On Writing Well

On Writing Well - William Zinsser (30th?Anniversary Edition)

?In 2010, Mr. Zinsser was in his late eighties. He spent a lifetime as a writer, journalist and teacher of writing at Yale and elsewhere. I've summarized some of the principles from his book, which is no substitute for buying the very nominally priced book and reading it.?

I wrote to him to commend him for the helpfulness of his book and also mentioned my happiness and kindness book,?Your Unfinished Life. He wrote me a two page handwritten reply, which I shall always treasure, offering kind words about my effort. Keep this summary and read Mr. Zinsser’s book. They will help you to avoid many writing errors that I have learned to avoid to some degree through hard experience.

You will note that Mr. Zinsser occasionally recommends some things that run counter to traditional writing principles. Be guided by your instructors and follow their direction if you are a budding writer. As you gain more experience later, you may then wish to modify some of those principles. (Comments in brackets are mine.)

Part I - Principles

??The Transaction

-???????Professional writers rewrite their sentences over and over and then rewrite what they have rewritten.

-???????Professional writers are solitary drudges who seldom see other writers.

-???????Ultimately, the product that any writer has to sell is not the subject being written about, but who he or she is.

Simplicity

-???????The secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components.

-???????If you find that writing is hard, it's because?it is hard.

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Clutter

-???????The long word is no better than the short word.

-???????Beware of all the slippery new fad words: "paradigm" and "parameter", "prioritize" and "potentialize." They are all weeds that smother what you write. Don't "dialogue" with someone you can talk to. Don't interface with anybody.

-???????Here's a device my students at Yale found helpful. I would put brackets around every component in a piece of writing that wasn't doing useful work.

-???????Most first drafts can be cut by 50% without losing any information or losing the author's voice.

-???????Look for the clutter in your writing and prune it ruthlessly. Cut every sentence to within an inch of its life.

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Style

-???????Few people realize how badly they write.

-???????I urge people to write in the first person: to use "I" and "me" and "we" and "us". They put up a fight…It will warm up your impersonal style…The professorial use of "one" or the impersonal use of "it is" – I don't want to meet "one"--- He's a boring guy.

-???????Writing is an act of ego and you might as well admit it. Use it' energy to keep yourself going.

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The Audience

-???????You are writing for yourself. Don't worry about whether the reader will "get it". If it amuses you, put it in…If you lose dullards back in the dust, you don't want them anyway.

-???????Master the tools. Simplify, prune, strive for order.

-???????Relax and say what you want to say.

-???????Never say anything in writing that you wouldn't say comfortably in conversation.

-???????"Who am I writing for" The question that begins this chapter has irked some readers. They want me to say "Whom am I writing for?" But I can't bring myself to say it. It's just not me.

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Words

-???????Cheap words, made-up words and clichés. You must fight these phrases or you'll sound like every hack.

-???????The race in writing is not to the swift, but to the original.

-???????Such considerations of sound and rhythm should go into everything you write…I write entirely by ear and read everything aloud before letting it go out into the world. You'll begin to hear where the trouble lies. See if you can gain variety by reversing the order of a sentence, or by substituting a word that has freshness or oddity, or by altering the length of your sentences…An occasional short sentence can carry a tremendous punch. (Yes, it can.)

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Part II – Methods

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Unity

-???????Unity of tense is another choice…What is not agreeable is to switch back and forth.

-???????Decide what single point you want to leave in the reader's mind.

-???????The material begins to lead you in an unexpected direction…Don't fight such a current if it feels right. Trust your material if it's taking you into terrain you didn't intend to enter, but where the vibrations are good…Don't become a prisoner of a preconceived plan. Writing is no respecter of blueprints.

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Bits and Pieces

-???????Short is better than long.

-???????Make active verbs activate your sentences and avoid the kind that need an appended preposition to complete their work.

-???????Strong verbs are weakened by redundant adverbs…Most adjectives are also unnecessary.

