Kurt Vonnegut How To Write With Style Summary

The majority of newspaper reporters and technical writers write unemotionally and detached from their readers by revealing nothing about themselves. Kurt Vonnegut’s “How to Write with Style” suggests seven principles on how writers should scrutinize and assess their own writing style in order to attain a personal voice in addition to the ideas in hand. Vonnegut’s first principle states, “Find a subject you care about and which you in your heart feel others should care about.” As I was reading this excerpt, I found myself agreeing with Vonnegut that usually the subjects I care about the most I naturally put more feelings into my writing and most of the readers find it more appealing. But at times it’s hard to find a subject that interests you in academics, especially when students are asked to read and then write academic papers that spark little to no interest. Personally, I struggle with finding substance in academic readings that I thoroughly would enjoy writing about and feel others would care about. He also mentions to avoid rambling and it is best to keep it simple. As cliché as it may sound, sometimes “less is more,” and its important to remember this when we write because writing a lot doesn’t always necessarily mean that it’s good or valuable to the subject. When I reread what I write, I always find myself rambling about certain topics that the reader would quickly lose interest in. It’s better to keep the language simple and stick to the point
Reading this passage has definitely encouraged me to develop a writing style that allows me to connect with the reader on a personal level but it will take some time. Simplicity in writing and attaining your own voice is hard for people to achieve, even for me. Vonnegut’s simplest and most valuable advice is to write as yourself and use your own voice, which for me is the biggest takeaway of this