Some Advice from the "Greats" Applied to Today



Kurt Vonnegut

Writing advice from the “Greats”--i.e. those writers that everyone dotes on or aspires to emulate in some way--does not simply have to apply to fictional or academic writing as many seem to think. It can also be applied to various online publication platforms as well as video or podcast productions. The suggestions shared by writers such as Kurt Vonnegut and JohnSteinbeck may have been initially shared with those who are aspiring fiction writers, but their advice can be tweaked to fit a modern take on what constitutes writing.


Get straight to the point

Kurt Vonnegut advised that you should “use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted” and “give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible.” With fiction, a reader does not want to read unnecessary scenes or get too involved with characters that are simply passing and serve no purpose. On the same token, suspense at times is overrated in that it drags the story on much longer than necessary.

The same concept is true with any other form of sharing information with a larger audience. When speaking to the public, you want to get straight to the point. You cannot include information about something that is irrelevant to the overall purpose or subject if you want to keep the attention of the audience.
Lisa Evans explains in an article on FastCompany.com that getting to the point is an essential part of maintaining an audience. She says that all we have to do is keep it BRIEF:

B (Background): Provide a quick context—what prompted the update?
R (Reason):: Explain why you’re speaking now—why should they pay attention?
I (Information):: Provide two to three key nuggets of information you want to share. What are the bullet points of the conversation?
E (End): Decide on what note you want to leave the conversation. In this case, you may want to end by telling the CEO what you will do to get the project back on track.
F (Follow-up):: Consider the questions you anticipate the CEO will ask you when you finish speaking and prepare answers in advance.

Evans' names two real world situation in which brevity is ultimately going to be on your side: job interviews and sales presentations. In these situations, if you are not fast enough in providing the necessary information, you might mess up the job opportunity or lose the potential customer.


Write with one person in mind
Both Kurt Vonnegut and John Steinbeck recommend that you forget about the whole and look at the individual. Vonnegut says to “write to please just one person;” Steinbeck says to “forget the generalized audience…your audience is one single reader.”
When scripting an informational video or even a podcast, a generalized audience is present just as in the world of fiction writing. However, when we take Vonnegut’s and Steinbeck’s advice, the outcome of the podcast may just be better than you can imagine. Whether you pick someone you know or make up someone, the narrowing of the audience pool allows you to be more focused on what that individual would want to know or hear. You cannot please everyone with what you say or do, so you should not kill yourself to make it happen. Making one person the major contender for your information can help you determine what is needed and what can be left out of your diatribe.



John Steinbeck

Some similar advice comes from an article titled "5 Questions to Define Your Target Audience," specifically Step 3. The author, Chase Reeves, tells his readers that they need to put their audience on a more human level, especially when their ultimate audience can span the whole width and breadth of the internet and everywhere it reaches. When you pick one person to share your information with, you will be better able to pass along the message you are wanting to share.

For a real life example of how this advice is relevant, check out David Siteman Garland's video about narrowing your online show's niche. He provides advice on how to do so for yourself by using his own show as an example for how it can work.


Say it out loud
John Steinbeck states, “If you are using dialogue—say it aloud as you write it. Only then will it have the sound of speech.” In other words, only if you can speak it easily will it be believable to the audience.

In a world of audio and video productions, dialogue is an ever-abundant aspect. When you are scripting out what needs to be said within a video or podcast, you should always make sure that you are not writing something that does not sound like something you would say in real life. The less authentic the words sound, the more likely the audience will tune out or turn off.

Let's get into the application of this for you. If you are writing a speech or preparing an oral presentation of any kind, you will want to practice it beforehand, correct? If you don't, then you might find that on top of the nervous habits and other basic speech worries there are also parts of the speech that do not flow, you have too much or too little information, or one or more words are throwing off the entire speech.

Are you starting to see how Steinbeck's advice can apply to more than just fiction writing? If you make it a point to speak what you write you will recognize whether or not it is something you or someone else would say naturally or conversationally. If it is not natural, you will want to make the necessary adjustments.

Concluding remarks
Writing advice does not simply have to apply to those who label themselves writers. There are many different forms of writing that can benefit from the same advice though it may have to be adjusted to meet the needs of the platform used. I challenge you to see for yourself what advice the "Greats" have to offer and see if you can determine where and how it can apply to what you are doing personally, academically, or professionally.