5 Key Takeaways from “On Writing Well” by William Zinsser
When to Quit (and When to Stick)
I write nonfiction and decided to learn more about the craft by reading On Writing Well by William Zinsser.
Here are the 5 most important things I’ve learned from this book.
1. Read your text aloud before you publish it
Reading aloud what you’ve written helps you spot trouble in your writing.
One of the things that you’ll notice is whether your sentences are all of the same length, which might make your text sound robotic.
Reading aloud also helps you discover the tone of the text. Does it sound assertive? Arrogant? Friendly? Blunt? It’s hard to know if you don’t vocalise it.
2. Clear thinking is clear writing
You can’t write well if you’re not clear about the message you want to express.
Constantly ask yourself, “What am I trying to say?”
Then look at what you have written and ask, “Have I said it?”
3. Writing is learned by imitation
Never hesitate to imitate your favourite writers. There’s nothing wrong with that. Imitating is part of the creative process for anyone learning the craft, and it’ll help you discover your own voice, too.
4. There are no limits to what you can write about
You can write about anything: your work, hobbies, life, topics you are an expert in as well as topics you have little knowledge of.
You have permission to write about anything you want.
Explore and see where a particular topic takes you.
5. The secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components
There are words that add no meaning to your sentence. They have no significant function. If anything, they weaken your message.
Examine every word you put on paper, look for the clutter, and get rid of it.
Have no mercy.
Examples of clutter words include:
- Most adverbs, especially those that carry the same meaning as the verb (e.g., “smile happily”).
- Little qualifiers: “a bit,” “a little,” “sort of,” “kind of,” “rather,” “quite,” “very,” “too,” “pretty much,” “in a sense”.
- Most adjectives, especially those that describe concepts that are already expressed by the noun (e.g., brownish dirt).
Simplify your sentence as much as possible and you’ll be a better writer than most.
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The advice the author offers in On Writing Well is often blunt but the book is a must-read for anyone who writes nonfiction.
And if you think this article you’ve just read is not well-written, it’s entirely my fault.
