On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction

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Also bear in mind, when you’re choosing words and stringing them together, how they sound. This may seem absurd: readers read with their eyes. But in fact they hear what they are reading far more than you realize. Therefore such matters as rhythm and alliteration are vital to every sentence.

The longest section of the book is part three, “Forms.” Zinsser offers specific suggestions, thoughts, and questions to consider when one is working in a particular genre or form, such as travel writing, memoir, science, business, sports, the arts, and humor. When it’s time to conclude, don’t summarize too much. Review everything briefly, recap the benefits to the reader, and wrap it up! Lesson 3: Inspire yourself with your writing and you will inspire those who read it. She told us the reason for this is that most people retain information best when reading at a fifth-grade reading level, and magazines like these are far above that. Science and technology assignments tend to scare new writers, but they actually depend on the same basic skill as all other nonfiction: clear, logical thinking. Good science writers shape complex information into an accessible, relatable story about how specific discoveries shape people’s lives. Next, Zinsser turns to business writing, which tends to be artificial, cluttered, and uninspiring. Businesspeople should cut out the jargon and write in their own voices. This is the best way to connect with colleagues and customers, who want to hear from real people, not faceless institutions. Any man who keeps working is not a failure. He may not be a great writer, but if he applies the old-fashioned virtues of hard, constant labor, he’ll eventually make some kind of career for himself as a writer.” — Ray BradburyYou write to communicate to the hearts and minds of others what's burning inside you, and we edit to let the fire show through the smoke.” — Arthur Plotnik

Clichés are one of the things you should keep listening for when you rewrite and read your successive drafts aloud.There are some books that refuse to be written. They stand their ground year after year and will not be persuaded. It isn’t because the book is not there and worth being written — it is only because the right form of the story does not present itself. There is only one right form for a story and, if you fail to find that form, the story will not tell itself.” — Mark Twain I believe myself that a good writer doesn’t really need to be told anything except to keep at it.” — Chinua Achebe Stephen actually learned this lesson himself from his boss and editor John Gould at his job writing for Lisbon’s Weekly Newspaper. Part 2. When you catch an adjective, kill it. No, I don’t mean utterly, but kill most of them – then the rest will be valuable. They weaken when they are close together. They give strength when they are wide apart. As any writer knows, there are no actual “rules” in this craft. That said, these writing quotes reveal some famous principles in writing that won’t let you down.