Buy this book
Buy On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction and read it. Commit parts of it to memory. The biggest challenge a writer has is to take the garbage out of what's been written. On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction will show you how to do that. I wish someone had introduced me to On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction as an undergraduate.
Reviews here are for a different book!
The reviews presented with the Bead Creative Art Quilts were for a book on writing not the 'bead" book. How disappointing!.
A useful read
Writing well, according to William Zinsser, is a matter of simplicity & unity. Simple writing is easy to follow and is not wasteful. Unified writing has a single purpose; uses a consistent tense and pronouns; and is a delight to read. Good writing is thus a transaction between the author and reader; it defines the audience and the capacity in which we hope to address them, expressing as simply as possible the point that is being made. Zinsser suggests that we should let our personality show, using 'I' or 'we' when possible. In this way we express our personal style and establish a connection with the reader.
Beginning and endings are important to good writing. A good beginning gives the reader something to connect with, and ... Read More
Good writing is simple, clear, and free of clutter.
Key points in On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction are:
"Rewriting is the essence of writing."
"Clutter is the disease of American writing."
"Writing that will endure tends to consist of words that are short and strong."
"The most important sentence in any article is the first one."
"Most nonfiction writers will do well to cling to the ropes of simplicity and clarity."
But simplicity doesn't mean it is easy. "A clear sentence is no accident," writes Zinsser. "Very few sentences come out right the first time, or even the third time."
Excellent read on how to write well
I received this at work from a consultant and for a year, did not open it. Then one day bored on a conference call, I started reading it and did not want to stop. While I took breaks over the course of 2 months to read this (reading 5 books in parallel) I just finished it and must say that it is the BEST book I have read on Writing Well. I am quite self-conscious of what I write now after reading Zinsser's book. I can see his red pen scratching my extra words, cleaning up my run on sentences, and make suggestions. Oh but grammar, spelling, and correctness aside, he touches on so many crucial topics - how to write creatively, how to think about writing, how to approach anything from a humorous essay to a memoir to writing about sports (uhm, the ... Read More
