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

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On Writing Well by William Zinsser is an excellent book for anybody who wants to learn how to write, whether about people or places, science and technology, business, sports, or about yourself. Rejection slips, or form letters, however tactfully phrased, are lacerations of the soul, if not quite inventions of the devil — but there is no way around them.” — Isaac Asimov

For your born writer, nothing is so healing as the realization that he has come upon the right word.” — Catherine Drinker Bowen All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.” — Ernest Hemingway You just have to go on when it is worst and most helpless — there is only one thing to do with a novel and that is go straight on through to the end of the damn thing.” — Ernest Hemingway Think broadly about your assignment. Push the boundaries of your subject and see where it takes you. Bring some part of your own life to it; it’s not your version of the story until you write it. I do not over-intellectualise the production process. I try to keep it simple: Tell the damned story.” — Tom ClancyFinally, in the “Attitudes” section of his book, Zinsser gives aspiring writers more general advice on how to approach the craft. The best way to develop a distinctive voice is by studying and imitating other writers. The most successful writers are enthusiastic about their work because they write about what interests them. Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don’t see any.” — Orson Scott We have to continually be jumping off cliffs and developing our wings on the way down.” — Kurt Vonnegut

The most important sentence in any article is the first one. If it doesn’t induce the reader to proceed to the second sentence, your article is dead. And if the second sentence doesn’t induce him to continue to the third sentence, it’s equally dead. Of such a progression of sentences, each tugging the reader forward until he is hooked, a writer constructs that fateful unit, the “ lead.” Substitute 'damn' every time you're inclined to write 'very;' your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.” — Mark Twain You’ll meet people and have experiences that will light a fire inside that you can share in your work. People say, ‘What advice do you have for people who want to be writers?’ I say, they don’t really need advice, they know they want to be writers, and they’re gonna do it. Those people who know that they really want to do this and are cut out for it, they know it.” — R.L. Stine The nearest I have to a rule is a Post-it on the wall in front of my desk saying ‘Faire et se taire’ from Flaubert. Which I translate for myself as ‘Shut up and get on with it.’” — Helen SimpsonAny word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule.” — Stephen King You should always collect more material than you will use. Every article is strong in proportion to the surplus of details from which you can choose the few that will serve you best.

I’ve had the book On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction by William Zinsser on my shelf since my pre-law school journalism days. That is, I’ve had it on my shelf for a while. I don’t remember who gave it to me, but I do remember how it made me feel. 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. A person is a fool to become a writer. His only compensation is absolute freedom. He has no master except his own soul, and that, I am sure, is why he does it.” — Roald DahlFocus more on your desire than on your doubt, and the dream will take care of itself.” — Mark Twain There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.” — Somerset Maugham It is worth mentioning, for future reference, that the creative power which bubbles so pleasantly in beginning a new book quiets down after a time, and one goes on more steadily. Doubts creep in. Then one becomes resigned. Determination not to give in, and the sense of an impending shape keep one at it more than anything.” — Virginia Woolf

If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it." — Toni Morrison The product that any writer has to sell is not the subject being written about, but who he or she is. Don’t let anyone or anything interfere while you first channel and write down your story. Let it come to you on its own without judgment, without even looking through a particular lens. Be objective. Then, when you’ve finished the first draft of any story, it’s time to put on some different glasses and rewrite with an open mind. #2: Write Every Day Only kings, presidents, editors, and people with tapeworms have the right to use the editorial 'we'.” — Mark TwainFind your best time of the day for writing and write. Don’t let anything else interfere. Afterwards it won’t matter to you that the kitchen is a mess.” — Esther Freud