Book Notes, Summary and Review: On Writing Well by William Zinsser

Clarity, simplicity, brevity and humanity — these are the four pillars which excellent writing is constructed upon.

Repeatedly, Zinsser underscores these four concepts throughout his book, On Writing Well. In fact, the book was structured in a way which reflects these ideas. Zinsser dedicates entire chapters of the book to explore:

• How writers can reduce the verbiage in their writing
• How writers can simplify their writing
• How writers can develop a unique writing style
• And many other pieces of helpful writing advice

Clutter

The chapter on "Clutter" felt like it was written just for me. I've committed most, if not all, of the writing sins highlighted in this chapter, which Zinsser tells us precisely not to commit.

Take, for instance, how we describe the present moment. Many people and businesses like to utilize phrases like "at the present time" or "at the moment". Yet this idea can be simply conveyed by "now" to mean the immediate moment.

To remedy this problem, Zinsser advises us to revise our work after the first draft. While we review our work again, he suggests us to bracket anything that we think can be deleted without altering the original meaning of the text.

Once we've done this, read the sentence aloud again without the bracketed material and see if it works. Ultimately we decide what goes and what doesn't. But most of the time, we'll realize that almost every sentence can be de-cluttered using this method.

Simplicity

To write clearly, one must think clearly.

Surprisingly often, writers don't know what they're trying to say. As such, they must constantly ask: what am I trying to say? After that, look at what has been written and ask: have I said it?

Muddy thinkers can never write good English.

Style

How to develop a clearer writing style?

Write in the first-person, if possible. No one wants to meet "one". We want to meet the real man or woman behind the paper. You'll feel most natural when writing in the first-person. Your writing retains its humanity. Even if you aren't allowed to write in the first-person, at least think "I" while you write, this'll help to make the writing more personal.

How to develop a unique writing style?

Never use any clichés in your work. Find ways to articulate an idea which hasn't been done a thousand times before. Select words that are precise, powerful and unexpected. This is how you invite your readers to read on, while instilling your personality and individuality into your writing.

How to develop a humorous writing style?

Humor, as Zinsser explains, is not a separate organism that can survive on its own frail metabolism. Writers with a humorous writing style write about life that's serious. But they search for areas in life where this seriousness is ridiculed by some strange incongruity between our aspiration and our achievement.

Audience

You are your audience.

You are writing for yourself. The great mass audience, you imagine, doesn't exist. Every reader is a unique individual with an idiosyncratic taste. And more often than not, he or she doesn't know what they want to read until they read it.

Stay true to your style of writing. That's how you become a more distinctive writer each day. If they like what you've written, that's great. If they don't, don't fret about it. Either you'll get along or you won't.

You can never appease everyone with your writing.

Additional writing advice

1. To write interestingly, give yourself an interesting life and a life-long education.
2. Not sure how to fit in this sentence? Remove it.
3. The last sentence of each paragraph is the crucial springboard to the next paragraph. Take special care of it.
4. Write in active-verb style.
5. Use adverbs, only when they do necessary work.
6. Think small and cover it well. Don't overstretch yourself.
7. Get your unities straight. Decide on the pronoun, the tense, the mood, the style and other essential qualities of your writing first.

Concluding message

To all non-fiction writers, I would highly recommend reading this book.

It covers many basic writing principles, which are often disregarded yet crucial to the success of any piece of writing. Even if you may disagree with some of the points raised by Zinsser, there'll definitely still be something for you to take away from this book.