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How To Write With Style (1999)
- alextheparrot 10y agoI absolutely adore Vonnegut. Reading his works taught me more about writing than any English teacher and formed my world view more than any other author. I wish I could have met him before he passed, but it is hard not to feel like you're conversing directly with him through his books.
- mr_overalls 10y agoI had the good fortune to hear him speak at my university in the late 1990s. Fantastic. Notably, he talked just like he wrote - good-natured, quirky, avuncular, a little bit cynical. For what it's worth, when you read Vonnegut, you're getting the real Vonnegut. He put his heart into his writings, leaving all of us (and future generations) the richer for it.
- mercer 10y agoThat's interesting to hear! I always felt like Kurt Vonnegut and Mark Twain were cut from the same cloth, but my impression was that Vonnegut was a bit too cynical (perhaps for perfectly understandable reasons) and his writing was less cynical than his person, whereas Twain came across as more WYSIWYG. It's nice to hear that his 'quirky, avuncular' side was very present in-person.
- HashHishBang 10y agoHold on, in a comparison between Vonnegut and Twain it ended up being Vonnegut who came off as too cynical? I've had the exact opposite reaction. Twain is borderline unreadable at points due to what seems like a near crippling cynicism just barely holding back from becoming outright whining.
- mercer 10y agoHmm. I read most of my Vonnegut after Twain, so it's possible that it's rather my own 'relationship' with cynicism that changed. I guess I'll have to re-read something from both!
- adyavanapalli 10y agoAs someone who hasn't read any Vonnegut, what would you recommend I read first?
- mmmpop 10y agoSlapstick was one of my favorites, plenty of sarcasm to go around. I've been trying to get through Player Piano (his first novel) but it's a tad dry.
- ranko 10y agoSlaughterhouse-five - probably his most well-known work, and at least partly based on his own experiences in Dresden in World War II. It's a very Vonnegut book, and a great gateway to the rest of his writing.
- sharkweek 10y agoSecond vote for Slaughterhouse Five - the "war backwards" section of the book, to me, is one of the most beautiful passages in any novel I have ever read. http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/279125-it-was-a-movie-about-american-bombers-in-world-war http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/279125-it-was-a-movie-about-...
- djeikyb 10y agoCat's Cradle. Not too long. Themes include science, apocalypse, and religion.
- beautifulfreak 10y agoI liked the Sirens of Titan. Here, read a couple of pages: https://www.flickr.com/photos/romasita/2766136797 https://www.flickr.com/photos/romasita/2766136797
- hkmurakami 10y agoFor some additional context, Sirens of Titan is one of his earlier works. The grammar is also more "standard", and is a more straightforward read than some of his more famous works.
- nickbauman 10y agoI was on a tear with his stuff in my mid 20's until I read Galapagos, which was so depressing, pessimistic and cynical I ended up deciding that would be the last book of his I'd read. He's certainly talented.
- roymurdock 10y agoRead 30 pages or so into Galapagos as I picked it up on a shelf at an AirBNB I passed through. His point about humans living as long as their teeth has always stuck with me.
- morninj 10y agoI love Vonnegut's generosity and sympathy for his readers. They have a hard job; as writers, let's try to make it easier. Also, "have guts to cut" is great. Will hang on to that.
- ainiriand 10y agoIn the same line Stephen King says: 'Kill your darlings'.
- ainiriand 10y agoWe are because he was.
- paulpauper 10y agoThis is good advice, but I've seen huge successes by authors and article writers who violate these rules (the recent trend of long literary fiction such as 'City on Fire', which is 900 pages). Nowadays, the trend is towards longer, 'epic' fiction with post-modern themes, whereas in Vonnegut's day (along with Heinlein, Asimov etc.) 'short' was better. Up until as recently as the 90's, 'short' was ideal, but all that changed. Look at Harry Potter and other popular books...all very long. It also deepens on the audience and the purpose...if you're trying to convey technical information , fluff is undesirable
- coldpie 10y agoI read Slaughterhouse Five recently and I dunno. Maybe I'm burned out on WW2 or maybe I'm lowbrow, but mostly I was bored. Guy has a bad wartime experience and then goes crazy and something about aliens, I guess. OK, on to the next book.
- alexilliamson 10y agoSlaughterhouse Five has been my least favorite Vonnegut that I've read. However, I've absolutely loved the other few that I've read, most recently Cat's Cradle.
- coldpie 10y agoThank you for the suggestion, I'll have to dig that up.
