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On Writing Well
by William Knowlton Zinsser
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Professional writers rewrite their sentences over and over and then rewrite what they have rewritten.
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"But the secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components.”
William Zinsser
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“Clear thinking becomes clear writing; one can’t exist without the other.”
William Zinsser
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Writers must constantly ask: "What am I trying to say?" Most of the time, they don’t know. Then they must look at what they have written and ask: "Have I said it?"
If something isn’t important enough for your writing, then remove it. In fact, most first drafts can be cut in half and still get the point across without losing anything important.
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Writing improves in direct ratio to the number of things we can keep out of it that shouldn’t be there.
Consider all the prepositions that are draped onto verbs that don’t need any help. Examine every word you put on paper. You’ll find a surprising number that doesn’t serve any purpose.
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“Writing is hard work. A clear sentence is no accident. Very few sentences come out right the first time, or even the third time. Remember this in moments of despair. If you find that writing is hard, it’s because it is hard.”
William Zinsser
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There are many methods for writing nonfiction, but the most effective method is to find what works for you. Whatever helps you is the “right” way.
However, there are key principles to good writing, and one of them is simplicity. Writers often use complicated or additional words to sound impressive, but good writing should be simple with clean language.
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Clutter doesn’t make your writing stylish; in fact, trying too hard makes your writing seem fake.
Just write naturally and clearly; don’t try too hard with fancy words or complicated sentences that are just confusing.
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“You learn to write by writing. It’s a truism, but what makes it a truism is that it’s true. The only way to learn to write is to force yourself to produce a certain number of words on a regular basis.”
William Zinsser
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You can’t predict what people will want to read. So don't worry about pleasing others.
Don’t try to visualize your audience; every reader is a different person. 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.
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"The race in writing is not to the swift but to the original."
Make a habit of reading what is being written today and what was written by earlier masters.
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Many layers of uncertainty along with thinking errors of scientists (blind spots) make the research or evidence untrustworthy about 42 percent of the time, according to a study.
When we read scientific studies, it helps to keep in mind the following:
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Sports is a big deal across the world, with die-hard fans who are extremely emotional towards their home teams. It is hard to pinpoint the motivations of a sports fan, and why a win or a loss of a ...
Sports psychologists have a list of why people love sports:
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