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On Writing Well, 25th Anniversary: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction

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William Zinsser's on writing well has a history of being used in writing courses. He advocates a writing style is direct, clear and crisp. He divides the book into four sections: The Principles, Methods, Forms and Attitudes. Probably the best parts are the first two. The Principles covers keeping your writing simple, removing clutter, writing for the audience, word choice and usage. The Methods covers things such as unity within the writing, the lead and ending and various other aspects of writing methods. The section on Forms covers various specific writing techniques and styles for different forms of writing. Specifically it covers areas such as the Interview, Travel Articles, the Memoir, Business Writing and Technical Writing. If you have a specific need for one of these forms then the section has some very good advice. Finally the section on Attitude covers the required Attitude of the writer.

Throughout the book you learn that writing is indeed a craft that can be learned. Zinsser points out the most important patterns and techniques of successful writers so that you can follow their lead. This book is still one of the most recommended texts for people just beginning to learn to write and with good reason, it should be on the bookshelf of anyone serious about writing.

Zinsser asserts that writing well can be learned. This is good news. I thought I wrote well until I compared my reviews to those of some of the consistent top reviewers on Amazon. How do they do that?

According to Zinsser (and affirmed by Tom Clancy on a TV interview), good writers follow rules, editing each sentence and paragraph multiple times. They write against deadlines whether or not they're feeling inspired. When done properly, the finished product can look deceptively simple to write. Following is my liberally abridged summary of Zinsser's rules:

1. Do - prune out every word that does not perform a necessary function. Strip each sentence to its cleanest components. A clear sentence is no accident.

2. Do - use the thesaurus liberally. Learn the small gradations between words that seem to be synonyms.

3. Do - try to improve the rhythm by reversing the order of a sentence, substituting a word that has freshness or oddity, and by varying the lengths of sentences.

4. Do - make your first sentence the best one - your lead must capture the reader.

5. Do - make each sentence lead into the next. Readers think linearly.

6. Do - Take special care with the last sentence in your paragraph - its the springboard to the next paragraph.

7. Do - make your paragraphs short. Readers think in segments.

8. Do - pay special attention to the last sentence. The perfect ending should take your reader slightly by surprise and yet seem exactly right.

9. Do - Read it aloud to see how it sounds and re-edit - then do it again. Clear writing is the result of lots of tinkering.


On the other hand:

1. Don't - use passive verbs unless there is no comfortable way to use an active verb.

2. Don't - use adverbs that convey the same meaning as your strong active verb - prune it out.

3. Don't - use adjectives when the concept is already in your carefully chosen noun - prune it out.

4. Don't - use small words that qualify how you feel: "a bit," "a little," "sort of," and dozens more. Good writing is lean and confident.

5. Don't - use concept nouns:
Instead of - "The common reaction is incredulous laughter."
Write - "Most people just laugh with disbelief."

6. Don't - use the exclamation point unless you must, do use the period more frequently, don't forget the versatile dash, and cut down on the use of semi-colons and colons. If you don't know how to punctuate, get a grammar book.


The next book I read was the New York Times bestseller, "Shadow Divers," by Robert Kurson. I read slowly with Zinsser's rules in mind, analyzing individual words, sentences and paragraphs. I looked for clutter, excess wordage, grandiose exaggerations, qualifiers, bad punctuation - and other common errors Zinsser considered awful. I couldn't find any. What I consistently found were techniques listed in the "do" list and just good creative writing. No wonder this author was successful. Within two chapters I was hooked, dropped my analysis, and finished the book very late that night.

Clancy said, "I hate writing - it's too much work. I put off starting as long as possible, and when I do start, it takes a year for me to write a book." Maybe not a recommended method for plugging a book, but Clancy's statement reveals the sweat equity he puts into each phrase.

Zinsser's book says we can learn to write better using proven techniques, and offers plenty of advice in this story-book type narrative. I plan on keeping it close by, next to my new thesaurus.

This is a wonderful book on writing. It is more than just a guide to writing grammatically well, it also teaches how to write interesting, meaningful pieces. Though this book includes its fair share of grammar and syntax lessons, its main focus (and the largest portion of its pages) is in the ART of writing well.

Parts I and II cover the basics on style--how to eliminate clutter, write clear, tight sentences, etc. Part III, the bulk of the work, deals individually with a variety of subjects that you might write about--people, places, business, sports, the arts, etc. This is where the book is most handy, where Zinsser steps out of the writing-guide mold and gives us something unique, something very useful.

