On Writing Well, William Zinsser [Notes]

Writing is an act of ego. You might as well admit it. Use its energy to keep it going.


Posted on Jan 06, '24

Principles of Writing

The Transaction

  • There is no one way to do personal work. There are multiple paths, methods and tools. Choose what works for you.
  • The author is selling themselves, not the subject. Their enthusiasm, their history, their baggage, their experience.
  • The heart of good non-fiction writing is the “personal transaction”: humanity and warmth

Simplicity

  • Strip every sentence into its cleanest components.
  • Clear thinking translates to clear writing. It is impossible for a muddy thinker to write well.
  • When reading something makes you sleep, the writer has caused you too much unnecessary trouble.
  • Writers must often ask - what am I trying to say? They often do not know. The clear writer is someone clearheaded enough to see this stuff what it is - fuzz.
  • Thinking clearly is a conscious act - that requires logical thinking.

Clutter

  • Writing is about the small details.
  • Clutter is jargon that could be replaced with something shorter. It is political correctness gone amok.
  • Ways to remove clutter - Bracket method (i.e add brackets to phrases that can be discarded withouting changing meaning).
  • Most drafts can be cut by 50% without losing ideas.
  • Look for clutter and prune ruthlessly.

Audience

  • Only write for yourself.
  • People are attracted to authenticity, not prose. Someone sharing something they are incredibly passionate about.
  • One is craft, one is attitude. Not boring your audience is precise skill. Attitude is using the skill to express your personality.
  • Work hard to master the tools - simplify, prune and strive for order. Make it a mechanical act.
  • Express who you are - that’s the creative act. Relax and say what you want to say. Only be true to yourself.

Style

  • Style takes time to be uncovered. Strip writing to basics, before you build it back up again.
  • Know what the essential tools are and what job they were designed to do.
  • Readers want authors to sound genuine: be yourself.
  • What writing needs - relaxation and confidence.
  • Writers are most natural in first-person.
  • But “I” is hard for people to write. It requires taking responsibility for your opinions, or sounds too egotistical.
  • Draft in first person and then take the “I”s out, if you are not allowed to write in first person.
  • Sell yourself. Your subject will exert appeal.
  • Style has roots in psyche.

Words

  • Writers have words as their only tool. Be in love with words. Pay attention to them. Use the dictionary.
  • The single biggest profanity in writing is journalese writing - boring, cliched, uninspired jargon.
  • Use the thesaurus to innervate your writing and the reader.
  • When you write, people just don’t read - they hear. The tone, alliterations, excitement. Writing is entertainment.
  • Sound the words. Listen to your writing. Because someone else is. Listen to how your words play along. If it sounds boring.
    • change the way the words are arranged.
    • make the phrase shorter to pack a punch.
    • use a word arrangements and rhyming.
    • reverse the order of a sentence.

Usage

  • Language keeps changing
  • Good usage is using good words, to express yourself clearly and simply to someone else.

Attitudes

The Sound of Your Voice

  • Writing is about the author. It is “the author’s book about baseball or jazz”
  • Cliches or slang lacks style and is breezy
  • Good writing is not accidental, it is discipline
  • Finding a voice is about taste. Taste is about what not to do.
  • Less is more
  • Taste can be acquired
  • Imitation is part of the creative process
  • Fresh imagery is good taste; simple homey words with clear meaning
  • Remember the uses of past when you tell your story

Enjoyment, Confidence and Fear

  • You have to jumpstart yourself, motivate yourself, get over the fear.
  • With each rewrite, you insert more personality into your work.
  • How to fight fears - write about what interests you, what you enjoy.
  • “Dying is no big deal. Living is the trick.”
  • To be interesting, be interested.
  • Learning is a tonic.
  • If you write about stuff that you are interested in, you will automatically sound interesting
  • Listen to yourself for - “That’s interesting”

What I love about this book?

  • The book itself is an example of all it teaches.
  • It has funny examples.