One of the most valuable books I own is a ragged, annotated copy of William Zinsser’s 1976 classic, “On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction.”
Zinsser—an American journalist, editor, literary critic, and legendary professor of non-fiction writing—died in 2015. But his lessons of the craft live on, as pertinent today as they were forty-six years ago.
I recently wrote a Twitter thread distilling ten takeaways from the book that I believe anyone can use to be a more compelling communicator. I refer to these principles every time I edit a draft. From craft to style, they’ve played a massive role in my own journey as a writer.
Outlining again here so more have the chance to read.
1. Simplify, simplify, simplify.
Strip every sentence to its cleanest component. Prune your drafts ruthlessly. Clutter is the enemy and should be removed at all costs.
2. Write for yourself.
Believe in your own identity and your own opinions. Don't be afraid of "I". Writing is an act of ego, and you might as well admit it. Use its energy to keep yourself going.
3. Care deeply about word choice.
A thesaurus is to a writer what a rhyme book is to a songwriter. The goal is to be original, not efficient. Don't write anything you wouldn't say in conversation.
Read your writing aloud to make sure it succeeds in these ways.
4. Vary the length of your sentences.
Alliteration and rhythm make writing enjoyable to ‘listen to’ while reading. Short sentences are often more effective in getting a point across. Don't think so? I do. See?
5. Use active verbs unless there is no comfortable way to get around using a passive word.
"Joe saw him" is strong. "He was seen by Joe" is weak.
The first is short and precise; it leaves no doubt about who did what. Don't confuse your reader.
6. Beware of adverbs.
Don’t weaken strong verbs with redundant adverbs, e.g., “blared loudly"
Lose "loudly" since "blared” already communicates it.
7. Make active verbs activate your sentences.
Don’t “set up” a business that you can "start" or "launch"
8. Make your adjectives do work that needs to be done.
"He looked at the gray sky and the black clouds and decided to sail back to the harbor."
The darkness of the sky and the clouds is the reason for the decision.
9. Use adjectives sparsely to give them more weight.
If, and only if, it's important to tell the reader that a house was drab or a girl was beautiful, by all means use "drab" and "beautiful."
The adjective that exists solely as decoration is a self-indulgence for the writer.
10. Prune out the small words that qualify how you feel and how you think and what you saw:
"a bit," "a little," "sort of," "kind of," "rather," "quite," "very," "too," "pretty much," "in a sense."
They dilute your style and your persuasiveness.
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Those are just a few lessons I learned from "On Writing Well."
If you're looking to take your writing to the next level and become a more effective communicator, I recommend reading this book.
You can pick it up here.