On Writing Well
Back in journo school I bought this book called "On Writing Well” by William Zinsser, because it was highly recommended by someone I very much respected.
Unfortunately, I didn’t actually open the book until about a year ago, when I realized that while I could easily put pen to paper – so to speak – there was something missing. My writing always felt a little dry, I used too many big words, and it just wasn’t cohesive. I am guessing that is because of my academic career in the liberal arts. In my defense political science profs often gave me props for my essay writing style, so I can’t say I regret it. But when it came to transferring those skills to journo writing, I realized, there were a few things I needed to learn.
In journalism you have to tell an enticing story, you have to pull the reader sentence by sentence up hill, then through the valley, jumping over a few streams, and again and again. The writing guide really helped me with that – it gave me the confidence to write freely and edit, edit, and edit out all the verbose junk.
Below, I want to share the twelve most important tips on writing well in the most concise way I know how. Concise compared to the book, by the way.
1. Edit, edit, and edit some more. There is a reason why I put this as the first rule. In university and college, it was very easy for me to write a ten-page essay in nine hours the day before it was due. Yep I’ve done that more than once and was honestly confused why others weren’t doing the same. Why did they need weeks of prep-time?
I hated looking over my paper the second time. I felt that my words were my own and everything I wrote was just perfect. Because I knew where each idea and concept came from I thought my writing was very clear. What I didn’t consider was that my writing may not be as clear to other people.
I eventually came to the conclusion the ability to write was a skill I didn’t know I had. Nevertheless, the skill needed a lot honing. Editting your work is the second most essential part of writing. It allows us to structure a logical argument and flow, clarify any miscommunication, improve grammar and punctuation, and add a little pizazz.
Just imagine an eight-grader to whom you have to explain a complex idea in the most simple and fun way possible. Create a framework, a structure within which you’ll write, and then use it to bind yourself to sticking to your subject. Your subject in this case is your thesis, or your story pitch/lede. And don’t ever tell readers what you are about “to do” in your writing. In other words, don’t write about introducing a thesis, just introduce it. Jump in.
2. Your framework is the skeleton on which you build. In school they call it the essay sandwich, it goes something like this:
“Your intro should have the thesis in it with three body paragraph introductions. The body should consist of the three paragraphs introduced, but naturally they should be expanded. The conclusion is supposed to reiterate the thesis and the three body paragraphs.”
Once you get confident in your writing abilities you can digress from this form more often than not.
The key take-away from this is first find your lede, once you have it, confidently put it down. Now each sentence needs to stem from the last one to create the story. Your reader must be interested enough in the previous sentence to jump to the next.
Cajole the reader with freshness, novelty, paradox, humour, an interesting idea/fact, or a surprise. Stay away from clichés! The only time you should use one is when you’ve found a very clever twist on an old, boring cliché. As for the ending, just end it.
3. Use words with finesse and have confidence. First learn the basics of the language you are writing in. Proper grammar, structure, and punctuation are essential to good writing.
Once you have those down pat, the fun begins.
When it comes to the chapter on words, I vehemently disagree with the author of “On Writing Well.” Zinsser seems to have an ever-consuming hate for journalese lingo.
Being a journalist myself, I quite enjoy it. My argument is that journalese is a style in itself (point six discusses style in depth).
Journalists have found a way to use language to get the point across faster. If you read “he shouldered his way in, when she opened the door,” you get an instant clear image of what happened, rather than going on and on about how a man pushed his way in with the use of his shoulder.
Playing with adjectives, adverbs, and in general coming up with new words isn’t a crime.
Our language is always changing and the dictionary continues to get annual additions of words such as “selfie” and “bootylicious.” Someone made those up and they exist because they serve a purpose. They help people express themselves in a more concise and sometimes colourful manner. They also mark the passage of time and help us stay in the now.
4. Simplicity is key, death of academia. Just kidding. Academic writing does have its place, but it can be stuffy. Unnecessary adjectives and adverbs, circular constructions, pompous and meaningless jargon are all examples of stuffy writing.
The biggest culprits, of course are not the academics (in fact they are probably some of the more ethical writers), but PR and communications writers. If you’ve ever worked as a journalist you know what I mean. They fill space with junk.
Don’t get fooled into thinking that long complicated words and run-on sentence will make your writing seem “smarter.”
A recent study claims the opposite. Simple and easy to understand language not only shows that the author knows what they are talking about, but it also helps the reader consume the information faster and easier. The author is then perceived as smarter, says the study.
5. Write from the heart. This point wasn’t clear to me for a long time. Partially because I didn’t have the right skills and partially because I was very insecure about the skills I did have. Ultimately writers are people who have something to say and your writing becomes such an intrinsic part of you that to sell your writing means to sell a piece of yourself. Moods, thoughts, good days, bad days, show through your writing, especially when it is creative.
