The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction
William Zinsser

I have read On Writing Well before, but I had the opportunity to reread it more closely and gained much more from it recently. My writing group that I am a part of recently did a master class on the book and I was happy to read it once again.

An introduction to the 30 year anniversary edition, Zinsser opens by talking about his favorite author and a picture of him he has hanging in his office. It draws the interest of most writers and was the catalyst and momentum for his book. He says that no matter how much technology changes it will not make writing better because bad writers will not hone the craft of writing. That is why he wrote the book.

In Part 1, the author presents two wildly opposing views of writing. He shows through his interaction with another writer in front of students on a panel that he had on you of writing while the other writer had the opposite view. Once it was easy and the other settles hard. The point Zinsser makes in this first chapter on simplicity is that everyone has a different process for writing. Writing is about giving your self to those who read your work.

In chapter 2, he champions simplicity in all writing endeavors. If a reader does not understand what is read or loses interest, it is the fault of the writer. A writer should try to see how much he or she can cut from the writing. Make it is clear as possible. Chapter 3 is about the clutter we find in our writing. These are the long way of expressing something or the bigger words we use instead of smaller ones.

The author purchased the topic of style. He explains that the best style after all the cutting and editing is to write in the first person so you know what your style is. Then if you must, you can remove all the first person pronouns. But the only way you will find your style is to write what you think. Chapter 5 addresses who the audience of your writing is Zinsser says you are writing for yourself first and if the reader gets along with you, that’s a bonus.

Zinsser continues to give his writing wisdom in the chapter on words. He gives good and bad examples of how to use words. Words are the only tools you have is writer, so you must use my. In Chapter 7, he talks about the usage of words. I found this interesting because I don’t usually think about usage of words, but I see from his chapter how important this issue can be.

Part 2 focuses on methods of writing. He opens this part of the book with unity. By unity, the author means choosing the same method of communication in your writing and sticking to it, like verbal tense, mood, and pronoun usage. Chapter 9 gives guidelines on how to begin and end your writing. These are so important that most writers either get them wrong or don’t try at all.

Chapter 10 is a long chapter in which Zinsser shares his writing wisdom on a number of items from how to use verbs properly to trusting your material. It’s full of useful advice for any writer of any kind of writing.

Part 3 is about Forms. Chapter 11 is about Nonfiction as Literature. He opens with a story about a radio program he and a few female writers were a part of that surprised him. He catalogs the change from fiction to nonfiction that happened after World War II. He says that nonfiction is just as valuable and important and literary as fiction.

Zinsser next moves to talk about Writing about People, or the interview in chapter 12. He gives pointers on how to conduct an interview, his preferences, and examples of how to quote people you interview. Chapter 13 is on Writing about Places, or the travel article. His advice is to avoid using the common clichés you often find in travel article material. Instead, find the unique parts of the place and highlight those. He gives many examples of travel writing that connects with the reader.

Next is chapter 14, Writing about Yourself, or the memoir. He tells you as a writer to give yourself permission to write about yourself. Memoirs are not like autobiographies. They present a window into a life instead of writing about the whole life. Chapter 15 is about writing about science and technology. Most people are afraid to write about science or to write. I like what he says, “Writing is thinking on paper.” He challenges any “fuzzy” writer to write about the sequence of ideas and events in science. It makes you a better writer. He gives examples of scientific writing is clear and concise.

In chapter 16, Zinsser relates his observations about business writing in the business world. They suffer from some of the main maladies of the scientific world. They use arcane language, jargon, and are plagued by the biggest words and the longest sentences. He relates an example in which he was invited to a school district to help them. In the business world, after talking to the writers of manuals and everything the companies put out, he saw that everyone was afraid to make things simple because they thought it would impugn on the reputation. His main advice was the same as it has been for other fields of writing, to the human and clear in your writing.

Chapter 17 is on how to write for sports. His advice for people who write sports was great advice. People writing for sports should not try to “get inside the head” of the players or rattle off so many numbers and statistics that they bore us to sleep. We want to hear about the experience. As with all his advice in each of these pieces on forms, getting the human element of the player is the best kind of sports writing.

Chapter 18 is about writing for the arts as it applies to critics and columnists. He begins by talking about people who review art of all forms and columnists. He begins with how not to write. For the credit, there must be more than just sizing something. They must explain the history of it and help us understand why they are coming to the conclusion they do as a credit.

He wrote chapter 19 about humor. Humor is hard for some writers, but it finds its stride taking a serious point and making it so humorous and belaboring it that people understand what you’re doing. I personally only understood a few of the examples he gave but that’s exactly why some writers from writing humor hard.

Part four of the book is called Attitudes. It begins with chapter 20, The Sound of Your Voice. He talks about meeting what you have written out loud so you can hear the voice. The breezy voice is disrespectful to the reader and English grammar. You must work hard to achieve a voice that is familiar and comfortable to the reader but not patronizing. The chapter is mostly about writing tastefully. He deals with clichés.

In chapter 21, Zinsser writes about enjoyment, fear, and confidence. He talks about how you must enjoy yourself because writing is a lonely job. My favorite quote from this chapter is, “Your best credential is yourself.” He talks about how one of his offers became a reality and how he had to be able to do his craft well to get great interviews.

Chapter 22 talks about the tyranny of the final product. Zinsser bemoans the American desire to have a finished product you can sell to a publisher. He focuses on his class and what it taught his students – how to be better at the process instead of the product. This challenged me to not to seek the end but to enjoy the quest and the search for what makes the story mine. A writer goes through life changes to get the right writing project finished. It’s about the process not the products.

Chapter 23 is all about a writer’s decisions. Zinsser takes you on a journey through a travel piece he wrote. He annotates the writing he did and tells you the back story of the piece. He explains the little choices he made throughout the writing and how he came to its final composition. This is one of the most helpful chapters in the book. It’s where he doesn’t just tell you what to do but shows you how he did it.

In chapter 24, the author writes about writing family history and memoir. This is no doubt were many nonfiction writers end up at some point in their writing. As such, it is an incredibly important topic to write about. He gives a brief summary of a family memoir his father put together. Then he gives advice on how to write your memoir. Lastly, he gives you an action plan on how to find out what your memoir is about and then to write it.

Chapter 25 is his last chapter of advice called “Write As Well As You Can.” The author sets a high standard of doing the best you can with whatever kind of writing you do. He talks about how his “style” was the force over each piece of writing even after he was paid for it. He talks about the relationship between writer and editor. Zinsser’s book is the gold standard for learning the craft of writing and defining your style. It’s a great read and he writes as well as anyone could on the topic of writing. I highly recommend this book to every writer. You will not go wrong with getting an inside look into the mind of a writer.