William Zinsser
William Zinsser
William Knowlton Zinsserwas an American writer, editor, literary critic, and teacher. He began his career as a journalist for the New York Herald Tribune, where he worked as a feature writer, drama editor, film critic and editorial writer. He was a longtime contributor to leading magazines...
motivation faster spray
Motivation clears the head faster than a nasal spray.
writing thinking talking
Get people talking. Learn to ask questions that will elicit answers about what is most interesting or vivid in their lives. Nothing so animates writing as someone telling what he thinks or what he does - in his own words. His own words will always be better than your words, even if you are the most elegant stylist in the land.
writing firsts journalism
Journalism is writing that first appears in any periodic journal.
writing thinking doe
Writing is linear and sequential; Sentence B must follow Sentence A, and Sentence C must follow Sentence B, and eventually you get to Sentence Z. The hard part of writing isn't the writing; it's the thinking. You can solve most of your writing problems if you stop after every sentence and ask: What does the reader need to know next?
art spring writing
Never hesitate to imitate another writer. Imitation is part of the creative process for anyone learning an art or a craft. Bach and Picasso didn't spring full-blown as Bach or Picasso; they needed models. This is especially true of writing.
writing always-working
A writer is always working.
eye writing brain
Keep your paragraphs short. Writing is visual - it catches the eye before it has a chance to catch the brain.
reading writing today
Make a habit of reading what is being written today and what has been written before. Writing is learned by imitation.
writing competition trying
Many writers are paralyzed by the thought that they are competing with everybody else who is trying to write and presumably doing it better.... Forget the competition and go at your own pace. Your only contest is with yourself.
writing thinking trying
Writing organizes and clarifies our thoughts. Writing is how we think our way into a subject and make it our own. Writing enables us to find out what we know-and what we don't know-about whatever we're trying to learn.
writing jargon disease
Clutter is the disease of American writing,
writing tasks shapes
One of underestimated tasks in nonfiction writing is to impose narrative shape on an unwieldy mass of material.
writing thinking process
Writing and learning and thinking are the same process.
needs painful good-words
If a good word already exists, there is no need to invent something painful.