Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them in order that the reader may see what they are made of.
Kurt VonnegutI could go on to speak of sanity as compared with insanity, decency as compared with vandalism, friendship as compared with rabies.
Kurt VonnegutNowadays, of course, just about our only solvent industry is the merchandising of death, bankrolled by our grandchildren.
Kurt VonnegutThere isnโt any particular relationship between the messages, except that the author has chosen them carefully, so that, when seen all at once, they produce an image of life that is beautiful and surprising and deep. There is no beginning, no middle, no end, no suspense, no moral, no causes, no effects. What we love in our books are the depths of many marvelous moments seen all at one time.
Kurt Vonnegut