Kurt Vonnegut's Writing Style

Improved Essays
How to Write with Style Everyone has his or her own writing style, and some writing styles are considerably more distinct than others; however, anyone’s writing style can and should be improved over time. There really is no one specific or perfect way to write because everyone has different opinions on what is well written and what is poorly written, so it is important to alter one’s style so as to capture the attention of very different audiences. Kurt Vonnegut, an amazingly talented author from the 20th century, wrote an essay entitled “How to Write with Style” which gives excellent techniques on how to better anyone’s writing style. Each of his techniques has an explanation as to why they should be used, and he uses each of them in his essay. …show more content…
Be sure to keep your audience in mind when you write to keep them interested in you as a writer, and you should be passionate about your subject to show the audience you really care. Make sure you are not rambling about the subject, and keep in mind that your language does not have to be complex. Simplicity can reach your audience better, so make sure your eloquence is serving your ideas. Use your own words when you write instead of sounding like something you are not, as the readers will find this more enjoyable. Say what you mean like your teachers taught you, so that your readers will have clarity and understand what you are conveying. You want to be understood, so do not disregard punctuation, do not change the meaning of words, and do not put the words together unintelligibly. Most people have difficulty with reading so they want the words to make sense immediately. Read “The Elements of Style,” by William Strunk, Jr., and E. B. White for a more technical literary style. While all of these are fantastic techniques to write with style, there are a few I like better to help improve my writing

Related Documents

  • Great Essays

    Throughout history, man has shown a great tendency to gravitate towards decisions that end in destruction, especially if the destruction will not directly affect himself. Occurences such as war declarations do not necessarily have to be decided on by the masses, but only a single man’s will. By that man’s will, millions of innocent lives can be lost, his own usually not included. Kurt Vonnegut is a fantastic author that uses satire in order to draw attention and ridicule the flaws of mankind, most of which end in destruction and chaos of some sort. In two of his novels, Cat’s Cradle and Slaughterhouse-Five, damage and destruction of millions is determined by what can potentially be a single man’s decision.…

    • 2181 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    On November 11th, 1922, Edith Vonnegut gave birth to Kurt Vonnegut Junior in Indianapolis, Indiana (“Vonnegut, Kurt, An Introduction” 1). This location would remain integrated into Kurt’s life despite his incredible life journeys; he often referred to this city as a symbol of American values in many of his novels. Before the Great Depression, Kurt Vonnegut Jr. had grown up wealthy. Kurt’s mother was the daughter of a wealthy brewer and his father became a famed architect; however, during the Great Depression, their fortune took a turn for the worst. Kurt’s father’s firm filed for bankruptcy and their luck concluded forcing the Vonneguts to sell their home.…

    • 798 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “I really wonder what gives us the right to wreck this poor planet of ours” (biography.com) sums up the satirical ideas of renowned author, Kurt Vonnegut. Kurt Vonnegut was a very popular writer who excelled in writing about the stupidity and ignorance of mankind. His extremely fortunate life played an influential role in developing his writing style. Eventually, Kurt Vonnegut became one of the most eminent satirical writers of his time and was quite perceptible in two of his works, “Harrison Bergeron” and Cat’s Cradle. Kurt Vonnegut led an adventurous and interesting life, which greatly contributed to his writing style that made his works so enjoyable.…

    • 714 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Thoroughly reading writing related to what you are working on will help you to write with stronger technique. This will also give you a sense of direction and prevent you from feeling stressed or lost when writing your…

    • 1395 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The novel Slaughterhouse-Five, or the Children 's Crusade written by Kurt Vonnegut is well loved by many people. The novel is about Kurt Vonnegut’s past and future in the perspective of the main character Billy Pilgrim. Through Billy Pilgrim’s experience with the Tralfamadorians and the frequent time travel between past and future. Kurt Vonnegut explores the issues of the inevitability of war, fatalism, and of free will; also the form of his writing, why it took so long to write, his experience with Dresden and the Tralfamadorians, and the importance of his phrases were also very important and contribute a lot to the whole idea of this novel. A quick summary of the novel starts with the main character Billy Pilgrim who was born in 1922 in Ilium,…

