Writer’s Advice Series
Kurt Vonnegut: The 16 Rules for Writing Fiction
Great rules for writing fiction, stories, anecdotes, or Medium posts!
Check out these great rules for writing fiction from one of the top novelists ever to write a book. These are great rules for writers, novelists, short story writers, speakers telling stories, or bloggers writing anecdotes.
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.
