Kurt Vonnegut’s 8 writing tips

Though intended for authors of fiction, these guidelines can help anyone stringing words together to convey a message. So it goes.

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I’m a writer, so it’s natural that I’m also a book collector. Not your serious antique, first edition, autographed kind of book collector—just a guy with a penchant for good books. But I did have my once-in-five-years find at an antique store in northern Alabama: a pristine, leather-bound, 24-karat-gold-embossed, Easton Press edition of Kurt Vonnegut’s Bagombo Snuff Box, numbered to 1,700 and signed by Vonnegut (with a certificate of authenticity). Even better? I paid $19 for this treasure.

Interesting anecdote, but what’s in it for you? Well, in the introduction of his book, Vonnegut includes his eight creative writing tips. (See them online here.) Though they were drafted with creative writers in mind, they are applicable to content writers, marketing agencies, and business owners:

No. 1: “Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.”

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