# Metadata
- Author: [[William Zinsser]]
- Full Title: On Writing Well
- Published:
- Category: #books
# Highlights
- That condition was first revealed with the arrival of the word processor. Two opposite things happened: good writers got better and bad writers got worse. Good writers welcomed the gift of being able to fuss endlessly with their sentences—pruning and revising and reshaping—without the drudgery of retyping. Bad writers became even more verbose because writing was [◊](https://readwise.io/open/283600673) ^rw283600673
- suddenly so easy and their sentences looked so pretty on the screen. How could such beautiful sentences not be perfect? [◊](https://readwise.io/open/283600674) ^rw283600674
- Our national tendency is to inflate and thereby sound important. The airline pilot who announces that he is presently anticipating experiencing considerable precipitation wouldn't think of saying it may rain. The sentence is too simple—there must be something wrong with it. [◊](https://readwise.io/open/283600675) ^rw283600675
- But the secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components. Every [◊](https://readwise.io/open/283600676) ^rw283600676
- Clear thinking becomes clear writing; one can't exist without the other [◊](https://readwise.io/open/283600677) ^rw283600677
- If the reader is lost, it's usually because the writer hasn't been careful enough. [◊](https://readwise.io/open/283600678) ^rw283600678
- Writers must therefore constantly ask: what am I trying to say? Surprisingly often they don't know. Then they must look at what they have written and ask: have I said it? Is it clear to someone encountering the subject for the first time? If it's not, some fuzz has worked its way into the machinery. The clear writer is someone clearheaded enough to see this stuff for what it is: fuzz. [◊](https://readwise.io/open/283600679) ^rw283600679
- A clear sentence is no accident [◊](https://readwise.io/open/283600680) ^rw283600680
- Consider all the prepositions that are draped onto verbs that don't need any help. We no longer head committees. We head them up. We don't face problems anymore. We face up to them when we can free up a few minutes [◊](https://readwise.io/open/283600681) ^rw283600681
- Don't dialogue with someone you can talk to. Don't interface with anybody. [◊](https://readwise.io/open/283600682) ^rw283600682
- Writers are obviously at their most natural when they write in the first person. Writing is an intimate transaction between two people, conducted on paper, and it will go well to the extent that it retains its humanity. Therefore I urge people to write in the first person: to use "I" and "me" and "we" and "us." They put up a fight. [◊](https://readwise.io/open/283600683) ^rw283600683
- Sell yourself, and your subject will exert its own appeal. Believe in your own identity and your own opinions. Writing is an act of ego, and you might as well admit it. Use its energy to keep yourself going. [◊](https://readwise.io/open/283600684) ^rw283600684
- But on the larger issue of whether the reader likes you, or likes what you are saying or how you are saying it, or agrees with it, or feels an affinity for your sense of [◊](https://readwise.io/open/283600685) ^rw283600685
- Tags: [[add context]]
- humor or your vision of life, don't give him a moment's worry. You are who you are, he is who he is, and either you'll get along or you won't. [◊](https://readwise.io/open/283600686) ^rw283600686
- Never say anything in writing that you wouldn't comfortably say in conversation. [◊](https://readwise.io/open/283600687) ^rw283600687
- See if you can gain variety by reversing the order of a sentence, or by substituting a word that has freshness or oddity, or by altering the length of your sentences so they don't all sound as if they came out of the same machine. An occasional short sentence can carry a tremendous punch. It stays in the reader's ear. [◊](https://readwise.io/open/283600688) ^rw283600688
- One choice is unity of pronoun. Are you going to write in the first person, as a participant, or in the third person, as an observer? Or even in the second person, that darling of sportswriters hung up on Hemingway [◊](https://readwise.io/open/283600689) ^rw283600689
- Unity of tense is another choice. Most people write mainly in the past tense ("I went up to Boston the other day"), but some people write agreeably in the present ("I'm sitting in the dining car of the Yankee Limited and we're pulling into Boston"). [◊](https://readwise.io/open/283600690) ^rw283600690
- Therefore ask yourself some basic questions before you start. For example: "In what capacity am I going to address the reader?" (Reporter? Provider of information? Average man or woman?) "What pronoun and tense am I going to use?" "What style?" (Impersonal reportorial? Personal but formal? Personal and casual?) "What attitude am I going to take toward the material?" (Involved? Detached? Judgmental? Ironic? Amused?) "How much do I want to cover?" "What one point do I want to make?" [◊](https://readwise.io/open/283600691) ^rw283600691
- They feel that they are under some obligation—to the subject, to their honor, to the gods of writing—to make their article the last word. [◊](https://readwise.io/open/283600692) ^rw283600692
- Every writing project must be reduced before you start to write. [◊](https://readwise.io/open/283600693) ^rw283600693
- Decide what corner of your subject you're going to bite off, and be content to cover it well and stop. [◊](https://readwise.io/open/283600694) ^rw283600694
- When your zest begins to ebb, the reader is the first person to know it. [◊](https://readwise.io/open/283600695) ^rw283600695
- So decide what single point you want to leave in the reader's mind. It [◊](https://readwise.io/open/283600696) ^rw283600696
---
tags: books
aliases: On Writing Well
