Writing to Learn
Perhaps this still seems like a paradox. How can you think carefully about not losing the reader and still be carefree about his opinion? I assure you that they are separate processes. First, work hard to master the tools. Simplify, prune and strive for order. Think of this as a mechanical act, and soon your sentences will become cleaner. The act w
... See moreWilliam Zinsser • On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: An Informal Guide to Writing Nonfiction
all the writers represented in Part II wrote clearly because the act of writing and rewriting made them think clearly, organized their ideas, told them what they knew and what they still needed to know, and pushed them to new areas of knowledge. It can do the same for you.
William Zinsser • Writing to Learn: How to Write - and Think - Clearly About Any Subject at All
What makes the words so ponderous is that they don’t have any people in them; they only have concepts—“consideration,” “conclusion,” “capacity,” “tendency.” Nouns that denote concepts are the death of vigorous writing. Good writing is specific and concrete.
William Zinsser • Writing to Learn: How to Write - and Think - Clearly About Any Subject at All
Clear thinking becomes clear writing; one can’t exist without the other.
It’s impossible for a muddy thinker to write good English. He may get away with it for a paragraph or two, but soon the reader will be lost, and there’s no sin so grave…
On Writing Well, William Zinsser
Many people assume there’s an inherent conflict between creativity and a critical, analytic awareness of the medium you work in. They assume that the creative artist works unconsciously And that knowing too much about matters like grammar and syntax diminishes or blunts creativity. This is nonsense. You don’t need to be an expert in grammar and syn
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