Xennial Memes
Scan of a magazine page headed "Essay by Kurt Vonnegut" with the title "On Writing Science Fiction" and a black label reading "Sept. 5, 1965". The essay runs in three columns of small print. In the middle is a stylized illustration of a scowling mustached man with spiky black hair against a red shape. Credit reads "Illustration by Christoph Niemann".

Vonnegut Says Science Fiction Is Just a File Drawer

A magazine scan of Kurt Vonnegut's 1965 essay "On Writing Science Fiction," in which he mocks the genre as a file drawer and tells writers to try Playboy first.

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Scan of a magazine page headed "Essay by Kurt Vonnegut" with the title "On Writing Science Fiction" and a black label reading "Sept. 5, 1965". The essay runs in three columns of small print. In the middle is a stylized illustration of a scowling mustached man with spiky black hair against a red shape. Credit reads "Illustration by Christoph Niemann".

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A numbered list of eight writing rules in black text on white. 1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted. 2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for. 3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water. 4. Every sentence must do one of two things — reveal character or advance the action. 5. Start as close to the… Photo of a book page. It reads: "John Bogle, the Vanguard founder who passed away in 2019, once told a story about money that highlights something we don't think about enough: At a party given by a billionaire on Shelter Island, Kurt Vonnegut informs his pal, Joseph Heller, that their host, a hedge fund manager, had made more money in a single day than Heller had earned from his wildly popular novel Catch-22 over… A screenshot of interview text, an exchange between an interviewer (O) and Pratchett (P). O asks why he writes fantasy, calling it a ghettoized genre. Pratchett answers that fantasy is the ur-literature, from Gilgamesh to Beowulf, ends by saying "That was a bloody good answer, though I say it myself." Comic panel on a tan background. A small figure in a space helmet and a big gray rocket-shaped jetpack blasts off in a cloud of black smoke, pointing and saying in a speech bubble: "YOU'RE ALL JUST JEALOUS OF MY JETPACK." An arrow labels the figure "SCIENCE FICTION." Below, three drawn figures, one with a pipe, one bald with round glasses, one with a bun, say "TUT TUT." An arrow labels them "PROPER LITERATURE." Photo of an old newspaper, The Rodney & Otamatea Times, Waitemata & Kaipara Gazette, Warkworth, Wednesday, August 14, 1912, with the date circled in red. Price 10s per annum in advance, 3d per copy. Section: Science Notes and News. Headline: Coal Consumption Affecting Climate. The furnaces of the world are now burning about 2,000,000,000 tons of coal a year. When this is burned, uniting with oxygen, it adds about… Newspaper clipping listing crimes by amount stolen: "Stealing a million—Genius. Stealing $500,000—Sagacity. Stealing $100,000—Shrewdness. Stealing $50,000—Misfortune. Stealing $25,000—Irregularity. Stealing $10,000—Misappropriation. Stealing $5,000—Speculation. Stealing $2,500—Embezzlement. Stealing $1,250—Swindling. Stealing $100—Larceny. Stealing $10—Theft. Stealing a ham—War on society." Caption: "Appeal to…

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