How to Write with Style: Kurt Vonnegut's 8 Keys to the Power of the Written Word Find a Subject You Care About Find a subject you care about and which you in your heart feel others should care about. It is this genuine caring, and not your games with language, which will be the most compelling and seductive element in your style. I am not urging you to write a novel, by the way — although I would not be sorry if you wrote one, provided you genuinely cared about something. A petition to the mayor about a pothole in front of your house or a love letter to the girl next door will do. Do Not Ramble, Though I won’t ramble on about that. Keep It Simple As for your use of language: Remember that two great masters of language, William Shakespeare and James Joyce, wrote sentences which were almost childlike when their subjects were most profound. Simplicity of language is not only reputable, but perhaps even sacred. Have the Guts to Cut It may be that you, too, are capable of making necklaces for Cleopatra, so to speak. Sound like Yourself Say What You Mean to Say Pity the Readers
Neil Gaiman's 8 Rules of Writing By Maria Popova In the winter of 2010, inspired by Elmore Leonard’s 10 rules of writing published in The New York Times nearly a decade earlier, The Guardian reached out to some of today’s most celebrated authors and asked them to each offer his or her commandments. After Zadie Smith’s 10 rules of writing, here come 8 from the one and only Neil Gaiman: WritePut one word after another. For more timeless wisdom on writing, see Kurt Vonnegut’s 8 rules for a great story, David Ogilvy’s 10 no-bullshit tips, Henry Miller’s 11 commandments, Jack Kerouac’s 30 beliefs and techniques, John Steinbeck’s 6 pointers, and Susan Sontag’s synthesized learnings. Image by Kimberly Butler
6 Rules for a Great Story from Barnaby Conrad and Snoopy by Maria Popova “And remember: Always aim for the heart!” You might recall Snoopy’s Guide to the Writing Life (public library), which gave us Ray Bradbury’s wise words on rejection. To recap: Barnaby Conrad and Monte Schulz, son of Peanuts creator Charles M. Try to pick the most intriguing place in your piece to begin.Try to create attention-grabbing images of a setting if that’s where you want to begin.Raise the reader’s curiosity about what is happening or is going to happen in an action scene.Describe a character so compellingly that we want to learn more about what happens to him or her.Present a situation so vital to our protagonist that we must read on.And most important, no matter what method you choose, start with something happening! Conrad is the author of The Complete Guide to Writing Fiction. And, above all, let’s not forget these famous disclaimers on taking writing advice. Brain Pickings has a free weekly newsletter and people say it’s cool. Share on Tumblr
inkedexistence comments on How to make meaningful/good conversation? Kurt Vonnegut's 8 Tips on How to Write a Great Story By Maria Popova The year of reading more and writing better is well underway with writing advice the likes of David Ogilvy’s 10 no-bullshit tips, Henry Miller’s 11 commandments, Jack Kerouac’s 30 beliefs and techniques, John Steinbeck’s 6 pointers, and various invaluable insight from other great writers. Now comes Kurt Vonnegut (November 11, 1922–April 11, 2007) — anarchist, Second Life dweller, imaginary interviewer of the dead, sad soul — with eight tips on how to write a good short story, narrated by the author himself. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.Every sentence must do one of two things — reveal character or advance the action.Start as close to the end as possible.Be a Sadist.
Recenze Pána Prstenů z Rudého práva | Politický humor, politika, politické komentáře 2304EmailShare Jde o další útok proti socialistickému zřízení. Říše zla, z níž se valí popel a dým, je průhledně umístěna na východě, obrazem dělnické třídy, která jednotně v potu tváře buduje těžký průmysl, mají být odporní a zlí skřeti. Samozřejmě že zpovykaný synáček z buržoazní rodiny nemůže vidět na těžké práci nic krásného a povznášejícího. Obyvatelé západu – zemí oplývajících mlékem a strdím – elfové (neboli aristokracie), lidé (buržoazie) a hobiti (statkáři) žijí naopak v blahobytu (aniž je vysvětleno, odkud jej získávají) a jediné, co je trápí, je „hrozba“ z východu. „Síly dobra“ zde přestavuje sbírka představitelů těchto reakčních kruhů, jejichž ruce se nikdy nedotkly pořádné práce. Jejich vůdcem je Gandalf, šiřitel zpátečnické ideologie, s jejíž pomocí udržuje obyvatelstvo v nevědomosti a strachu před pokrokem. (…) Není pak divu, že Saruman, zastánce utlačovaných a šiřitel pokroku, je prohlášen za zrádce a jeho sídlo je zničeno bojůvkou fanatických zpátečníků. Další úryvky:
The Ultimate Guide to Writing Better Than You Normally Do. Writing is a muscle. Smaller than a hamstring and slightly bigger than a bicep, and it needs to be exercised to get stronger. Think of your words as reps, your paragraphs as sets, your pages as daily workouts. Think of your laptop as a machine like the one at the gym where you open and close your inner thighs in front of everyone, exposing both your insecurities and your genitals. Because that is what writing is all about. Procrastination is an alluring siren taunting you to google the country where Balki from Perfect Strangers was from, and to arrange sticky notes on your dog in the shape of hilarious dog shorts. The blank white page. Mark Twain once said, “Show, don’t tell.” Finding a really good muse these days isn’t easy, so plan on going through quite a few before landing on a winner. There are two things more difficult than writing. It’s no secret that great writers are great readers, and that if you can’t read, your writing will often suffer.
Vonnegut Drawing Mental Illness: Artist Bobby Baker’s Visual Diary by Maria Popova Harvesting the daily flow of consciousness, or what group therapy has to do with marine life. Despite our proudest cultural and medical advances, mental illness remains largely taboo, partly because the experience of it can be so challenging to articulate. I think mental illness is the worst of anything. From how the tears flow into her ears when she does yoga (Day 320) to the weight gain side effects of medication (Day 397) to the uplifting “butterflies of academia” (Day 579) to the strain of chemo (Day 698), Baker’s illustrated micro-narratives are startlingly raw, yet incredibly eloquent and layered. Day 303 Day 320 Day 397 Day 470 Day 526 Day 579 Day 690 Day 698 The sequence of the drawings follows the artist’s painful but, ultimately, triumphant recovery, with the last stretch of pictures exuding a kind of cathartic exhale, a “huge, happy, light-headed relief,” as Warner puts it. Day 771 Diary Drawings: Mental Illness and Me is magnificent in its entirety. Donating = Loving