-???????Prune out the small words that qualify how you feel or how you think:

"a bit, sort of, a little, kind of, rather, quite, very, too, pretty much, in a sense," and dozens more. They dilute your style and your persuasiveness.

(My own overused candidates: someone, somebody, really, that, just, simply, of course, naturally. Do a "Find" on overused words. You'll discover many repetitions which should be eliminated by using substitute words.)

-???????Don't hedge your prose with little timidities. Good writing is lean and confident.?

-???????Words like "spectacular" and "awesome" don't submit to measurement. "Very" is a useful word to achieve emphasis, but far more often it's clutter.

(One example of clutter that should be avoided at all costs is "a lot". There is no such word. It's two words. More importantly, it's poor usage. Never use two words when one will do.)

-???????The Period: Most writers don't reach it soon enough…Break the long sentence into two short sentences or even three. (My sister read a manuscript of my current book?Finding The Right Man For You. It's a dating advice book for women. She said she liked it, but that the first chapter was far too long. I reviewed it and broke that one chapter into eight separate ones. It helped make the whole thing far more readable. If you have sentences, paragraphs or chapters that are too long, break them up into smaller, more readable ones…)

-???????The Exclamation Point: Don't use it unless you must to achieve a certain effect…resist using an exclamation point to notify the reader you are making a joke or being ironic…Humor is best achieved by understatement, and there's nothing subtle about an exclamation point.

-???????Mood Changers: I can't overstate how much easier it is for readers to process a sentence if you start with "but" when you're shifting direction…Many of us were taught that no sentence should begin with "but". If that's what you learned, unlearn it – there's no stronger word at the start…If you need relief from too many sentences beginning with "but", switch to "however". It is, however, a weaker word and needs careful placement. Don't start a sentence with "however" – it can hang there like a wet dishrag. And don't end with "however"- by that time it has lost its "howeverness".

-???????Stay alert to the currents around you. Much of what you see and hear will come back…(This is very true, in spite of what you might think. This happens frequently when I'm lecturing and when I'm writing. Past experiences and things I've read just pop into my head for current use. Be assured, if you have new experiences and continuously feed your mind with reading that the same will happen for you.)

-???????The Quickest Fix: Often a difficult problem in a sentence can be solved by getting rid of it…"Do I need it at all?" Probably you don't.

-???????Paragraphs: Keep your paragraphs short…a long chunk of type can discourage a reader from even starting to read…Don't go berserk. A succession of tiny paragraphs is as annoying as a paragraph that's too long.

-???????Rewriting: We have an emotional equity in our first draft; we can't believe it wasn't born perfect. But the odds are close to 100% that it wasn't…I've never thought of rewriting as an unfair burden. Writing is like a good watch --- it should run smoothly and have no extra parts…Make an arrangement, one that holds together from start to finish and that moves with economy and warmth.

-???????Crucial gains for a writer using a computer: time, output, energy, enjoyment and control

-???????In 1988, Zinsser wrote a baseball book called?Spring Training. It combined his lifelong vocation with his lifelong addiction – which is one of the best things that can happen to a writer; people will write better and with more enjoyment if they write about what they care about. (This follows Thoreau's advice for satisfaction with work, "Make your avocation your vocation.")

-???????Don't annoy your readers by overexplaining – by telling them things they already know or can figure out. Try not to use words like "surprisingly", "predictably" and "of course", which puts a value on a fact before the reader encounters the fact.??Trust your material.

-???????No area of life is stupid to someone who takes it seriously. If you follow your affections you will write well and engage your readers.

-???????Write about a field you enjoyed in college and always meant to get back to…No subject is too specialized or too quirky if you make an honest connection with it when you write about it.

?Subsequent chapters cover various forms of writing: The Interview, The Travel Article, The Memoir, Science and Technology, Business Writing, Sports, Writing About The Arts, and Humor. The final part covers Attitudes relating to writing.

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