Farnam Street
Mastering the best of what other people have already figured out
Just after publishing his new novel in 1934, Tender is the Night, F. Scott Fitzgerald asked his friend Ernest Hemingway for an honest opinion on the book. And respond Hemingway did. The letter, found …
“Tell me and I’ll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I’ll understand.” — Chinese Proverb *** From Plato’s Phaedrus, commenting on the invention of writing. Here, O …
Kurt Vonnegut on writing with style. Why should you examine your writing style with the idea of improving it? Do so as a mark of respect for your readers, whatever you’re writing. If you …
Suzanne McConnell writes an essay on what Kurt Vonnegut was like as a teacher at the Writers’ Workshop: He told us in workshop classes, “You’re in the entertainment business.” He impressed this …
Last year, literary critic Joseph Epstein wrote The best book on the art of writing that I know is F. L. Lucas’ Style: The Art of Writing Well. At the time of Epstein’s comments, the book …
In this short lecture, Kurt Vonnegut explains the different shapes that stories can take using a chalkboard. Now let me give you a marketing tip. The people who can afford to buy books and magazines …