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On Writing Well Quotes

Browse 7 quotes about On Writing Well.

On Writing Well Quotes

“Writing is such a lonely work that I try to keep myself cheered up.”

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Book:On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction

Source: On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction

“Learn to enjoy this tidying process. I don't like to write; I like to have written. But I love to rewrite. I especially like to cut: to press the DELETE key and see an unnecessary word or phrase or sentence vanish into the electricity. I like to replace a humdrum word with one that has more precision or color. I like to strengthen the transition between one sentence and another. I like to rephrase a drab sentence to give it a more pleasing rhythm or a more graceful musical line. With every small refinement I feel that I'm coming nearer to where I would like to arrive, and when I finally get there I know it was the rewriting, not the writing, that wont the game.”

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Book:On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction

Source: On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction

“Don't annoy your readers by over-explaining--by telling them something they already know or can figure out. Try not to use words like "surprisingly," "predictably" and "of course," which put a value on a fact before the reader encounters the fact. Trust your material.”

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Book:On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction

Source: On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction

“...being "rather unique" is no more possible than being rather pregnant.”

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Book:On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction

Source: On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction

“There are some writers who sweep us along so strongly in their current of energy--Normal mailer, Tom Wolfe, Toni Morrison, William F. Buckley, Jr., Hunter Thompson, David Foster Wallace, Dave Eggers--that we assume that when they go to work the words just flow. Nobody thinks of the effort they made every morning to turn on the switch. You also have to turn on the switch. Nobody is going to do it for you.”

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Book:On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction

Source: On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction

“But apart from these lazinesses of logic, what makes the story so tired is the failure of the writer to reach for anything but the nearest cliche'. "Shouldered his way," "only to be met," "crashing into his face," "waging a lonely war," "corruption that is rife," "sending shock waves," "New York's finest," - these dreary phrases constitute writing at its most banal. We know just what to expect. No surprise awaits us in the form of an unusual word, an oblique look. We are in the hands of a hack, and we know it right away, We stop reading.”

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Book:On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction

Source: On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction

“I'm often dismayed by the sludge I see appearing on my screen if I approach writing as a task--the day's work--and not with some enjoyment.”

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Book:On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction

Source: On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction