William Zinsser’s Top 13 Writing Tips
William Zinsser is underrated.
I’ve never heard a single person mention his name even though he wrote 19 books including one that sold over 1.5 million copies. Zinsser passed away in 2015, but his legacy will outlive any of us.
His books spanned topics as diverse as baseball, jazz, travel, writing, and memoir. His most famous work, On Writing Well, is one of the best writing advice books I’ve ever read. It’s in the same league as Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird and Stephen King’s On Writing.
Here are the top 13 lessons I learned from Zinsser’s book On Writing Well:
1. Ignore what everyone says — there’s no “right way” to write.
“[T]here isn’t any ‘right’ way to do such personal work. There 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.” -William Zinsser
Every author has their own spin on what habits you HAVE TO follow to become an exceptional writer.
Write every day, whether you feel like it or not. Write 1,000 words per day. Wake up early so you can write before the city awakes. Buy a nice writing desk. Buy an old-school fountain pen. Only write with pen and paper until you’re ready for editing, then use a computer.
And so on. And so on.
Zinsser says that’s all baloney. Find something that works for you. If you write best at night, then ignore the shaming of the early birds, press the snooze button, and write after everyone else goes to bed. If you’re getting burnt out by writing every day, then take a few days off. If you’re most productive writing on a computer, then don’t waste money on fancy pens and Moleskine notebooks.
Find a writing routine that suits you, then stick with it.
2. Clarity should be your primary focus.
“Good writing has an aliveness that keeps the reader reading from one paragraph to the next, and it’s not a question of gimmicks to ‘personalize’ the author. It’s a question of using the English language in a way that will achieve the greatest clarity and strength.” -William Zinsser
Many writers make a fuss about the importance of personal style in writing. Zinsser agrees that style is important, but he encourages writers that style will emerge naturally over time. The most important thing is to master the art of clarity.
If your writing is clear and easy to understand, your readers will remain engaged. If your sentences confuse readers, they will immediately disengage.
Seek clarity first and you’ll discover style along the way.
3. Eliminate clutter.
“Clutter is the disease of American writing. We are a society strangling in unnecessary words, circular constructions, pompous frills and meaningless jargon…Our national tendency is to inflate and thereby sound important…But the secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components. Every word that serves no function, every long word that could be a short word, every adverb that carries the same meaning that’s already in the verb, every passive construction that leaves the reader unsure of who is doing what — these are the thousand and one adulterants that weaken the strength of a sentence. And they usually occur in proportion to education and rank.” -William Zinsser
Have you ever read a book or article from a writer who was obsessed with trying to sound smart? It was painful, right?
You know the type of writer I’m talking about — the one who uses words that no normal human would ever say: sycophant, parsimonious, cacophony, perfunctory, mellifluous, etc.
“Never say anything in writing that you wouldn’t comfortably say in conversation.” -William Zinsser
Writers who try to sound smart often fail miserably, looking like a jackass in the process. Don’t be that person.
The best writers are so good you don’t even know they’re there. Their words are so simple and precise that you don’t stumble over them. The writer fades into the background.
4. Get to the point.
“It’s amazing how often an editor can throw away the first three or four paragraphs of an article, or even the first few pages, and start with the paragraph when the writer begins to sound like himself or herself. Not only are those first paragraphs impersonal and ornate; they don’t say anything — they are a self-conscious attempt at a fancy introduction.” -William Zinsser
I often find myself writing long introductions to “tee up” a story for readers. But then I look back at what I’ve written and realize my words haven’t added any value. I don’t sound like myself. I’m using words I’d make fun of other authors for using. I’m trying too hard.
When I realize that I’m making that mistake, I ask myself, “How would I explain this concept to a friend?” When I picture myself speaking the words, I’m able to cut through the crap. I sound like myself again.
Don’t resort to long-winded introductions or fancy thesis statements. Imagine yourself talking to a close friend. What would you tell them? Write that.
5. Invest the time to find the correct word.
“Notice the decisions that other writers make in their choice of words and be finicky about the ones you select from the vast supply…If you have any doubt of what a word means, look it up. Learn its etymology and notice what curious branches its original root has put forth. See if it has any meanings you didn’t know it had. Master the small gradations between words that seem to be synonyms.” -William Zinsser
Words matter. There’s a big difference between precede and proceed, appraise and apprise, credible and credulous, bemuse and amuse.
If you don’t know the definition of a word you’re planning to use, look it up. Commit to never use a word without knowing what it means.
6. Read the best writers in your field.
“Make a habit of reading what is being written today and what has been written by earlier masters. Writing is learned by imitation.” -William Zinsser
Sometimes I hesitate to read articles about topics I write about. I worry that if I read a self-improvement article by Stephen Moore, a business article by Tim Denning, or a writing advice article by Shaunta Grimes, I will unconsciously mirror their style in my own writing.
But then I realize that there are many worse things than sounding like those talented authors. Reading good writing tunes your ear to write good prose.
Follow the icons in your field. Read their work. Learn from them.
7. Pay attention to the sound of your writing.
“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…If all your sentences move at the same plodding gait, which even you recognize as deadly but don’t know how to cure, read them aloud. (I write entirely by ear and read everything aloud before letting it go out into the world.) You’ll begin to hear where the trouble lies.” -William Zinsser
Vary your sentence length and structure. Make your writing more interesting by interweaving long and short paragraphs. Don’t hesitate to occasionally use a one-word sentence or paragraph for emphasis.
