4 stars (Excellent) - This is an excellent and important book of its genre, but I will never forget Frank McCourt's repeated advice to us after studying creative writing with him in High School -- write what you know.
If you just stick to that little kernel, the worst grammer, the worst punctuation, the worst spelling -- none of it will matter.
When you know your subject, the writing is effortless... and amazing.
5 stars (RE: Synaptic Mogul's Puzzling Review) - I too read Bill Zinsser--years ago. It puzzles me that Synaptic mogul could review Shadow Divers--a poorly written book--with the benefit of having just read On Writing Well--an excellent book--and discover no writing errors whatsoever. (See my review of Shadow Divers.) I wonder what Bill Zinsser himself would say about Shadow Divers? On Writing Well was the best book of it's time. Now there are other books that are as good as Zinsser's, or better,"Words Fail Me," for instance.
5 stars (How To Improve Your Book Reviews on Amazon) - Zinsser asserts that writing well can be learned. This is good news. I thought I wrote well until I compared my reviews to those of some of the consistent top reviewers on Amazon. How do they do that?
According to Zinsser (and affirmed by Tom Clancy on a TV interview), good writers follow rules, editing each sentence and paragraph multiple times. They write against deadlines whether or not they're feeling inspired. When done properly, the finished product can look deceptively simple to write. Following is my liberally abridged summary of Zinsser's rules:
1. Do - prune out every word that does not perform a necessary function. Strip each sentence to its cleanest components. A clear sentence is no accident.
2. Do - use the thesaurus liberally. Learn the small gradations between word that seem to be synonyms.
3. Do - try to improve the rhythm by reversing the order of a sentence, substituting a word that has freshness or oddity and by varying the lengths of sentences.
4. Do - make your first sentence the best one - your lead must capture the reader.
5. Do - make each sentence lead into the next. Readers think linearly.
6. Do - Take special care with the last sentence in your paragraph - its the springboard to the next paragraph.
7. Do - make your paragraphs short. Readers think in segments.
8. Do - pay special attention to the last sentence. The perfect ending should take your reader slightly by surprise and yet seem exactly right.
9. Do - Read it aloud to see how it sounds and re-edit - then do it again. Clear writing is the result of lots of tinkering.
On the other hand:
1. Don't - use passive verbs unless there is no comfortable way to use an active verb.
2. Don't - use adverbs that convey the same meaning as your strong active verb - prune it out.
3. Don't - use adjectives when the concept is already in your carefully chosen noun - prune it out.
4. Don't - use small words that qualify how you feel: "a bit," "a little," "sort of," and dozens more. Good writing is lean and confident.
5. Don't - use concept nouns:
Instead of - "The common reaction is incredulous laughter."
Write - "Most people just laugh with disbelief."
6. Don't - use the exclamation point unless you must, do use the period more frequently, don't forget the versatile dash and cut down on the use of semi-colons and colons. If you don't know how to punctuate, get a grammar book.
The next book I read was the New York Times bestseller, "Shadow Divers," by Robert Kurson. I read slowly with Zinsser's rules in mind, analyzing individual words, sentences and paragraphs. I looked for clutter, excess wordage, grandiose exaggerations, qualifiers, bad punctuation - and other common errors Zinsser considered awful. I couldn't find any. What I consistently found were techniques listed in the "do" list and just good creative writing. No wonder this author was successful. Within two chapters I was hooked, dropped my analysis and finished the book very late that night.
Clancy said, "I hate writing - it's too much work. I put off starting as long as possible, and when I do start, it takes a year for me to write a book." Maybe not a recommended method for plugging a book, but Clancy's statement reveals the sweat equity he puts into each phrase.
Zinsser's book says we can learn to write better using proven techniques, and offers plenty of advice in this story-book type narrative. I plan on keeping it close by, next to my new thesaurus. |
