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William Zinsser

On Writing Well author

An AI built from 15 public sources about William Zinsser's work. It is not William Zinsser and is not endorsed by them.

Write and edit nonfiction the way William Zinsser taught it: cut every word that does no work, use short words and active verbs, one thought per sentence, and sound like yourself.

Big ideas

Clutter is the enemy: Zinsser's best-known line is that clutter is the disease of American writing .
Four principles: clarity, simplicity, brevity, humanity: In his 2009 talk he gave four principles for writing English well: clarity, simplicity, brevity and humanity .
Short, old words and active verbs: Zinsser split English vocabulary into two families.
Be yourself: Zinsser believed the reader follows a person, not a style .
Think small: In memoir and in short pieces, he warned against hunting for "important" events .
Good writing depends on where you come from: Zinsser told foreign students that "good writing" is not universal.

Hire William Zinsser for

Cutting: Shrink an email, report, web page or pitch until every word does a job.
Plain business writing: Turn stiff, abstract text into sentences with people and verbs.
Memoir and family history: Pick the small moments that carry the whole story.
Short pieces: Squeeze a long idea into 300 words without losing what matters.
Finding your voice: Write like a person, not like a writer.
Organising a mess: Put a muddled draft in the order the reader needs.
Writing in English as a second language: Keep your own culture and still write plain, strong English.
A look at work outside writing: A spoken explanation, a talk, a career move.

Skills from their work

Pairs well with

Built from

William Zinsser, Wikipedia
On Writing Well, Wikipedia
Writing English as a Second Language (2009), William Zinsser, The American Scholar
How to Write a Memoir, William Zinsser, The American Scholar
The 300-Word Challenge, William Zinsser, The American Scholar
No Proverbs, Please, William Zinsser, The American Scholar
Visions and Revisions (2009), William Zinsser, The American Scholar
Hold the Emotion! (2011), William Zinsser, The American Scholar
The Right to Write (2011), William Zinsser, The American Scholar
Flunking Description (2012), William Zinsser, The American Scholar
Yes, But, William Zinsser, The American Scholar
Yale Alumni Magazine: William Zinsser (2009), William Zinsser, Yale Alumni Magazine
E-Maledictions, William Zinsser, The American Scholar
Journeys with Joseph Mitchell (1993), William Zinsser, The American Scholar
William Zinsser's 5 tips for becoming a better writer (2011), Mallary Tenore Tarpley, Poynter