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Writing improves in direct ratio to the things we can keep out of it that shouldn't be there.

William Zinsser

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William Zinsser
Age: 92 †
Born: 1922
Born: October 7
Died: 2015
Died: May 12
Journalist
Literary Critic
Writer
New York City
New York
William Knowlton Zinsser
Things
Ratio
Improves
Ratios
Shouldn
Direct
Keep
Writing

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Nobody becomes Tom Wolfe overnight, not even Tom Wolfe.
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Dare to tell the smallest of stories if you want to generate large emotions.
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Decide what you want to do. Then decide to do it. Then do it.
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Writing is thinking on paper. Anyone who thinks clearly should be able to write clearly-about any subject at all.
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Clutter is the official language used by corporations to hide their mistakes.
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As a writer I try to operate within a framework of Christian principles, and the words that are important to me are religious words: witness, pilgrimage, intention.
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Good writing has an aliveness that keeps the reader reading from one paragraph to the next, and it's not a question of gimmicks to personalize the author.
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Writing and learning and thinking are the same process.
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You'll never make your mark as a writer unless you develop a respect for words and a curiosity about their shades of meaning that is almost obsessive. The English language is rich in strong and supple words. Take the time to root around and find the ones you want
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Probably every subject is interesting if an avenue into it can be found that has humanity and that an ordinary person can follow.
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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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Be grateful for every word you can cut.
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Believe in your own identity and your own opinions. Proceed with confidence, generating it, if necessary, by pure willpower. Writing is an act of ego and you might as well admit it. Use its energy to keep yourself going.
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Writing is thinking on paper.
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Rewriting is the essence of writing well - where the game is won or lost.
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Writing is learned by imitation. If anyone asked me how I learned to write, I'd say I learned by reading the men and women who were doing the kind of writing I wanted to do and trying to figure out how they did it.
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I almost always urge people to write in the first person. ... Writing is an act of ego and you might as well admit it.
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Clutter is the disease of American writing. We are a society strangling in unnecessary words, circular constructions, pompous frills, and meaningless jargon.
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Keep your paragraphs short. Writing is visual - it catches the eye before it has a chance to catch the brain.
William Zinsser
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Clear thinking becomes clear writing one can't exist without the other.
William Zinsser