Odetta
December 3, 2008 by MattA Man With A Name We Can Trust
December 2, 2008 by Matt
or…
Zachamor Hooberry
Goolsby Scroggins
Mortimer Fapp
Debral Mackinaw
Ebenezer Yackbain
Jasper Kwazelpoot
Peabody Tillcud
Bernhardt Burnthistle
Templeton Thapletrag
Fixner Blout
Beasleton Curnwinkle
Tep Joggletogg
Clementine Dimplethippie
Foster Macadoodledodedo
Molecules
December 2, 2008 by Matt
Kurt Vonnegut’s 8 Rules for Writing Fiction
November 29, 2008 by Matt- 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. 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Vonnegut qualifies the list by adding that Flannery O’Connor broke all these rules except the first, and that great writers tend to do that.
