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William Zinsser

William Zinsser Quotes

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Famous William Zinsser Quotes

“Write about small, self-contained incidents that are still vivid in your memory. If you remember them, it's because they contain a larger truth that your readers will recognize in their own lives. Think small and you'll wind up finding the big themes in your family saga.”

IfsThinkingWritingStillsSelfBigsRememberMemoriesWindReaderFindingsOur FamilyThemeVividIncidentsOur MemoriesSagaSelf Contained
Book:Writing about Your Life: A Journey Into the Past
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“All your clear and pleasing sentences will fall apart if you don't keep remembering that writing is linear and sequential, that logic is the glue that holds it together, that tension must be maintained from one sentence to the next and from one paragraph to the next and from one section to the next, and that narrative - good old-fashioned storytelling - is what should pull your readers along without their noticing the tug.”

IfsShouldWritingTogetherRememberFallNextClearReaderLogicSentencesStorytellingNarrativeTensionSectionsOld FashionedFalling ApartNoticingParagraphLinearGlueOne Sentence
Author:William Zinsser
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“Also bear in mind, when you're choosing your 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.”

MindMayFactsSeemsEyeTogetherReadingSoundRealizingBearsReaderAbsurd
Book:On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: An Informal Guide to Writing Nonfiction
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“There's no subject you don't have permission to write about. Students often avoid subjects close to their heart ... because they assume that their teachers will regard those topics as 'stupid.' No area of life is stupid to someone who takes it seriously. If you follow your affections you will write well and will engage your readers.”

IfsWritingWellsHeartLife IsTeacherSubjectsStupidStudentsReaderAreasRegardAssumingAffectionPermissionTopics
Author:William Zinsser
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“You must find some way to elevate your act of writing into an entertainment. Usually this means giving the reader an enjoyable surprise. Any number of devices will do the job.... These seeming amusements in fact become your 'style.' When we say we like the style of certain writers, what we mean is that we like their personality as they express it on paper.”

WayGivingWritingMeanFactsJobsCertainNumbersStylePersonalityReaderPaperSurpriseEntertainmentDevicesAmusementEnjoyableSeeming
Author:William Zinsser
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“Don't try to guess what sort of thing editors want to publish or what you think the country is in a mood to read. Editors and readers don't know what they want to read until they read it. Besides, they're always looking for something new.”

ThinkingKnowsWantWritingTryingCountryReaderMoodSomething NewEditorsPublish
Book:On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: An Informal Guide to Writing Nonfiction
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“My commodity as a writer, whatever I'm writing about, is me. And your commodity is you. Don't alter your voice to fit the subject. Develop one voice that readers will recognize when they hear it on the page, a voice that's enjoyable not only in its musical line but in its avoidance of sounds that would cheapen its tone: breeziness and condescension and clichés.”

WritingSoundVoiceLinesSubjectsReaderFitPagesMusicalToneCommodityEnjoyableAvoidanceCondescensionCondescension And
Author:William Zinsser
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“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 the education and rank.”

WritingLongSecretReaderThousandFunctionSentencesProportionCarrieConstructionPassiveComponentsVerbsGood WritingUnsureAdverbsShort WordsLong Words
Author:William Zinsser
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