On Writing Well by William Zinsser
On Writing Well by William Zinsser
Introduction
On Writing Well by William Zinsser is the classic guide to writing non-fiction. The first section of the book details the best way to write well, whether writing fiction or non-fiction. On Writing Well is littered with quotable quotes and excellent advice. The rest of the book covers the various modes of non-fiction writing, including many examples from the author and others. If you want to write well in any application, then this is the book for you.
Summary – Four Parts
On Writing Well by William Zinsser has four parts, Principles, Methods, Forms, and Attitudes. I will examine each part and will insert the most informative quotes from each part. When I read this book, I made four pages of notes which helped me write this summary.
Summary – Part 1
Part one: The Principles has seven chapters. My favorite quote from Chapter 2: Simplicity is “The secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components.” (page 7). Two important concepts are from Chapter 5: The Audience “You are writing for yourself, (page 25) and Chapter 6: Words “writing is learned by imitation.” (page 35).
Summary Part 2
Part two: Methods has three chapters. In chapter 8: Unity, the quote is “you learn to write by writing.” (page 49). Quote from Chapter 9: The Lead and the Ending, “the most important sentence in any article is the first one.” (page 55). Chapter 10: Bits and Pieces covers short ideas on writing.
Summary – Part 3
Part three: Forms has two introductory chapters and covers seven types of non-fiction writing. The seven types of non-fiction writing are travel, memoir, science, business, sports, arts, and humor. An example of how to use quotes in non-fiction writing is the article by Joseph Mitchell called “Mr. Hunter’s Grave” published in the New Yorker magazine. The publishers collected it with five other articles in the book The Bottom of the Harbor by Joseph Mitchell. (page 113)
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/608217.The_Bottom_Of_The_Harbor
Another book that sounded interesting to me and quoted in the science chapter was The Periodic Table by Primo Levi. (page 159) The book is a collection of 21 short stories with each title from an element in the periodic table. The author’s experience during the Holocaust influenced the stories.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/427282.The_Periodic_Table
Summary – Part 4
Part four: Attitudes is five chapters on the process of writing and revising. The best part of this section is from Chapter 23: A Writer’s Decisions. In the chapter, the author relates his decisions he made when writing the article “The News from Timbuktu” published in Conde Nast Traveler. (pages 265 to 285) There are extensive quotes from the article and detailed explanations.
One final quote from Chapter 24: Write as well as you can, “You will write only as well as you make yourself write.” (page 293)
Recommendation
On Writing Well by William Zinsser is a brilliant book on writing. I first learned of this book at the Western Reserve Writers Conference in 2016. At the conference, the keynote speaker John Ettorre spoke about his relationship with writer and editor William Zinsser. Zinsser was a mentor of his who had passed away in 2015. He described how Zinsser had encouraged him and many others in the craft of writing. Zinsser’s most famous book is On Writing Well. I planned to read the book then. I write fiction, but half of my writing is for my non-fiction blog at garydavidgillen.com, so I thought this book would help me with my non-fiction writing.
Links
This is the link to the Goodreads page of On Writing Well by William Zinsser.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1176982.On_Writing_Well
Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell is a book about writing subtitled techniques and exercises for crafting a plot that grips readers from start to finish. The author gives his advice about how to develop a satisfying plot for your novel.
Another similar book on writing is How to Write Best Selling Fiction by Dean Koontz. This is the link to my review. The book from 1981, but the advice is still great.