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...
editors want strive
All writers should strive to deliver something fresh-something editors or readers won't know they want until they see it.
be-kind kind
Don't be kind of bold. Be bold.
soon-enough enough periods
There's not much to be said about the period except that most writers don't reach it soon enough.
editors curious
Editors are licensed to be curious.
interesting humanity ordinary
Probably every subject is interesting if an avenue into it can be found that has humanity and that an ordinary person can follow.
important firsts articles
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.
anything-goes world
Never let anything go out into the world that you don't understand.
toms
Nobody becomes Tom Wolfe overnight, not even Tom Wolfe.
hard-work writing simple
A simple [writing] style is the result of very hard work.
hard-work writing hard
Writing is hard work.
being-yourself writing trying
Be yourself and your readers will follow you anywhere. Try to commit an act of writing and they will jump overboard to get away.
dust want ifs
If you lose the dullards back in the dust, that's where they belong. You don't want them anyway.
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.