Part IV deals much with the process of revision, and talks about the final product. This is useful to anyone who has goals of being published. Throughout, this book is full of humor and wit, as well as a writing style that is very fun to read. The only negative (in my opinion): Zinsser uses too many of his own pieces as a basis of comparison. Yes, I agree, he IS a good writer. But he's not the ONLY good writer out there. I would have liked to see less of his own work. The examples he uses from other writers are great--I just wish there were more of them.

Overall, this is a must-have for any aspiring writer, or for anyone who likes to write and wants to improve his or her style. This is not the best writing book out there, but you'll definitely see an improvement in your style for having read it.

If writing non-fiction is an important part of your personal or professional life, reading this classic will be a sound investment. I read this book many years ago, when it was in its first edition, and its wisdom has had a profound impact on me. I can think of few experiences that have had such a demonstrably positive influence on my career (I am currently a professor of computer science). I have found Zinsser's sage advice to be applicable to writing technical papers, letters to the PTA, and virtually every other form of non-fiction.

Zinsser patiently instructs his readers on how to write about travel or science, how to conduct an interview, how to craft an effective lead and ending, and even how to get started. Along the way, Zinsser entreats us to omit clutter and cliché, strike out useless adverbs, adjectives, and qualifiers, incorporate active verbs, and strive for correct usage as well as unity of pronoun, tense, and mood. But the overriding messages are clarity, simplicity, and directness. Keep it crisp. Oh, and just like driving a car, always signal your intentions (keep that "but" at the beginning of the sentence).

Two specific pages in Zinsser's book have remained etched in my mind from the moment I took them in almost two decades ago. They comprise the most genuine and revealing demonstration I have ever seen in a book on writing. On those two pages (pages 10 and 11 in the first edition), Zinsser provides a glimpse at the penultimate draft of the very book you are reading, juxtaposed with the corresponding pages in final form; in so doing, Zinsser invites you to critically examine his own writing, while revealing something of his process. This was brilliant. Those few pages (penultimate draft plus final draft) are alone worth the price of the book.

The lessons in this comparison are profound: First, Zinsser himself practices what he professes, but more importantly, even he is prone to inflate sentences with useless verbiage. What Zinsser has beautifully illustrated is how his writing came to be so tight. It did not spring from his mind to paper in the form we see; rather, it was gradually shaped through repeated editing, much of it with the aim of removing unnecessary words. (One could say that he is more like Beethoven, who endlessly rewrote, rather than Mozart, who composed finished works in one stroke.) I immediately adopted this practice and to this day I devote several final editing passes to the removal of useless words. I can think of no other lesson that I have learned in my 22 years of formal education that has been so enduring and consistently useful.

In the past decade I have recommended this book to each of my graduate students, and nearly all of my colleagues; at times I have simply purchased a copy and presented it to them. Of course, such a gesture can be taken the wrong way. It needn't imply that one's writing is in desperate need of repair, but rather that the content is worthy of concise expression. It was in the latter spirit that I shared Zinsser's book with my students and colleagues, and I believe all have gained from it.

Do yourself a life-long favor and read this wonderful book. It won't take long, yet its lessons might forever change the way you write. Your readers will benefit, and you will benefit.

"Writing isn't easy, it is hard and lonely and the words seldom just flow" says author, editor, and teacher William Zinsser.

Zinsser calls "clutter" the disease of American writing. He says the secret to good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components. Clutter is the laborious phrase that has pushed out the short word that means the same thing.

I like his quote, "Few people realize how bad they write." On style, he tells us that you don't just try to add style. It comes with practice; that trying to add style is like adding a toupee. Be yourself, it will come."

The author's style is very pure, he is honest, he has wit, humor and a knowledge of the art of writing. The book is sectioned in three parts:

Part I is Principles and it covers basics such as clutter, style, the audience, words, usage.

Part II is Methods, which discusses unity, the ever important lead and ending and hodge podge of info called Bits and Pieces which delves into punctuation, rewrites, trusting your material, etc.

Part III deals with Writing about People - the interview; writing about places - Travel Article; Writing About Yourself - the Memoir, business writing, and writing about the Arts - Critics and Columnists, and writing with humor.

Part IV is about Attitudes - The Sound of Your Voice and how to craft a casual effect in writing. He says inexperienced writers miss the point trying to be "just folks." Great book...MzRizz

I was an English major and am currently a freelance editor, and Zinsser's book "On Writing Well" is the only writing book I've ever read that I've found to be both practical and entertaining.

First I must say that "On Writing Well" is not intended as a grammar manual; so if that is what you're looking for, this book is not for you. (In fact, a strict grammarian will find some of Zinsser's opinions and usage rather liberal.)

Zinsser does address craft, however, and this book covers a broad range of writing topics, with chapter titles ranging from "Usage" to "Humor" to "The Sound of Your Voice." One entire section of chapters is devoted to genre-specific insights.

