On Writing Well by William Zinsser

     The greatest writing book of all time, hands-down, is the Elements of Style by Professor Strunk and E.B. White. The simple articulation, the quaint but powerful phrases, and the rules that seem too short to be correct, has given writers of every generation the simple paths to greatness. But the long standing complaint against the school of brevity is briefness. Their questions and dilemmas bounce short of answers as the reader is left with text that abruptly turns to white space. So where do the readers go? They don't go anywhere. With rule after rule stacking on one another, readers stop looking and the book becomes frustrating. This idea is what inspired the book On Writing Well by Willaim Zinsser. This book expands specifically on the issues, questions, and rules of the brief legend; splicing and cutting more text across that terrifying white space we call doom. If you have the Elements of Style, this book would be an addition worthy of its binding, but if are looking for a book to dive right into with full explanations of simple rules look no further.

A. Delete Clutter

The new age of information is all about adding clutter. You never hear about a missile crashing but prematurely hitting the ground, you never hear about a business losing money but that a business is running at a negative cash-flow position, and further, you never hear about a country declaring war but offering all possible routes of diplomatic negotiations that unfortunately lead to a undesired conflict of opposing interests. You hate it, I hate it, and so does everyone else. The single most despised thing in the world is clutter. You start with a good plan, something perfect. The plan goes through a process of explanations and feather puffing, and before you know it, your plan is wearing several tons more information and piles of goodness that shrouds your perfect idea. Clutter, Clutter, Clutter, in the eyes of a writer is like saying More, More, More, and more is always bad. Don't bet that someone will understand you, hopefully. Hopefully you will spend that time and just state your perfect plan. Don't be a politician, cut out ALL clutter.

B. Be Simplified

Be simplified, don't be simple. There is a difference. Being simplified is about knowing that maple syrup and pinto beans are a bad idea, or that people who sell cow brain tacos to the masses should be arrested and forgotten among the conversations of great dietary achievements. Writing is about knowing what to write and when to stop. No one cares if a man walked to a store because it's bland, says nothing, and, above all, is simple. But someone may be interested if Mother Geronimo had tea with Peter Gilmore in a Hindu Temple. The idea is to be direct in what you are saying and where you are going. Be simplified, NOT simple.

C. An audience of One

Imagine the front cover of a New York Times Best Seller. Imagine the numbers of sold copies printed across the top with golden font and silver trim. Imagine the the literary praise and seeing your book placed along side the shrines of your childhood dream-authors. Now take that idea firmly by the horns and go throw it in the trash – that is not writing. Writers always write for themselves without thinking what the audience wants to hear. Writers are famous not by writing what audiences want to hear, but being able to explain their own ideas so that readers can understand.

D. Cadence

Most people don't believe me when I say there is rhythm in writing. Yes, I am speaking about writing, not poetry. But good poetry is worth reading if you want good cadence. Read poetry, watch for cadence, and your writing will start flowing.

E. Use direct/proper/useful words

“Lord, please help me with the hard things in my life and guide me to make the right choices from day to day,” as you continue in piety, “And please help my friends get their things done and help them over come their problems... and.... and.” Lord have mercy on your soul if you pray like that. There are no grades for a well spoken prayer, but you may succeed at saying nothing. Writing, like speaking, is about nouns and verbs. If you have poor nouns you have poor subjects. If you have poor verbs you have poor actions. And if you attempt to dribble by with auxiliaries alone may God miracle your way to heaven because, He knows, the road to hell is paved with adverbs and adjectives. Don't expect the reader to understand you, use word that mean what you mean, remember to be direct.

F. Unity, Place, Person, Nouns, Verbs, Moods, Tenses, reduces subjects to single sentences

Everyone hates planning, doesn't matter who you are. If you enjoy the face-splitting drudgery it is because you enjoy the end result, and that is why you must remember this rule. When you are writing keep everything matching. Plural nouns stay plural, people and person stay in different sentences, scenes don't jumble out of order and run together, people who are doing something are doing it now, and sad characters don't walk through doors and become happy – unless this is a Norseman bursting through the gates of Valhalla. Plan ahead and keep unity.

G. Introductions and Conclusions

Intro's should be entertaining, closers should be surprising. There is nothing worse for a writer to experience than labouring hours in detailing a thousand facts that would twirl the reader's mind into a high-sky adventure but never see the sun light because a reader isn't willing to endure the first paragraph - or first several pages. Introductions must capture the reader. Use an interesting fact, an odd observation, or perhaps a series of unanswerable incidents, anything that makes the reader say, “Wow, I didn't know that,” or, “What is happening or what will happen next?” the longer you can hold the reader the more willing he will be in enduring your thousand facts – even if they are boring. But there is one last tie: the conclusion. If you force a reader to endure an entire essay, then you better be thinking how you can sweep the reader off of his feet. If not, he will be sweeping your essay to the trash. Hook readers with a shocking fact or good story and end with a surprise that no one saw coming.

H. Practice detailing landscape...

I was once told that the only people who enjoy every moment of a traveler's tale are the travelers. They are the only ones who find wonder in ever step and a piece of God's goodness behind every rock, but people like you and me, when we ask, “Tell me everything about your experience,” only want to know everything that would interest us – be honest. When writing we have to keep this in mind and not bore our readers out of their wits. There is only one way to become better at detailing landscapes; Practice. But there's advice that may help you in the right direction: write the first three things that come to mind. If the mountain range is accented with black ice, a frozen lake, and a misplaced lightening rod, then speak about those things; as I have also been told, a picture is worth a thousand words, but people care less. So don't rabbit trail and attempt to speak about the wonder of every step or God's goodness behind every rock, just speak about the wonderful three steps or the greatest trio of God's beauties.

I. Humour is Serious Business

Humour is about practical truth. The best moments in life are often found around a thanksgiving turkey or a cold night out in the Christmas snow with friends and family reminiscing about times scarcely remembered. You cry together, laugh at each other, fight for trifling matters, but they are always good memories. They are memories of perfect origin, and nothing in life would be enough to barter for something else. Some people call it the simple things in life, and that is what I believe they are. Simple, and almost forgotten... almost. And that is what humour is, simple things almost forgotten, so next time you want to exaggerate a truth to make it “sound funny” remember that life is funny as it is and there is no need to dress it up in some clown outfit – that's just downright wrong and scary.

J. Intention and Quest....

Stories and legends are magical things: Enrapturing readers with failing plots and paper-thin characters, dazzling readers with hackneyed remarks as old as time, and villains that love being …. yes, we haven't got that far. Articulating intentions and quests are as difficult as articulating people – because that is what you are doing. A villain never loves villainy as much as he loves to conquer and pillage and burn in the name of a lost love, no hero has ever brought a tear to the reader who didn't face his deepest tremblings, and nothing was so magical as the hug of a child or nothing so propelling as the death of a friend. The thing to remember is, “The difference between a person and a hero is one more second of hope.” That's all, that's the magic: the undying, the unquestioning, the unrelenting fight that lasted one more second beyond all hope and the one second just before all despair. This is the moonlit realm that quest and intention run rampant, and your job is to find their flag and conquer it.