On Writing Well – Book Summary

On Writing Well – The Classic Guide to Writing Non-Fiction

By William Zinsser

Favourite Quotes

• Writing is hard work. A clear sentence is no accident. Very few sentences come out right the first time, or even the third time. Remember this in moments of despair. If you find writing is hard, it’s because it is hard. (p. 9)
• The only way to learn to write is to force yourself to produce a certain number of words on a regular basis (p. 49)

Four articles of Writing – Clarity, Simplicity, Brevity and Humanity.

Fundamental Principles for Writing

1. Simplicity
   1. Examine every word you put on paper. You’ll find a surprising number that don’t serve and purpose. (p. 12)
   2. Look for the clutter in your writing and prune in ruthlessly. (p. 16)
   3. What one point do I want to make – Every writing project must be reduced before you start to write.
   4. Every successful piece of non-fiction should leave the reader with one provocative thought that he or she didn’t have before.
   5. Style
      1. Few people realize how badly they write. (p. 17)
      2. You have to strip your writing down before you can build in back up. (p. 18)
      3. Readers want the person who is talking to them to sound genuine. Therefore a fundamental rule is: be yourself…. They must relax and have confidence. (p. 19)
      4. Writers are obviously at their most natural when they write in the first person… Therefore I urge people to write in the first person: to use “I” and “me” and “we” and “us”. They put up a fight.
      5. Good writers are visible just beyond their words.
      6. Writing is an act of ego, and you might as well admit it. Use its energy to keep you going.
      7. Audience
         1. Who am I writing for? – You are writing for yourself.
         2. Never say anything in writing that you wouldn’t comfortably say in conversation.
         3. Words
            1. The race in writing is not to the swift but to the original.
            2. Surprisingly often a difficult problem in a sentence can be solved by simply getting rid of it.

The Lead and the Ending

1. The most important sentence in any article is the first one. Readers want to know very soon what’s in it for them.
2. Take special care with the last sentence of each paragraph – it’s the crucial springboard to the next paragraph.
3. The perfect ending should take your readers slightly by surprise and yet seem exactly right.