So you have to put a lot of thought into figuring out what it is you do want to say, why, and who needs to hear it. Then, hone your skills and practice, practice, practice. Stay positive and ignore nay-sayers. You’ll get there, they probably won’t.
6. Develop your Style, with a capital “S.” Writing from the heart means that you have to develop a personal style. Essentially you want to present yourself to the reader in the most authentic way possible.
As always, it is very important to stay consistent and learn the basics. Structuring your paragraphs, sentences and words in a cohesive and clear manner is also paramount.
Style will come once you have those skills and some confidence in your writing abilities. Give it some time and enjoy the process.
To speed things up try to copy some of your favourite authors and journalists. This will give you a chance to develop aspects of your writing you man not have known about. By thinking about the stylistic elements of what you’re reading you will in turn pick up original ways to form syntax of your own. Developing your style is really a self-actualization process.
7. Usage and research. The one thing I love about the English language is that where it lacks in grammar rules it makes up in the myriad of word choices. The colour and stylistic attributes we can add to our prose are endless. However, while we have all these choices it’s important to use them wisely.
The biggest faux pas is to sound uneducated while using complex words. If you’re not clear on how to use a certain word or not sure in which context it should be presented, look it up. Look up the word, the synonym, the antonym, and the examples that follow. Don’t stop at just one or two. If you’re not sure about a grammatical rule, look it up. Don’t be lazy, quality requires time. There is no way around it.
8. Use active verbs. It is a difference between life and death for a writer. Active verbs give writing vigour and clarity. Active verbs make sentences short and precise. With active verbs there is no confusion about who did what. The passive construction is ambiguous, which brings unnecessary questions. Certainly there is a place for it – perhaps in a mystery novel – but not in day-to-day writing, especially in journalism.
Verbs are great, they push your sentences forward. Most adverbs and adjectives are unnecessary. Do your best not to be repetitive. Don’t write “he clenched his teeth tightly.” There is no other way to clench teeth. Don’t use little descriptive words that bring about vagueness and connote how you feel. In other words, don’t be “a little annoyed” be “annoyed.” Good writing is lean and confident, not timid.
9. Consider your audience. Editors and readers don’t know what they want to read until they read it. You are the creator of your story and your stories. So don’t try to guess what they want to read. Focus on what you find interesting, cool, or entertaining. For the most part journalists and writers choose the profession, because they truly love it and not in the hopes of fame and glory that may come with it. So trust your instincts and if something doesn’t work at first keep tweaking it, until it does. What your audience wants to read is something that is fresh, new, and exciting. Enter the paradox, of being carefree in the craft of writing, while actively engaging the reader.
10. Writing form. I mentioned earlier how my professors liked the verbose way I expressed myself in essays about complex political issues of our country and human rights violations in Latin America and hey, why shouldn’t they!? Academia is filled with a lifetime of learning new concepts and creating new words to easily explain the meaning of a set of words. Academic writing is necessary and it is fluid and just like other writing forms it serves a specific purpose.
Some writing forms include, memoirs, biographies, business writing, tech writing, personal stories, nonfiction literature, humour, opinion and critical pieces. Each requires a certain touch with many nuances for each. The best advice I can give is to read different types of writing and compare.
I absolutely love non-fiction. The truth is more interesting than fiction to me.
Getting to the raw root of the subject is what makes writing a craft. The writing form wraps around that subject. Zinsser says non-fiction is the future. I am not sure about that, fiction isn’t going anywhere in my opinion. But what I do agree with, is that you should start with writing non-fiction to become a good writer.
11. Attitude. Logic is the glue that holds your creative thoughts together. So remember to respect both. As journalists – who inevitably have to become writers – we have the unique ability to use both sides of our brain to an equal extent. We have to think outside the box, be creative, and come up with punchy one-liners. Yet, we must also be very analytical, cold, calculated. We must know when to reel it in and when to go all out.
Keep asking questions, approach the subject from different angles then decide what to chop and what to keep.
Ultimately the piece of writing is your baby and you are creating it the way you see fit so your attitude largely decides the flow of your piece. In three words, learn to ebb and flow.
12. You learn to write by writing. And unity is the anchor of good writing. All the pieces need to fit each other perfectly, like in a puzzle that has been solved. If you are writing in the past tense and need to switch, do it smoothly. Read and re-read your sentences.
Unity of pronoun is important. Are you going to write in the first person, as a participant, in third person, or as an observer? Make your decision and stick to it.
Unity of mood is another factor to consider. Decide from the get-go what kind of article you want to write and how you will approach your audience. Don’t let your material control you, bend it to your will instead.
Don’t get overwhelmed. Think small. Bite off a corner of your subject and explore that bit. Yours won’t be the last word, so be content with what you can produce and stop.
By:
✘
𝓛𝓸𝓿𝓮,
𝓐𝓙☙
