{"id":13555,"date":"2026-08-14T00:02:50","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T04:02:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/kurt-vonneguts-8-tenets-of-storytelling-the-marginalian\/"},"modified":"2026-08-14T00:02:50","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T04:02:50","slug":"kurt-vonneguts-8-tenets-of-storytelling-the-marginalian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/kurt-vonneguts-8-tenets-of-storytelling-the-marginalian\/","title":{"rendered":"Kurt Vonnegut\u2019s 8 Tenets of Storytelling \u2013 The Marginalian"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/hop.clickbank.net\/?affiliate=infohatch&amp;vendor=J1R2C\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10614 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/profit-gen400px.png\" alt=\"Profit Gen\" width=\"400\" height=\"217\" srcset=\"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/profit-gen400px.png 400w, https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/profit-gen400px-300x163.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"posts\">\n<h2\/>\n<h3 class=\"byline\">By Maria Popova<\/h3>\n<div class=\"entry_content\">\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"cover\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themarginalian.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/vonnegut.jpg?w=680&amp;ssl=1\"\/>The year of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.themarginalian.org\/2012\/01\/09\/best-books-on-writing-reading\/\">reading more and writing better<\/a> is well underway with writing advice the likes of David Ogilvy\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.themarginalian.org\/2012\/02\/07\/david-ogilvy-on-writing\/\">10 no-bullshit tips<\/a>, Henry Miller\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.themarginalian.org\/2012\/02\/22\/henry-miller-on-writing\/\">11 commandments<\/a>, Jack Kerouac\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.themarginalian.org\/2012\/03\/22\/jack-kerouac-belief-and-technique-for-modern-prose\/\">30 beliefs and techniques<\/a>, John Steinbeck\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.themarginalian.org\/2012\/03\/12\/john-steinbeck-six-tips-on-writing\/\">6 pointers<\/a>, and various invaluable insight from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.themarginalian.org\/2013\/05\/03\/advice-on-writing\/\">other great writers<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>Now comes <strong>Kurt Vonnegut<\/strong> (November 11, 1922\u2013April 11, 2007) \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.themarginalian.org\/2011\/06\/14\/kurst-vonnegut-armageddon-in-retrospect\/\">anarchist<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.themarginalian.org\/2011\/06\/24\/kurt-vonnegut-npr-second-life\/\">Second Life dweller<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.themarginalian.org\/2011\/05\/11\/god-bless-you-dr-kevorkian\/\">imaginary interviewer of the dead<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.themarginalian.org\/2011\/11\/22\/and-so-it-goes-kurt-vonnegut-shields\/\">sad soul<\/a> \u2014 with eight tips on how to write a good short story, narrated by the author himself.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Kurt Vonnegut on how to write a short story\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nmVcIhnvSx8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<ol>\n<li>Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.<\/li>\n<li>Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.<\/li>\n<li>Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.<\/li>\n<li>Every sentence must do one of two things \u2014 reveal character or advance the action.<\/li>\n<li>Start as close to the end as possible.<\/li>\n<li>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.<\/li>\n<li>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.<\/li>\n<li>Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To hell 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.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Complement with Vonnegut on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.themarginalian.org\/2012\/11\/26\/kurt-vonnegut-on-the-shapes-of-stories\/\">the shapes of stories<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.themarginalian.org\/2014\/01\/16\/kurt-vonnegut-joe-heller-having-enough\/\">the secret of happiness<\/a>, his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.themarginalian.org\/2012\/11\/05\/kurt-vonnegut-daily-routine\/\">daily routine<\/a>, and his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.themarginalian.org\/2013\/11\/11\/kurt-vonnegut-advice-to-children\/\">life-advice to his children<\/a>, then dive into this evolving omnibus of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.themarginalian.org\/2013\/05\/03\/advice-on-writing\/\">famous writers\u2019 collected advice on the craft<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/hop.clickbank.net\/?affiliate=infohatch&amp;vendor=J1R2C\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10614 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/profit-gen400px.png\" alt=\"Profit Gen\" width=\"400\" height=\"217\" srcset=\"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/profit-gen400px.png 400w, https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/profit-gen400px-300x163.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Maria Popova The year of reading more and writing better is well underway with writing advice the likes of David Ogilvy\u2019s 10 no-bullshit tips, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13556,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-purpose"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13555\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}