- hkmurakami 10y agoI have a similar opinion -- though I dislike Timequake more ;) Both Cat's Cradle and Sirens of Titan I thought were great.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- jimm 10y agoWith writing, music, and perhaps even software it is best to know and understand the rules and be able to use them before you start breaking them. When you do, you'll know why and do so for a purpose.
- samsolomon 10y agoI've had friends praise Vonnegut's writing. For those who have read his works, where's the best place to begin?
- CuriouslyC 10y agoSlaughterhouse Five is probably his most famous, but I think Breakfast of Champions is his best.
- hackerbloos 10y agoso it goes
- dfan 10y agoThe other books mentioned here are also great, but I think Cat's Cradle is the best book to start with.
- criddell 10y agoIt might not be the best place, but an easy entry is Welcome to the Monkey House. It's a collection of 25 short stories that were published in magazines in the '50s and '60s.
- smogcutter 10y agoMother Night is one that gets less attention, but it's a hell of a book.
- sleepydog 10y agoI second this. I've read a lot of his books, with Breakfast of Champions being my current favorite, but I'm halfway through Mother Night and I gotta say it's my new favorite.
- pasta 10y agoOne thing that stood out for me was: do it for the people (readers). In my opinion more and more is done with money in mind. And the results suck. And not only does it suck for the users but also for producers because in the end it will eat on them. Maybe all the advice could be summed up as: be human in what you do.
- lgessler 10y agoIt's regrettable that he ends with praise for Strunk and White. There probably is such a thing as "good writing", but The Elements of Style does little to direct us to it. Its advice is largely specious. See what Pullum has to say about it: http://www.chronicle.com/article/50-Years-of-Stupid-Grammar/25497 http://www.chronicle.com/article/50-Years-of-Stupid-Grammar/...
- GCA10 10y agoElements of Style hasn't always aged well, and Pullum's objections all touch on valid points. But I'll rally to EoS's defense in two crucial areas: 1. Strunk & White got it right when they declared: "Good writing is done with verbs and nouns; bad writing is done with adjectives." That is timeless advice. It's inevitable, in our first drafts, that we sketch out our ideas with flabby verbs and then rely on gaudy adjectives to convey energy and conviction. Find the right verb -- usually in the course of editing our own work -- and both problems fix themselves. Overwrought adjectives vanish; better verbs command the show. 2. Omit needless words. This is wiser advice than it seems. If we write first drafts in conversational English -- or corporate English -- we're likely to pad out our sentences with many empty words. Conversational English pelts our writing with "very," "that," "really," "literally," "in order to" and so on. Corporate English loads us up with "systems," "process," "viable," and so on. If we tried to be as concise as possible in our first drafts, we'd spend all day working on two sentences. Write fast, in whatever dialect of English comes most naturally. Get a first version visible in some kind of form. Then take time to fix it.
- falsedan 10y agoI think that, for technical writing which is the majority of the articles read/written by the HN crowd, _Plain Words_ is a better lead to follow.
- aurooba 10y agoI think even technical writing, this article is relevant. Sometimes people gloss over the important things and drill down into details that are not as relevant to the reader in technical pieces. It's good to remember, for example, to stay on subject and not ramble.
- falsedan 10y agoSure, but I think reading _Plain Words_ will (take longer &) give a better framework for writing great documentation.
- kaushalmodi 10y agoI can't believe that this reference to Vonnegut comes up on HN, when I happen to come to a point in Keys to Great Writing by Stephen Wilburs where he mentions his name. I had never heard of Vonnegut before this. Suggestion for a good book by him to start with? Proof: https://imgur.com/U0Z2aKp https://imgur.com/U0Z2aKp
- bshimmin 10y agoHis most famous novel (I think) is Slaughterhouse-Five. I enjoyed it a lot. So it goes.
- alexkavon 10y agoCat's Cradle is also excellent. Honestly just dive in.
- Tade0 10y agoCat's Craddle is a light and entertaining introduction to Vonnegut's general insanity.
- simonsquiff 10y agoOh you are in for a treat! Cat's Cradle is a great one to start with, easy to get into and an excellent balance of clever and funny. Mother Night is superb, gripping and profound.
- kaushalmodi 10y agoUPDATE: Thank you all for the suggestions. I will pick up Cat's Cradle next :) By the way, the Keys to Great Writing is an awesome book. It has made me critique everything I write, in a good way. I even thought twice before submitting this comment. UPDATE 2: Fix: Use the verb critique rather than critic (one who does that).
