In 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 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.
