On Writing Well by William Zinsser

[Natalie Russell]

Hi, Everyone!

I had to have knee surgery in July, which really derailed many summer plans I had, including posting to this forum (off pain medication, that is). So I'm quite delayed in posting my response, but I'm enjoying reading about all the interesting books you chose! I chose On Writing Well by Zinsser because it had a long-standing reputation as an important book in the field of nonfiction writing, and I was afraid of reading something too "trendy" that wouldn't have information I could easily use in my classrooms. Zinsser's book was straightforward with four main sections (Principles, Methods, Forms and Attitudes), covering the basics of writing as well as applications to different publications, disciplines, and purposes. One of his main pieces of advice is to keep things "simple," and he also accomplishes this with his distinct, humorous tone and clear language that were easy to follow and enjoy. One critique I have of the book is that to adequately cover each of the four sections, the book really should have been much longer. So part of the benefit of the book--that it covers so much about writing in an uncomplicated way--is also part of what makes it a bit superficial and not as helpful for teachers of writing as it is for a writer him/herself.

 

However, that being said, I took many valuable pieces of advice from him. Something that I often tell my students is that they have to find their own writing process, the one that works best for them, not their mother or best friend. Even though I sometimes think the students must think this advice is weak or indecisive, I was happy to see Zinsser start his book with similar advice: "..any method that helps you to say what you want to say is the right method for you" (p. 5). He also talks about the importance of conveying "humanity, warmth and aliveness" through nonfiction writing, which is a difficult feat for most writers, especially inexperienced ones! I also liked when he emphasized that "Writing is hard work. A clear sentence is no accident...If you find that writing is hard, it's because it is hard" (p. 9). Last semester I found myself with less passion and excitement about writing and more feelings about how hard it really is, and I know this came through to my students. This year, I am going to work on balancing the reality of the hard work involved with writing with how inspiring and powerful and fantastic good writing can be!

 

One of his chapters was titled "Bits and Pieces," basically a catch-all for any advice that didn't fit into another section. Some of the many subsections he included in this chapter were Verbs, Adverbs, Adjectives, Punctuation, Mood Changers, Creeping Nounism, Overstatement, Credibility, Writing is Not a Contest, The Subconscious Mind, The Quickest Fix, Paragraphs, Rewriting, and Go With Your Interests.

 

Q1) My first discussion question goes along with this chapter: If you could provide advice about 2 of those subjects that you feel most strongly about, which would you choose and what would you tell writers? Or if you have another category you would have added to his list, what would it have been?

 

One of his final chapters is titled "A Writer's Decisions" although much of the book is about the small and large decisions writers make before, during and after they finish writing. He claims that "learning how to organize a long article is just as important as learning how to write a clear and pleasing sentence" (p. 261), and that for both, writers make many intentional and important decisions.

 

Q2) How do you communicate this act of decision-making to your students about their writing? Do you discuss the decisions on the sentence level as well as for longer texts? And do you think it's valuable to frame what a writer does in terms of making decisions?

 

Zinsser goes into depth on the decisions he made, line by line, in an article he wrote, which is a useful way to present the material to his readers and students alike, as long as it's not too lengthy or extensive. I think it would be great to do a kind of "think-aloud" with students and a piece of writing that we've done or that a professional has done and work through some of the possible or actual decisions made that led to the finished product and that relate to whatever lesson the class is working on.

 

Overall, I think this book is one I can reference for many years to come when I want a beginning to a lesson for my students or a reminder of some of the fundamentals of writing that experienced and novice writers can all improve and benefit from. 

 

I look forward to seeing you all in September if not before!

My best,

Natalie

[carol bergin]

Hey Natalie - hope the knee is all healed and functional!
Being a special ed teacher, I appreciated the terms "simple" and "uncomplicated" Zinsser used in his book. The catch-all chapter featured punctuation as one of the subtitles. I know in creative writing, many teachers disregard this, and spelling - concentrating on just creativity. I think that the wrong punctuation in writing can, and does completely change the meaning in many cases. Although I teacher "grammar" as a somewhat separate lesson (daily language sentences), I do require correct punctuation during revision. Just like practicing anything, the students do remember the punctuation rules, and it is easier for them to include them in the often-first revision.

Along with punctuation, I feel that developing work at the "sentence level" is a prelude to paragraph and essay writing. Students classified as "learning disabled" usually have to take "baby steps" for any academic venture. Once sentences are discussed (and disected), they may be able to combine them into longer pieces of writing. I also thought your comment about how the book should have been "longer" was interesting. This is a book I would like to add to my "reading list".