{"id":150020485,"date":"2024-10-15T07:00:46","date_gmt":"2024-10-15T07:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/writetosuccess.net\/book-review-on-writing-well\/"},"modified":"2024-10-15T07:00:46","modified_gmt":"2024-10-15T07:00:46","slug":"book-review-on-writing-well","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/writetosuccess.net\/de\/book-review-on-writing-well\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: On Writing Well"},"content":{"rendered":"

William Zinsser, reissued 2016<\/h2>

Key words<\/h3>

Writing, nonfiction, writer\u2019s craft, creative writing, narrative writing, interdisciplinary writing, writing teacher, practical writing advice, professional writing <\/p>

\"Libro<\/figure>

First published in 1976, On Writing Well<\/em> is a book that would have saved me a lot of time if I\u2019d encountered it before my 30s. <\/p>

In the introduction to the 2016 edition that I own, Zinsser acknowledges his fond debt to White & Strunk\u2019s The Elements of Style<\/em>, and places his contribution to the craft oeuvre in context:<\/p>

\u201cWhat [The Elements of Style<\/em>] didn\u2019t<\/em> address was how to apply those principles to the various forms that nonfiction writing and journalism can take. That\u2019s\u2026 what I would teach in my book: how to write about people and places, science and technology, history and medicine, business and education sports and the arts and everything else under the sun that\u2019s waiting to be written about.\u201d <\/p><\/blockquote>

Words are only tools <\/h3>

Pragmatic and process-agnostic, Zinsser focuses on what matters \u2014 the end product. <\/p>

As someone who gets frustrated with the dreamy imprecations of creative writing instructors who tell you to own your truth, or write from the gut, or manifest whatever, it\u2019s refreshing to have a guide whose aims are superficial in the best way. <\/p>

No requirement to save the world, or address your inner child, just compose a coherent, cohesive text. <\/p>

\u201cThere are all kinds of writers and all kinds of methods, and any method that helps you to say what you want to say is the right method for you.\u201d<\/p><\/div>

The big idea<\/h3>

On Writing Well<\/em> contains 25 chapters divided into four parts: Principles, Methods, Forms and Attitudes.<\/p>

Already, clarity as welcoming as a brush-bristle doormat: wipe your feet then come, make yourself at home. <\/p>

Part III, Forms, breaks down specific nonfiction genres: interviews, travel writing, memoir, criticism, professional writing. That Zinsser has conventions to guide him, here, should not be taken to mean the advice is extraneous or patronizing. Even those of us who write travel articles, interviews and suchlike are (half) unconscious of the formal requirements we\u2019ve internalized. It is good to see them spelled out.<\/p>

Part I, Principles, offers succinct advice on the scribe\u2019s bugbears: audience, word choice, usage, simplicity and style (among others). <\/p>

\u201cFew people realize how badly they write. Nobody has shown them how much excess or murkiness has crept into their style and how it obstructs what they are trying to say.\u201d<\/p><\/div>

If you are not charmed by the gently acerbic matter-of-factness of that statement you might not enjoy this book, but you almost certainly need it. <\/p>

The briefest part (II), Methods includes Bits & Pieces \u2014 more of which below.<\/p>

In the fourth and final part, Attitudes, Zinsser brings it home with chapters on voice, \u2018Enjoyment, Fear & Confidence\u2019 and decisions. <\/p>

\"a<\/figure>

My take<\/h3>

Chapter 10, \u2018Bits & Pieces\u2019 is in itself worth the price of admission. <\/p>

From trenchant advice on description (\u201cMost adjectives are also unnecessary\u201d) to peerless advice on qualifiers (and life): \u201cDon\u2019t say you were a bit confused and sort of tired and a little bit depressed and somewhat annoyed. Be confused. Be tired. Be depressed. Be annoyed\u201d \u2014 Zinsser dispenses wisdom weighty enough to sink the careers of thousand writing teachers. <\/p>

If all learners read and heeded his words, we would be gainfully unemployed.<\/p>

Their take<\/h3>

\u201cAn informal guide,\u201d says the subtitle. \u201cInformal\u201d it is\u2014smooth, colloquial, seemingly effortless. \u201cTo writing nonfiction,\u201d it goes on to say. Well\u2014that depends on what you mean by \u201cnonfiction.\u201d William Zinsser, a veteran of The Herald Tribune and Life and of years of freelancing, is primarily concerned with popular journalism as it is practiced (less and less) in magazines and (more and more) in daily papers. Not the nonfiction of studygroup reports or academic tomes, and not straight news reporting, either. The book grew out of a writing course he now teaches at Yale, so the tone is that of a veteran addressing beginners. But the message can be absorbed with profit by any writer, no matter what his experience or his field. <\/p><\/blockquote>

\u2014 Sherwin D. Smith, The New York Times<\/a><\/em>, Feb 29, 1076<\/p>

Must read for<\/h3>

Anyone who wants to be sure their writing says what they mean, and says it well. <\/p>

Read also<\/h3>