your characters, i.e., a specific conflict.

Achieving the goal should not be easy either. Your audience not only wants to have a character they root for, but through that character, they want to feel a sense of pride and accomplishment. If the character wins easily, then the audience loses that sense of achievement.

LIMIT YOUR AUDIENCE

The Rule:

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.

Meaning:

When I first started writing, I had a hard time with this. I wanted to create a story that everyone loved, and I do mean everyone.

You cannot do that. Not everyone is going to like your story. Thus, you need to think about the ideal person you want to write for.

Are you writing for a teenager? If so, what are you trying to impart with your words?

Or, you could be writing for someone that has gone through a particular conflict. What are you trying to tell them?

Knowing your ideal audience will help you structure your story better.

WRAP IT UP NICELY

The Rule:

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.

Meaning:

Your audience needs to have a sense of what will happen before it is going to happen.

Here, I do not think Vonnegut means to take out suspense entirely, but rather the stakes need to be well defined. You need to wrap up your story in a way that that impactful but has closure.

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