In 8 lines, Kurt Vonnegut gives a writing masterclass.

Then, in my favorite reminder, he ends the letter with:

"The greatest short story writer... Flannery O'Connor.

She broke practically every one of my rules but the first.

Great writers tend to do that."

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I collect the best opening lines from books.

9 gems – and they teach you about writing hooks: The Nightingale

Takeaways:

1. Start with the end, literally

2. Hard truths phrased simply

3. Juxtapose powerful ideas; "love" and "war"

Storytelling is a game of psychology.

10 ideas rooted in psychology to elevate your storytelling.

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I collect sentences I wish I wrote.

Here are 7 to make ya think - all from fiction:

1. Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God 2. Neil Gaiman, Coraline

I collect the best opening lines from books.

10 gems – and they teach you about writing hooks: Little Fires Everywhere

Lessons:

1. Connect seemingly unrelated ideas

2. Strong verbs; "scorch"

3. Shock the system; yes, she suggested burning people

I’m on a mission to get you to read more fiction.

Here are 10 of my favorite ideas – all from fiction:

1. Frank Herbert, Dune 2. F Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

On parties:

I collect ‘Sentences I Wish I Wrote.’

Here are 7 of my favorites:

1. Terry Pratchett, The Diggers 2. Dante, The Divine Comedy

I collect 'Sentences I Wish I Wrote.'

Here are 7 of my favorites:

1. Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God 2. Neil Gaiman, Coraline

I collect the best opening lines from books.

10 gems – and what you can learn from them: 1984

Lessons:

1. Break the known norm

2. Use senses other than sight (here, sound)

3. Imply problems; Not all is well in the world

I collect 'Sentences I wish I wrote.'

Here are 7 of the best:

1. Steven Pressfield, The War of Art 2. CS Lewis, The Four Loves

I collect 'Sentences I wish I wrote.'

Here are 7 of the best:

1. George RR Martin, A Dance with Dragons 2. Amor Towles, A Gentleman In Moscow

In 4 minutes, Kurt Vonnegut explained stories better than anyone I’ve ever heard.

“The shape of the curve is what matters. Not their origins.”

He plots stories on 2 axes:

X: Time
Y: Good fortune / ill fortune

He goes on to say,

“Somebody gets into trouble, then gets out of it again. People love that story. They never get tired of it.”

Point 1:

Stories have defined patterns.

In Joseph Campbell’s Hero of a Thousand Faces, he makes the case for the Hero’s Journey.

Since then, it’s become the most famous storytelling structure in the world.

Vonnegut argued stories could be divided into 8 shapes.

Each story, he said, fit one of the 8.

Point 2:

Vonnegut says,

“Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them — so the reader may see what they're made of.”

To see who your characters really are, you have to make them suffer.

Only then does your audience have someone worth cheering for.

Point 3:

End on a high note.

Vonnegut says, “It’s not accidental that the line ends up higher than where it began. This is encouraging to readers.”

The way a story makes people feel when they finish is how they remember it.

It’s called recency bias.

Lift people up and they will love you.

***

“There are people. There are stories. The people think they shape the stories, but the reverse is often closer to the truth.”

I wrote this with @RobbieCrab. Follow him for lessons on storytelling + fundraising.

And I talk about creative storytelling. Follow @nathanbaugh27 for more like that. That’s the only video I can find from that particular lecture.

Here’s a different, longer talk he gave on the same topic:

I collect 'Sentences I wish I wrote.'

Here are 7 of the best:

1. F Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby 2. Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey

One of the biggest challenges in storytelling:

Highlighting and exaggerating emotion.

For the last 2 weeks, I’ve been editing the first draft of my book.

This “Feelings Wheel” has been open in a tab the entire time:

• 7 basic feelings
• 43 mid-level feelings
• 96 deep… https://t.co/NqvnZNwbKOtwitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Another banger of a resource:

The Emotion Thesaurus — A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression

It’s like the wheel but on steroids.

Neil Gaiman writes the first draft of every book by hand.

His reasoning is fascinating:

With a computer you “write that down and look at it and then fiddle with it.”

With a pen you “slow up a bit, but you’re thinking the sentence through to the end, and then you start… https://t.co/wb9aQtcX3Xtwitter.com/i/web/status/1…
There’s a brilliant @hubermanlab episode where they get into the value of writing by hand and what newer forms of writing are doing to our brains.

Check it out: hubermanlab.com/dr-erich-jarvi…

10 mistakes killing your story - and how to avoid them:

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Storytelling is a game of psychology.

10 tricks rooted in psychology to make you a better storyteller:

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The best opening scenes in movie history — and why:

1/ The Dark Knight

No backstory. Just an insane villain executing a brilliant plan.

Batman needs the Joker, not the other way around. 2/ The Godfather

Epic — but why?

3 things:

• Incredible opening hook, “I believe in America.”
• The dramatic camera pull back
• The shift in power from Bonasera to Vito

Plus the fantastic acting.

Students at NYU asked the creators of South Park the million-dollar question:

“What makes a good story?”

They gave one of the best explanations of story I’ve heard:

“If we can take the beats of your outline, and the words ‘and then’ belong between those beats… you got… https://t.co/DVSvYWq4Sbtwitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Watching Matt and Trey explain story makes me think of Einstein’s quote:

“If you can't explain it to a six-year-old, then you don't understand it yourself.”

Masters at work. I bet they’d be incredible teachers.

Here’s the source video:

10 quick tips to help you become a better storyteller:

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1. Cut the fluff

Harry Potter is the #2 best-selling book of the last quarter century.

Only behind The Bible.

And JK Rowling used 1 storytelling framework for the entire series.

Here’s a breakdown: We view Harry Potter as a whimsical children’s tale turned adult series that captured the minds of millions with magic.

But it wasn’t magic.

It was @jk_rowling’s masterclass in story and structure…