Good writing grips the reader and does not let go. It is not mundane or predictable.
All good writing is music to the ears. Are your words singing to your readers?
8. Collect more material than you need.
“[Y]ou 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.” -William Zinsser
In fields like carpentry and sewing, unused raw material like small pieces of wood and cloth at the end of the project represent inefficiency, waste, and unnecessary expense.
Not so with writing. Surplus stories, quotes, and facts represent excellence — not inefficiency. Extra material helps you ensure that only the best material makes it to your reader.
For example, I began this article with seventeen tips, then gradually whittled down to my thirteen favorites.
Don’t hesitate to collect more than you need as a writer. Your readers may never know the extra work you put in, but they’ll sense it in your story.
9. Tell stories.
“[N]arrative is the oldest and most compelling method of holding someone’s attention; everybody wants to be told a story. Always look for ways to convey your information in narrative form.” -William Zinsser
We’ve all heard about the power of stories, so this tip shouldn’t come as a surprise. But if you’ve ever doubted the effectiveness of storytelling, go back and take a look at the recent articles you’ve read and shared with others.
How many started with a story?
Here are a few introductory lines from recent stories I’ve enjoyed:
- “The year is 300 B.C. Zeno, a renowned philosopher and founder of Stoicism, is enjoying some steam at an Athens bathhouse…” (Story by Aytekin Tank)
- “I never met a successful person until I was 24. I grew up in a working-class family — I was more frequently around people who were the opposite. The first successful person I met was an entrepreneur in his forties…” (Story by Darius Foroux)
- “The moment I graduated from college, I made it my mission to become a full-time writer…” (Story by Nicolas Cole)
Don’t those introductions draw you in? Don’t you want to read the rest of the story to see what happens?
Stories are memorable and relatable. If you want to succeed as a writer, you need to become a masterful storyteller.
10. Write with confidence.
“Prune out the small words that qualify how you feel and how you think and what you saw: ‘a bit,’ ‘a little,’ ‘sort of,’ ‘kind of,’ ‘rather,’ ‘quite,’ ‘very,’ ‘too,’ ‘pretty much,’ ‘in a sense’ and dozens more. They dilute your style and your persuasiveness. Don’t say you were a bit confused and sort of tired and a little depressed and somewhat annoyed. Be confused. Be tired. Be depressed. Be annoyed. Don’t hedge your prose with little timidities. Good writing is lean and confident.” -William Zinsser
When I began writing, I thought it was dishonest to write confidently. I wasn’t an expert at anything, so why should I try to sound like one?
Then I realized two things:
- I knew more than I thought I did. (And you do too.) Friends came to me for advice on the same topics I wrote about. I knew enough to help them, so why couldn’t I help my readers the same way?
- No one has their shit figured out. Every other writer was meandering along, just like me. Author Kyle Eschenroeder puts it well:
“Realize that nobody knows what they’re doing…Nobody knows exactly what is going on. There are a ton of people who will tell you they know the answers. These people are liars. The world we live in is the result of a lot of brave people tinkering, failing, and succeeding once in awhile.”
Don’t weaken your writing by hedging. Write with confidence and strength.
11. Disobey your high school English teacher.
“Many of us were taught that no sentence should begin with ‘but.’ If that’s what you learned, unlearn it — there’s no stronger word at the start. It announces total contrast with what has gone before, and the reader is thereby primed for the change.” -William Zinsser
Zinsser offers multiple examples of how real-world writing differs from what most of us were taught in school.
He says it’s fine to begin a sentence with a conjunction and end it with a preposition. He encourages writers to use the first person, even though most English teachers advise against it. He says informal words like contractions help readers connect with your writing.
Most of the writing rules we learned in school are useful and appropriate. But some of them reek of the mustiness of academia.
This is another reason why it’s important to read successful modern-day writers: so you can observe which old academic conventions no longer apply.
12. Become obsessed with the details.
“If you would like to write better than everybody else, you have to want to write better than everybody else. You must take an obsessive pride in the smallest details of your craft.” -William Zinsser
To me, the “smallest details of the craft” are things like grammar, spelling, and punctuation. It’s possible to become a successful writer (especially online) without mastering those elements of the craft.
But that doesn’t mean you should lower your quality bar.
Be the type of writer who meticulously edits drafts before submitting them. Get angry if you discover a typo in one of your published articles. Reclaim the beauty of writing and hold yourself to a high standard.
13. Writing is for everyone.
“Writing isn’t a skill that some people are born with and others aren’t, like a gift for art or music. Writing is talking to someone else on paper. If you can think clearly, you can put what you think and what you know into writing.” -William Zinsser
Every single person is a writer. If you meet someone who doesn’t believe that, ask them about the emails they composed today, the birthday letter they wrote to their mom last week, and the journal they kept as a teenager.
Writing is for everyone, and anyone can improve with practice.
The act of writing opens up a gateway of fresh insights within the mind of the writer. The droplets of ink that trickle from your pen serve as oil to grease your rusty brain. As you write, your thoughts loosen. Ideas crystallize.
As Stephen King says, “Writing is refined thinking.”
What will you write next?
If you want to become a better writer, you should read Zinsser’s book On Writing Well. It is a treasure trove of advice distilled from years of experience.
Until you read the full book, I hope you’ve enjoyed this digestible summary.
Happy writing!
