I've never read Kurt Vonnegut. I know, that's probably blasphemy in some writer's circles, but I just never got around to it. However, I love his tips for writing.
His most famous and re-quoted tip is #3: Every character should want something, even if it's only a glass of water. But really, everyone of these tips is useful. Go check out the whole list.
Rating: 4/5 stars
Homework for this week come from #7: Write to please just one person. Most of the writers resources I've found say you should write to please yourself, and I think this is good advice. But in order to stretch our little writer's limbs, I want you to pick someone else, a specific someone else, to please with your writing. Maybe it's your best friend or your girl friend, or maybe it's your little sister or you dad. But write a short piece just for them. Show it to the person it's meant for and see if you were successful: did they like it? Then ask yourself - did the change of audience change my writing?
All eight tips can be found here: https://www.brainpickings.org/2012/04/03/kurt-vonnegut-on-writing-stories/