5 Nonfiction Writing Tips You Haven't Heard Before

By Cait Kearney

“On Writing Well” by William Zinsser is one of the most popular books on nonfiction writing and for good reason. No matter how many times you’ve learned the tenets of good writing in school, you will find yourself underlining advice in this book. And unlike other writing guides that leave you falling asleep, “On Writing Well” is written in first person and is full of personal anecdotes (and dry humor).

I’ve learned the fundamentals of writing more times than I count, and here are some quotes/advice that stuck with me from Zinsser’s book.

1. “A clear sentence is no accident.”

The main takeaway here is that writing is a process that takes time and effort. Don’t beat yourself up if it takes you a while to organize your thoughts and put them to paper. Zinsser points out that all the best writing is revised tens or hundreds of times. That's what it takes to produce good writing.

2. On writing a captivating lead: “Salvation often lies not in the writer’s style but in some odd fact he or she was able to discover.”

Leads are majorly important but can be a major headache to write. My favorite piece of advice on leads by Zinsser is to pay attention to the odd, interesting facts you uncover when researching for your piece because they can make the most captivating starts. I think these facts reveal themselves the more research you do. This includes talking to people related to a piece - do they have a personal story related to the topic that makes for an interesting lead? Quirky, unique details can instantly capture the reader’s attention.

3. “All writing is ultimately a question of solving a problem.”

There are a lot of ways to interpret this quote. In the book, Zinsser says this in the context of solving issues in your writing, such as how to organize your piece or establish your tone and style. He comments that the more you write, the better you’ll be at solving these problems.

4. “If the reader catches you in just one bogus statement that you are trying to pass off as true, everything you write there-after will be suspect.”

This one speaks for itself. You break your reader’s trust once, you’ll never gain it back.

5. “Get people doing things.”

Your writing should engender the reader to visualize people performing an activity. If you use too many abstract nouns, for example, your writing will come off as cold and distant. Consider the difference between these two sentences:
The common reaction is incredulous laughter. Vs. Most people just laugh with disbelief.

And that’s the list. There’s always something new to learn about writing!