Words of Wisdom

Ciao, amici! This will not be my usual post. I find myself being very introspective these days. Over the years, there are certain dates that take on different meanings to us. Days that used to mean nothing suddenly mark a happy occasion, like a baptism or anniversary. And days that used to mean something special …

Basic Plots: Vonnegut’s Good News Bad News

Ciao, SEers. I’ve been talking about Vonnegut’s five basic plots. So far, I’ve discussed Man in Hole, Boy Meets Girl, Cinderella, and From Bad to Worse, which you can find by clicking the links. Today, I’m going to talk about the fifth and final plot type, Good News/Bad News. As I’ve described in all the …

Basic Plots: Vonnegut’s From Bad to Worse

Ciao, SEers. I’ve been talking about Vonnegut’s five basic plots. So far, I’ve discussed Man in Hole, Boy Meets Girl, and Cinderella, which you can find by clicking the links. Today, I’m going to talk about the fourth plot type, From Bad to Worse. As I’ve described before, Vonnegut plotted all stories on a grid. …

Basic Plots: Vonnegut’s Cinderella

Ciao, SEers. I’ve been talking about Vonnegut’s five basic plots. So far, I’ve discussed Man in Hole and Boy Meets Girl, which you can find by clicking the links. Today, I’m going to talk about the third plot type, Cinderella. As I’ve described before, Vonnegut plotted all stories on a grid. The vertical axis was …

Basic Plots: Vonnegut’s Boy Meets Girl

Ciao, SEers. Last time I was here, I talked about the first of Vonnegut’s five basic plots, Man in Hole, which you can find by clicking the link. Today, I’m going to talk about the second, Boy Meets Girl. As I mentioned last time, Vonnegut plotted all stories on a grid. The vertical axis was …