On Writing Well
By William Zinsser
- Everybody writes, but few people care to write well
- SeCReT
- Selective
- Confident
- Refined
- Tantalizing
- Selective
- Every successful piece of nonfiction should leave the reader with ONE provocative thought that he/she didn't have before
- Confident
- Writing for just one reader, yourself
- First draft
- Removing is the quickest cure and often the best
- Rewriting is the essence of writing - professional writers rewrite their sentences over and over and then rewrite what they have rewritten
- Rewriting makes content Tighter, Stronger and More Precise
- Don't hedge your prose with little timidities. Good writing is lean and confident
- Cross out all Qualifiers i.e. sort of, a little, somewhat, etc
- Refined
- Remove redundant verbs
- Replace pretentious words
- Remove wordy sentences
- Tantalizing
- Surprising fact
- Funny statement
- Story
- What opening is most likely to hook my reader?