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No one has something original or important to say will willing we run the risk of being misunderstood people who write obscurely are either unskilled in writing or up to mischief

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
Important
Misunderstood
Writing
Originals
Something
Original
People
Risk
Willing
Either
Obscurely
Write
Unskilled
Running
Mischief

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People read with their ears, whether they know it or not.
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To defend what you've written is a sign that you are alive.
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Memoir is the art of inventing the truth.
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You can solve most of your writing problems if you stop after every sentence and ask: what does the reader need to know next?
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The only way to learn to write is to force yourself to produce a certain number of words on a regular basis.
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Scholarship hath no fury like that of a language purist faced with sludge.
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All writers should strive to deliver something fresh-something editors or readers won't know they want until they see it.
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Many of us were taught that no sentence should begin with but. If that's what you learned, unlearn it - there's no stronger word at the start. It announces a total contrast with what has gone before, and the reader is thereby primed for the change.
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Every successful piece of nonfiction should leave the reader with one provocative thought that he or she didn't have before. Not two thoughts, or five - just one. So decide what single point you want to leave in the reader's mind.
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Be grateful for every word you can cut.
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A writer is obviously at his most natural and relaxed when he writes in the first person. Writing is a personal transaction between two people, conducted on paper, and the transaction will go well to the extent that it retains its humanity.
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Finding a voice that your readers will enjoy is largely a matter of taste. Saying that isn't much help-taste is a quality so intangible that it can't even be defined. But we know it when we meet it.
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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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If writing seems hard, it's because it is hard. It's one of the hardest things people do.
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Never say anything in writing that you wouldn't comfortably say in conversation. Be yourself when you write. If you're not a person who says 'indeed' or 'moreover,' or who calls someone an individual ('he's a fine individual'), please don't write it.
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Even a poor translator couldn't kill a style that moves with such narrative clarity.
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Rewriting is the essence of writing well - where the game is won or lost.
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The writers job is like solving a puzzle, and finally arriving at a solution is a tremendous satisfaction.
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One of underestimated tasks in nonfiction writing is to impose narrative shape on an unwieldy mass of material.
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If a good word already exists, there is no need to invent something painful.
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