    • 1502 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Everyone has lived a different life, therefore, we should all have a distinctive way of looking and approaching things. George Orwell 's tips to writing are also incorporated in Peterson 's article which include Never use a long word were a short one will do and Never use the passive were you can use the active. He also references Kurt Vonnegut 's seven rules to writing well. The rules are 1. Find a subject you care about, 2.…

    • 1008 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Kurt Vonnegut Analysis

    • 1257 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Kurt Vonnegut’s attitude towards equality and the government controlling society is that he is angry with it and wants it to stop. Vonnegut’s use of diction helped prove his point. Vonnegut could have used flinch, grimace, or blanch but he used wince. The ear radios in the people’s ears are causing people to wince in pain.…

    • 1257 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Essay On Kurt Vonnegut

    • 1094 Words
    • 5 Pages

    My author Kurt Vonnegut is an American novelist. Vonnegut gained popularity in the 1960s when publishing his best-known work, Slaughterhouse-Five. He made a big difference in American literature by writing his novels with the characters looking for a meaning while also giving it a meaningless, out of this world type of feel. He is known for his profound humor; always mocking present-day 's society (Marvin 1). Vonnegut usually focuses on warfare and the human quantity for both the foolishness and unpleasant.…

    • 1094 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Every author has their own unique writing style. Kurt Vonnegut’s just so happens to be very effective. The unique pairing of black humor, social satire, and science fiction make the stories of Kurt Vonnegut both intriguing and effective. His way of satirizing contemporary society using themes such as war, sex, and death makes his stories bluntly honest. To verify the assumption made, three novels were read.…

    • 1650 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    My Writing Style Analysis

    • 651 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Have You Developed a System of Writing That Works Most of The Time I really have not looked up different styles of writing let alone realized there was so many different types of it. My method is not necessarily a method per se, I have always for the longest time just wrote down as if I was speaking to someone. That to me was where my biggest praise came from, that I was able to write with such voice and was able to emulate my presence through the pages. When writing for an essay there is a period where I read and reread the question to gather all the information that is needed. Once the question is fully understood, I try to explain myself in full detail.…

    • 651 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Kurt Vonnegut is one of the most influential American novelists of the twentieth century who has brought about a phenomenal distinction in literature. Most of the writers have written only in a particular concept or genre, but Kurt Vonnegut has imprinted his undeniable mark in science fiction with humor, social commentary with absurdity and so on. Kurt Vonnegut has written fourteen novels, three short story collections, five plays, and five works of non-fiction. His works are occupied with unusual characters and the characters show pragmatism, especially in Slaughterhouse-Five. His works mingle satire with humor in a science fiction and his pen does all the magic as per his wish.…

    • 2234 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Now it may come as no surprise I got different answers from the different people. A girl I went to highschool with by the name of Claire said that “good writing has to captivate me, it also needs to make me think about something greater than myself or something that reflects on myself. I think good writing includes good sentence structure too. I love short sentences because I think they make a point more emphasized.” She wants to be grabbed by the writer, and read something that has good sentence structure with very strong short sentences that articulate a whole lot of importance to the whole…

    • 1086 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    My Writing

    • 1088 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Crazy is the word I choose to best describe my life currently. Being in college is hard, then again, going back to college in your thirties with the spans of a decade between classes is potentially exhausting, if not grueling. My story is a classic, hardly unique, that many others could write it as well. After graduating high school, I started taking general education courses at my local community college to get them out of the way before enrolling into more degree specific courses.…

    • 1088 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.” ― Thomas Mann. Writing is a subject that is different for everyone. In my opinion if I could write about a topic I choose and I am passionate about I know my papers would be interesting to read. On the other hand, I when I am given a topic to write about I think it is harder to make the paper interesting and enjoyable to read.…

    • 1118 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    What if we can travel through time just to experience weird events? The novel that Kurt Vonnegut wrote, Slaughterhouse five, has some questionable logic. Based on the characters that appear, Vonnegut seems to have a whacky imagination. Especially when in Vonnegut’s novel, includes aliens and a pornstars. This novel is a postmodern because of the Awareness of Intertextuality, Time Concept, and Magic Realism.…

    • 815 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays

Related Topics