Kurt Vonnegut was a prolific writer, and his advice on writing is some of the best you’ll find. Here are some of his best tips:

Find a Subject You Care About

What is something you care about? Something that you really want others to care about as well? Write about that. Your care and passion will come through and hold people’s attention.

Do Not Ramble, Though

He just wrote one line here, “That he wouldn’t ramble about this much.”. No better way of saying that and really following his own advice!

Keep It Simple

Kurt calls upon two of the great master of the English language, William Shapespeare and James Joyce, and the simplicity of their writing. They said great things but in simple words. You don’t need fancy words to say something important.

Have the Gut to Cut

If a sentence, no matter how excellent, does not add to the story, cut it. Your eloquence should follow your ideas, not the other way around.

Sound like Yourself

He asks the writer not to hide where they are from. He reminds us that when our unique background shows up in our English, it makes everything even more beautiful. So, instead of trying to sound like some long expired but cultivate Englishman from the 19th century, sound like yourself.

Say What You Mean to Say

Find the most effective words to say what you have to say. Do not make the reader work harder than he or she has to, already.

Pity the Readers

Readers have to look at a lot of marks on a paper and make sense of them, understand what you are saying. Our audience requires that we are sympathetic and patient with them, and ever willing to simplify and clarify instead of soaring above the peaks with our fancy words.

For Really Detailed Advice

He suggests reading Strunk and White’s “The Elements of Style”. He says that it is a little book that can help you a lot.

Here’s a link to the full article: Kurt Vonnegut On How to write with style

It’s worth reading the letter Kurt wrote to his father in May 1945, when he was in the Le Havre, Prison of War Repatriation Camp. This letter was published after his death in 2007, in the book “Armageddon in Retrospect”. Even though it was written when Kurt was 22 years old, it already shows his writing style. It is simple, direct, and full of humor. It was written out of his deeply felt need to share with his family, what he had been through.

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