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April 12, 2007
And So It Goes
Kurt Vonnegut died last night at the age of 84. His alter-ego, Kilgore Trout died at the same age (in the novel, Timequake). His novels are a must read if you consider yourself an educated, well-rounded person. But, he was also a man of tremendous wit, humor and humanism. His obituary in the NYTimes is impressive and includes links to many articles, book reviews and interviews.
Kurt Vonnegut's wikipedia entry gives you an idea of the kind of person he was, "On pages 9 and 10 of his book Bagombo Snuff Box: Uncollected Short Fiction, Vonnegut listed eight rules for writing a short story:
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.
So, even though Kurt Vonnegut's life is over -- his legacy will live forever. And so it goes.
Posted by Michele at April 12, 2007 11:56 AM
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