date created: 2022-03-31
publish: true
---
# Metadata
- Author: [[William Zinsser]]
- Full Title: On Writing Well
- Published:
- Category: #books
# Highlights
- That condition was first revealed with the arrival of the word processor. Two opposite things happened: good writers got better and bad writers got worse. Good writers welcomed the gift of being able to fuss endlessly with their sentences—pruning and revising and reshaping—without the drudgery of retyping. Bad writers became even more verbose because writing was [◊](https://readwise.io/open/283600673) ^rw283600673
- suddenly so easy and their sentences looked so pretty on the screen. How could such beautiful sentences not be perfect? [◊](https://readwise.io/open/283600674) ^rw283600674
- Our national tendency is to inflate and thereby sound important. The airline pilot who announces that he is presently anticipating experiencing considerable precipitation wouldn't think of saying it may rain. The sentence is too simple—there must be something wrong with it. [◊](https://readwise.io/open/283600675) ^rw283600675
- But the secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components. Every [◊](https://readwise.io/open/283600676) ^rw283600676
- Clear thinking becomes clear writing; one can't exist without the other [◊](https://readwise.io/open/283600677) ^rw283600677
- If the reader is lost, it's usually because the writer hasn't been careful enough. [◊](https://readwise.io/open/283600678) ^rw283600678
- Writers must therefore constantly ask: what am I trying to say? Surprisingly often they don't know. Then they must look at what they have written and ask: have I said it? Is it clear to someone encountering the subject for the first time? If it's not, some fuzz has worked its way into the machinery. The clear writer is someone clearheaded enough to see this stuff for what it is: fuzz. [◊](https://readwise.io/open/283600679) ^rw283600679
- A clear sentence is no accident [◊](https://readwise.io/open/283600680) ^rw283600680
- Consider all the prepositions that are draped onto verbs that don't need any help. We no longer head committees. We head them up. We don't face problems anymore. We face up to them when we can free up a few minutes [◊](https://readwise.io/open/283600681) ^rw283600681
- Don't dialogue with someone you can talk to. Don't interface with anybody. [◊](https://readwise.io/open/283600682) ^rw283600682
- Writers are obviously at their most natural when they write in the first person. Writing is an intimate transaction between two people, conducted on paper, and it will go well to the extent that it retains its humanity. Therefore I urge people to write in the first person: to use "I" and "me" and "we" and "us." They put up a fight. [◊](https://readwise.io/open/283600683) ^rw283600683
- Sell yourself, and your subject will exert its own appeal. Believe in your own identity and your own opinions. Writing is an act of ego, and you might as well admit it. Use its energy to keep yourself going. [◊](https://readwise.io/open/283600684) ^rw283600684
- But on the larger issue of whether the reader likes you, or likes what you are saying or how you are saying it, or agrees with it, or feels an affinity for your sense of [◊](https://readwise.io/open/283600685) ^rw283600685
- Tags: [[add context]]
- humor or your vision of life, don't give him a moment's worry. You are who you are, he is who he is, and either you'll get along or you won't. [◊](https://readwise.io/open/283600686) ^rw283600686
- Never say anything in writing that you wouldn't comfortably say in conversation. [◊](https://readwise.io/open/283600687) ^rw283600687
- See if you can gain variety by reversing the order of a sentence, or by substituting a word that has freshness or oddity, or by altering the length of your sentences so they don't all sound as if they came out of the same machine. An occasional short sentence can carry a tremendous punch. It stays in the reader's ear. [◊](https://readwise.io/open/283600688) ^rw283600688
- One choice is unity of pronoun. Are you going to write in the first person, as a participant, or in the third person, as an observer? Or even in the second person, that darling of sportswriters hung up on Hemingway [◊](https://readwise.io/open/283600689) ^rw283600689
- Unity of tense is another choice. Most people write mainly in the past tense ("I went up to Boston the other day"), but some people write agreeably in the present ("I'm sitting in the dining car of the Yankee Limited and we're pulling into Boston"). [◊](https://readwise.io/open/283600690) ^rw283600690
- Therefore ask yourself some basic questions before you start. For example: "In what capacity am I going to address the reader?" (Reporter? Provider of information? Average man or woman?) "What pronoun and tense am I going to use?" "What style?" (Impersonal reportorial? Personal but formal? Personal and casual?) "What attitude am I going to take toward the material?" (Involved? Detached? Judgmental? Ironic? Amused?) "How much do I want to cover?" "What one point do I want to make?" [◊](https://readwise.io/open/283600691) ^rw283600691
- They feel that they are under some obligation—to the subject, to their honor, to the gods of writing—to make their article the last word. [◊](https://readwise.io/open/283600692) ^rw283600692
- Every writing project must be reduced before you start to write. [◊](https://readwise.io/open/283600693) ^rw283600693
- Decide what corner of your subject you're going to bite off, and be content to cover it well and stop. [◊](https://readwise.io/open/283600694) ^rw283600694
- When your zest begins to ebb, the reader is the first person to know it. [◊](https://readwise.io/open/283600695) ^rw283600695
- So decide what single point you want to leave in the reader's mind. It [◊](https://readwise.io/open/283600696) ^rw283600696