Vonnegut split writers into two camps, and he was firmly in one of them. The method he used wasn't fast, and he never pretended it was.
Swoopers and Bashers
In Timequake, Vonnegut described two kinds of writers. Swoopers race through a draft fast and messy, then go back and fix everything that's broken. Bashers do the opposite. They grind out one sentence at a time, getting each one exactly right before they let themselves move to the next.
He put himself squarely in the second camp. A basher reaches the end of a draft and is more or less finished, because the polishing happened along the way. It's slow, exacting work, and Vonnegut owned it.
Bashers go one sentence at a time, getting it exactly right before they go on to the next one. When they're done they're done. I am a basher.
Kurt Vonnegut, Timequake
Why the Slow Way Worked for Him
Bashing fit the rest of his life. His writing hours ran from before dawn to mid-morning, a tight window where deep focus on a single sentence was possible. He wasn't trying to hit a word count or sprint to a finish. He was trying to get each line to carry its weight, which lines up neatly with his own rule that every sentence should either reveal character or move the action.
For the rules he wrote those sentences by, and the schedule that surrounded them, see the full Kurt Vonnegut writing routine.
What You Can Steal
- Know which kind you are. Bashing and swooping both work, but fighting your instinct wastes time.
- If you bash, accept the pace. Slow is the price of finishing clean.
- Make each sentence earn its place. Reveal character or advance the action, or cut it.
- Match the method to your best hours. Vonnegut bashed in the quiet of early morning.