![]() ![]() It is the antidote to “suffocating language”. Zinsser preaches “clarity, simplicity, brevity, and humanity”. And non-experts might listen to academics. Can you imagine a world where “plain talk” is the norm? Shareholders might understand management. Writing, after all, is a “personal transaction”. “Humanity and warmth”, Zinsser says, are two important qualities. It’s simply “talking to someone else on paper”. On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction. … Look for clutter and prune it ruthlessly.” William Zinsser. ![]() We are a society strangling in unnecessary words, circular constructions, pompous frills and meaningless jargon. “Clutter is the disease of American writing. They seek clarity and economy because they value their readers’ time. Good writers, by contrast, know that simplicity is “hard work and hard thinking”. Consumed by rank and status, they avoid simple sentences as if it implies something about their ideas and cognition. Bad writers hope to impress with verbosity. ![]() Skip aheadĬlutter, Zinsser says, “is the disease of American writing”. ![]() In my pursuit of the basics, I share here the big lessons that I took from journalist William Zinsser and his book, On Writing Well - A Guide to Nonfiction. While few of us can write like Hemingway or Shakespeare, each of us can improve as writers. From emails to essays, we spend much of our lives writing. ![]()
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