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To write a good memoir you must become the editor of your own life, imposing on an untidy sprawl of half-remembered events a narrative shape and an organizing idea. Memoir is the art of inventing the truth.

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
Must
Events
Inventing
Writing
Half
Editor
Good
Idea
Memoir
Life
Write
Editors
Art
Narrative
Sprawl
Become
Remembered
Untidy
Truth
Shape
Organizing
Ideas
Shapes
Imposing

More quotes by William Zinsser

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Examine every word you put on paper. You'll find a surprising number that don't serve any purpose.
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Keep your paragraphs short. Writing is visual - it catches the eye before it has a chance to catch the brain.
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Never hesitate to imitate another writer. Imitation is part of the creative process for anyone learning an art or a craft. Bach and Picasso didn't spring full-blown as Bach or Picasso they needed models. This is especially true of writing.
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A simple [writing] style is the result of very hard work.
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Thought is action in rehearsal.
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Writing is no respecter of blueprints.
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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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There's not much to be said about the period except that most writers don't reach it soon enough.
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Writing is not a special language that belongs to a few sensitive souls who have a 'gift for words'. Writing is the logical arrangement of thought. Anyone who thinks clearly should be able to write clearly---about any subject at all.
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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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I think a sentence is a fine thing to put a preposition at the end of.
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The sound of the bat is the music of spring training.
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Be grateful for every word you can cut.
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Write about small, self-contained incidents that are still vivid in your memory. If you remember them, it's because they contain a larger truth that your readers will recognize in their own lives. Think small and you'll wind up finding the big themes in your family saga.
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Nobody becomes Tom Wolfe overnight, not even Tom Wolfe.
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Motivation clears the head faster than a nasal spray.
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People read with their ears, whether they know it or not.
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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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Writing is thinking on paper.
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Decide what you want to do. Then decide to do it. Then do it.
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