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...
William Zinsser quotes about
writing men want
The best way to learn to write is to study the work of the men and women who are doing the kind of writing you want to do.
events looks calling
Memoir isn't the summary of a life; it's a window into a life, very much like a photograph in its selective composition. It may look like a casual and even random calling up of bygone events. It's not; it's a deliberate construction.
soil lagoons adjectives
Most writers sow adjectives almost unconsciously into the soil of their prose to make it more lush and pretty. The sentences become longer and longer as they fill up with stately elms and graceful boughs and frisky kittens and sleepy lagoons.
anything-goes world
Never let anything go out into the world that you don't understand.
being-yourself writing say-anything
Never say anything in writing that you wouldn't comfortably say in conversation. Be yourself when you write. If you're not a person who says 'indeed' or 'moreover,' or who calls someone an individual ('he's a fine individual'), please don't write it.
toms
Nobody becomes Tom Wolfe overnight, not even Tom Wolfe.
self adjectives detectives
Not every oak has to be gnarled, every detective hard-bitten. The adjective that exists solely as a decoration is a self-indulgence for the writer and an obstacle for the reader.
writing people style
Few people realize how badly they write. Nobody has shown them how much excess or murkiness has crept into their style.
writing blueprints
Writing is no respecter of blueprints.
writing thinking paper
Writing is thinking on paper. Anyone who thinks clearly should be able to write clearly-about any subject at all.
numbers paper purpose
Examine every word you put on paper. You'll find a surprising number that don't serve any purpose.
trying today routine
Today the outlandish becomes routine overnight. The humorist is trying to say that it's still outlandish.
writing secret sentences
The secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components,
writing jargon disease
Clutter is the disease of American writing,