- bshimmin 10y agoIn the spirit of helpfulness, I think you mean "critique". :-)
- techer 10y agoFrom the comments I found the original and the origin in quite interesting. http://www.infomarketingblog.com/power-of-the-printed-word/ http://www.infomarketingblog.com/power-of-the-printed-word/ Including: Kurt Vonnegut: “How To Write With Style” Bill Cosby (before he became a TV sitcom superstar): “How To Read Faster” Malcolm Forbes: “How To Write a Business Letter" Walter Cronkite: “How To Read A Newspaper” And George Plimpton: “How To Make a Speech,” among others.
- Mikeb85 10y agoSometimes I think to be able to write with style, have style, and be an engaging speaker you need to have experience and have led an interesting life. No one is just born with any of this, and I don't know of any teacher that can suddenly make someone interesting. And indeed, most of my favourite authors seem to have led interesting lives.
- betenoire 10y agoThen again, I've met people who can tell the story of eating breakfast and have me eating every word up
- cousin_it 10y agoYes! The davesecretary stories [1] are a great example of that. I think good writing is more about the attitude of pulling a fast one on the reader's mind (in the good sense), it doesn't require unusual life experience. [1] http://tilde.club/~maryr/TIMEFORSOMESTORIES.html http://tilde.club/~maryr/TIMEFORSOMESTORIES.html
- austinz 10y agoI think an interesting life is important. I also think, though, that many people lead far more interesting lives than they realize. Some people are better than others at noticing and extracting the interesting parts of what would otherwise be humdrum everyday tedium.
- zasz 10y agoLiving an interesting life helps a lot, but being observant is much more important. There are plenty of people with great style who have lived boring lives. Emily Dickinson, Proust, and Wallace Stevens are three of the more obvious examples that come to mind.
- sharkweek 10y agoI disagree - I think it more has to do with being able to recognize and communicate how complicated even the most seemingly simple things are, but in an elegant way. Maybe that's a byproduct of living an exciting life, but to me, it represents someone who pauses and observes, taking countless mental notes in everyday life, considering things with an open mind from all angles. Then, most importantly, practice communicating all of this. Nobody is born a good writer/speaker, like most things, it's just a lot of work.
- Unbeliever69 10y agoAlso enjoy Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/16/arts/writers-writing-easy-adverbs-exclamation-points-especially-hooptedoodle.html http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/16/arts/writers-writing-easy-... and of course if you love Cormac McCarthy (as I do) no rules appear to apply. http://www.openculture.com/2013/08/cormac-mccarthys-punctuation-rules.html http://www.openculture.com/2013/08/cormac-mccarthys-punctuat... And Faulkner... http://www.openculture.com/2013/03/seven_tips_from_william_faulkner_on_how_to_write_fiction.html http://www.openculture.com/2013/03/seven_tips_from_william_f...
- 99_00 10y agoThe style described isn't a personal style or expression of your personality. It's the style of standard business or technical writing. But it's still a good summary.
- x0054 10y agoI have never read anything by Vonnegut, so my opinion is exclusively based on the linked blog post. I find his writing to be difficult to understand. Usually I can plow through anything at lightning speed but with this post I found my self backtracking several times. Is it just me? All of the suggestions are excellent. But it's ironic that an essay on how to write clearly and with style is a bit difficult to actually read.
- lisper 10y agoIt's you. This was not an essay about how to write clearly, it was an essay about how to write with style. Not (necessarily) the same thing.
- x0054 10y agoTrue, but a large portion was devoted to writing simply and clearly, using everyday words.
- kovek 10y agoI have a similar experience when reading his books. However, I do feel like I should be testing through them much more smoothly. The ideas in them are great though. I think it is nice how he expresses big ideas seemingly very simply (some ideas do take the bigger part of his books to be expressed so simply)
- x0054 10y agoInteresting, I am going to check him out.
- umberway 10y ago'7. Pity the readers' follows from the curse of knowledge, namely that's it's hard to imagine what it's like not to know what you know. This applies in novels as much as in technical writing. For example, descriptions of landscapes are often ambiguous because the writer already has a picture of the landscape in mind.
- qrbLPHiKpiux 10y ago> The good news is that we Americans are governed under a unique Constitution, which allows us to write whatever we please without fear of punishment. Bollocks.
- therealdrag0 10y agoI highly recommend Steven Pinker's "The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person's Guide to Writing in the 21st Century". It is full of practical advice. I've read a lot of amateur (students/hobbyists) writing, so I can say his advice addresses a lot of common mistakes. [] https://www.amazon.com/Sense-Style-Thinking-Persons-Writing/dp/0143127799 https://www.amazon.com/Sense-Style-Thinking-Persons-Writing/...