"On Writing Well" doesn't merely tell how to improve writing techniques; it gives examples--articles that I found interesting in and of themselves. In particular, an article about a Saharan caravan caught my attention, and Zinsser shows, step by step, why he wrote that article the way he did.

This book is a "must have" that increased my passion for writing and provided me with the tools to "write well." It was the first book I was told to read in my editorial internship, and I've read it at least three times since.

I first came across "On Writing Well" fifteen years ago, when I read the second edition. I thought it useful enough that I read it again twice at five year intervals.

Since my copy was literally coming apart at the seams, I purchased this sixth edition, which contains most of the content of the second, but adds chapters about specific forms of writing (The Interview, The Memoir, Science and Technology, Business Writing, Sports, Humor, etc). Additionally, it includes many more examples of what Mr. Zinsser considers to be good writing, some from his own writings and many more from those of other writers.

His selection of writers is so good that I recently purchased a copy of the book as a gift for a foreign student who asked me for list of recent quality American non-fiction.

I like his writing enough that I have read several more of his books ("Writing About Your Life: A journey Into the Past," "Writing to Learn," and "Willie and Dwike"). I find him to be best in writing about memoirs, but like the rest of us he has a limited reservoir of experience, and tends to repeat himself across books. He likes "Willie and Dwike" best of all his books; so do I.

He obviously has had a successful and happy life, which causes him to be a bit of a Pollyanna and critical of writers who write about the dark side of human nature. On the other hand, he does cite Mencken, Joseph Heller, Gary Trudeau and others of that persuasion, so not all is lost.

It's a fine book that will make you both a better writer and a better reader.

William Zinsser's book, On Writing Well, has been a popular guide to writing for many audiences. It has been used by undergraduate and graduate students and by aspiring and professional writers. I was recommended this book by a professor when I was in grauduate school. I never took the time to read the book until recently.

I found Part I and II of the book to be too simplistic and bland. Zinsser spends more time describing and discussing grammar than actually demonstrating and explaining. There are no examples of grammar just descriptions of how to use it. Perhaps, Zinsser wanted to place more emphasis on writing than grammar in the book. It is not until Part III-Forms that Zinsser addresses how to write about a specific topic. He discusses writing topics such as nonfiction, interviews, travel, memoirs, business, sports, arts and humor. I found this to be the most helpful section of the book. Part IV-Attitudes describes the role and importance of writing style and decisions in writing.

If you are looking for a book that teaches grammar or is a reference guide for grammar, this is not it. This book is a reference guide for writers. If you want to learn more about writing particular types of articles or books, refer to Part III-Forms.

Like many of the books on my shelf, I was forced to aquire "On Writing Well" for my classes. This is my last semester and my greatest regret is that I did not invest in such a treasure sooner. This book has saved my life.

It is hard to find a well written book on writing well, but this one merits the title. The author admits in all honesty that writing is hard, but goes into detail on how to make it easy. The book is thorough, explaining in "layman's terms" how to write. There are chapters on everything from grammar usage to how to make your writing funny. The chapter on "Enjoyment, Fear and Confidence" while writing is most helpful. The author uses anecdotes and clever humor to keep the reader interested.

This book is a jewel among self help guides... It is worth every penny of investment and your writing is guaranteed to improve after one lecture.

This well-presented, easy-to-read, and simple-to-understand book aimed at nonfiction writers, but from which fiction writers can also benefit, is an invaluable guide to achieving good writing through the continued use of the fundamental principles and practical insights it offers.
Written for both beginners and professionals in a strong, clear and straightforward style, it teaches how to avoid bad writing by following a methodological approach to creating, shaping and self-editing your ideas in prose.
Although sometimes the author's voice can come across as arrogant and boastful, making your read somewhat less pleasurable, I can assure you that only sound, concrete advice is presented here, free of fluff or tiring verbiage and illustrated by excellent examples that consistently emphasize the differences between correct and incorrect writing.
Divided in four parts, each made up of numerous, concise, and easy to consult chapters, it includes topics such as simplicity, style, usage, unity, leads, endings, and audience. Special attention is devoted to various types of nonfiction writing, including interviews, travel articles, memoirs, business writing, scientific and technological writing, sports articles, humor, criticisms and periodical columns.
Overall, this is one guide that can't afford to be missing from your bookshelf if you are serious about writing in a polished, well-defined and sharp style. As you write, you will find yourself referring to it again and again.

For other books that focus on teaching good writing through the use of the tools of language, I also recommend Strunk's "The Elements of Style" and O'Conner's "Woe Is I" and "Words Fail Me."
--Reviewed by M. E. Volmar