The Perfect Paragraph And Kurt Vonnegut's How To Write

Learning to be an adequate writer for certain people can be as easy as putting a pen to paper, but for others writing has proven to be a frustrating and difficult process. It can be challenging for a new student facing the first essay paper wondering what to sort out first; there is a great deal of confusing and tricky processes to follow, and rules to abide by. While the plethora of resources made available to avid seekers is practically limitless, it is no surprise that writing still isn’t a smooth process. Taking that into consideration, two profound authors in writing could aid with this kind of struggle. William Safire’s “The Perfect Paragraph” and Kurt Vonnegut’s “How to Write with Style”, providing their readers with an excellent

Writing style is an important part of any authors’ work because it provides a relationship between the reader and a writer. Unlike Safire, Vonnegut is more of a technical writer as displayed in his writing “How to Write with Style”. In fact, Vonnegut uses less narrative than Safire and displays more of an informative format of writing offering his audience a step-by-step guide on writing with style. Different from Safire, who offers an amusing read, Vonnegut offers his readers a guide to writing style, listing out important steps such as the following: “find a subject [people] care about, do not ramble, keep it simple, have the guts to cut, sound [natural], say what [people] mean to say, and pity the readers” (40), creating a source of reference, in quirky ways, which engages readers. Although Safire illustrates the importance of paragraph structure, his readers might still need further council due to the lack of direct guidance. Whereas Vonnegut is more structured and organized, providing a direct step by step instruction dressed with detailed examples with every point, giving his audience the ability to dive right in. Vonnegut’s main objective is to help his readers understand that style is a special relationship that a writer creates to connect with his or her readers. In addition to claiming “If [writers] scribble [their] thoughts any which way, [the] readers will surely feel that [the authors] care nothing about them” (40), Vonnegut offers one of the most valued bits of advice to people looking to improve their relationship between themselves and their audience: “[The] audience requires [authors] to be sympathetic and patient teachers even will to simplify and clarify...” (43) although both of the informative papers are excellent sources of material, the