vonnegut

Vonnegut

Purpose

Check your writing against Kurt Vonnegut's eight rules for fiction—which apply to nonfiction too. This skill audits your piece for the fundamentals that make stories work.

Use this when:

• A piece feels technically fine but somehow lifeless
• You want a structural gut-check
• You're not sure if your piece has forward momentum
• You need to diagnose why something isn't working

Invocation

• /vonnegut [text] — Audit the provided text against the 8 rules
• /vonnegut — System asks "What piece should I audit?"
• Works on selection if provided, asks if not

The 8 Rules

1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.

Every sentence must do one of two things: reveal character or advance the action. If it does neither, cut it.

Check: Is there anything here that a reader would skip? Anything that made you feel smart but doesn't serve them?

2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.

Even in nonfiction, readers need someone to follow. That might be you, a subject, or a stand-in for the reader.

Check: Who does the reader care about in this piece? Why should they want that person to succeed?

3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.

Want creates movement. A character (or writer, or reader) who wants nothing is dead on the page.

Check: What does the main figure in this piece want? Is that want visible from the start?

4. Every sentence must do one of two things—reveal character or advance the action.

This is rule one restated as a practical test. If a sentence fails both, it goes.

Check: Can you justify every sentence? What would be lost if it disappeared?

5. Start as close to the end as possible.

Don't give backstory. Don't set up. Start where things are already happening.

Check: Where does this piece actually begin? Could you cut the first paragraph and lose nothing?

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.

Conflict reveals character. Comfort hides it. Your subjects (including yourself) should struggle.

Check: What's hard in this piece? Where's the difficulty, failure, or resistance?

7. Write to please just one person.

If you try to please everyone, you'll please no one. Write as if for a single specific reader.

Check: Who is this piece for? Can you name them? Would they recognize themselves?

8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible.

No mysteries for mystery's sake. No withholding to seem clever. Trust the reader with information.

Check: Are you hiding anything that the reader should know earlier? Are you being coy?

Output Format

## Vonnegut Audit

### Rule-by-Rule Check

| Rule | Verdict | Notes |
|------|---------|-------|
| 1. Time well spent | ✓ / ✗ | [Brief note] |
| 2. Someone to root for | ✓ / ✗ | [Brief note] |
| 3. Character wants something | ✓ / ✗ | [Brief note] |
| 4. Every sentence earns its place | ✓ / ✗ | [Brief note] |
| 5. Starts close to the end | ✓ / ✗ | [Brief note] |
| 6. Sadist (conflict present) | ✓ / ✗ | [Brief note] |
| 7. Written for one person | ✓ / ✗ | [Brief note] |
| 8. Information given freely | ✓ / ✗ | [Brief note] |

---

### The Main Issue

**Biggest violation:** [Which rule is most broken and why]

**How to fix it:** [Specific suggestion]

---

### Other Notes

[Any other observations that don't fit the rules but matter]

---

Pass: [X/8 rules]

Principles

• These rules are for diagnosis, not dogma — Vonnegut broke his own rules constantly. But knowing when you're breaking them is the point.
• Nonfiction counts as story — Even essays have characters (you, your subjects, the reader), wants, and movement.
• Rule 5 is the most commonly broken — Almost everyone starts too early. Almost every piece improves if you cut the first paragraph.
• Rules 3 and 6 are linked — Want + obstacle = story. Miss either and the piece goes flat.

Lessons

[Skill-specific lessons will be added here as they're captured]