WRITING TIPS: SPEAK TO ONE PERSON

I recall reading somewhere that Kurt Vonnegut wrote his stories with his sister in mind, as if he was speaking to her.

Vonnegut’s work has always had that nice quality of be present with him as the story is being told. Not in an auditorium, but like you’re both standing on an elevator together, shoulder to shoulder and his mustache is threating to bristle your ear.

I think he achieved this quality by writing as if he was telling someone close to him the story.

When we tell a story to a person, there are things we would tell one person that we wouldn’t tell another.

You’re not going to tell your boss the reason you’re late is that you were out having the grandest adventure and just got in the door twenty minutes ago. But you’re probably going to tell that one work pal–maybe including a few embellishments, leaving out the embarrassing parts. You’ll cater it to them.

There are things they know and things they don’t, and you will have to give them those background stories. Maybe they don’t know that cohort of yours that kept you out late. Now you have to tell them that cohort’s life story, so they understand why you didn’t just go home.

I’ve tried a few people (not my sister yet though), and I notice the results tend to resonate stronger with me than when I’m just trying to put the story to paper. When I’m thinking about that other person and telling them the details that they’d find interesting, it seems clearer to me what I should write. The story might not take on a conversational tone, but it feels more like I’m conversing rather than writing.

Next time you sit down to write, pick one person you know that you want to tell that story to.

Want more tips? Come back for more thoughts on writing every LAST WEDNESDAY of every month . . .