Friday, July 20, 2012

Great Book for Writers

Writing is something we learn as small children and continue to craft for a lifetime. In today's world, where ordinary people communicate to the world through social media, good writing is more important than ever.

I recently read On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction by William Zinsser. This post is really one I am writing to myself, one where I am simply listing some of the points that got my attention. While many are no "news flash," they provide clarity in areas where writers often err.

Sentence Structure:
  • Wordiness—Strip sentences to remove all unneeded words.
  • Length—Keep sentences short.
  • Voice—Use active voice.
  • "That" versus "which"—Use "that" unless it makes the meaning ambiguous. If the sentence needs a comma to achieve its meaning, use "which."
  • Sexism—Instead of "him," use "we" or "our." Use plurals, so that later in the sentence, the pronoun will be "them" instead of "him."

Paragraph Structure:
  • Sequence—The first sentence is the most important one. It must lead you to the next sentence, the second sentence to the third, and so forth.
  • Mood—Alert the reader to mood changes as soon as possible. The following words at the beginning of the thought accomplish this purpose: but, yet, however, nevertheless, still, instead, thus, therefore, meanwhile, now, later, today. The last four in the list are helpful because they establish a time frame for the reader.
  • Troublesome though—When a passage is giving trouble, leaving it out altogether is often the best idea.

Punctuations:
  • Adverbs—Most adverbs are unnecessary.
  • Adjectives—Most adjectives are also unnecessary.
  • Qualifiers—Prune the "little qualifiers" such as "a bit," "a little," "pretty much," "kind of," "sort of," "rather," "quite," "very," "too," "in a sense," etc.
  • Exclamation—Use exclamations only to achieve a certain effect. Do not use them to illustrate something cute or funny or to make a joke. Humor is achieved by understatement.
  • Semicolon—Use a semicolon to provide the "on the one hand"; "on the other hand" balance to sentences.
  • Dash—Use a dash amplify or justify the first part of the sentence. Use a pair of dashes —one before and one after a group of words—to enclose a thought which would otherwise require parentheses.
  • Colon—Use a colon to introduce a list.

I was fortunate to have some great English teachers along the way. We all need review to keep bad habits from creeping into our writing. On Writing Well provides a good start.

Has anyone else read this book? What other books do you recommend for improving the craft of writing?

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Oldie but goody is Strunk and White's Elements of Style. Very compact and to the point. While commenting I found an online edition http://www.bartleby.com/141/

Your blog has changed the way I think about my digital self! Thanks.

Dr. Frank Buck said...

Merri,

Had never heard of that one, but I will check it out, especially since it's free online.

Glad the blog is making a difference for you. Making tech work for us rather than us working for it is an ongoing challenge for all of us.

Laura Page said...

Merri referred me to your site. I have both the Zinsser and the Strunk & White (I used it in high school). One caveat to using plural pronouns is to ensure that the verbs agree; most of our students have trouble with agreement, and so do many popular-media writers!

Dr. Frank Buck said...

Laura,

Good point. Glad you were introduced to the blog and hope you will continue to stop by.