On Writing WellPart 2

Notes

• Add to your notes from first power point from On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction by William Zinsser.

Ch. 11 Nonfiction as

Literature

• Basis of Writing, most important• Follow the path that makes you feel comfortable

• Do what you know

• No wrong way to write nonfiction, it is your life, do not put extra• Motivation is the heart of writing• Many people list fiction authors as favorites, however, nonfiction is more

important.• Fiction writing is not dead but it seems that way• It is how we learn about everyday and things we do not personally experience.

Ch. 12Writing About People: The

Interview

How to do it

• Learn to ask questions.•Make sure the questions elicit answers about

what is most interesting or vivid in their lives.• Keep a person’s own words, because that will

always be better than your words.• Become a listener, forever fussing.

Writing About Places: The Travel Article

Ch. 13

Writing a Place

• Next to knowing how to write about people, you should know how to write about a place.

*Descriptive detail is the main substance.• It’s hard to describe a place , terrible work has nothing to

do with some terrible flaw of character.

Writing a Place

• Don’t put every detail, ONLY the interesting ones.• As a writer you must keep a tight rein on your subjective

self, and keep an objective eye on the reader!

Writing a Place

• Travelese is a style of soft words the hard examination mean nothing or mean different meanings to other people.

“Attractive” “Charming” “Romantic”

Writing a Place

• How can you overcome the fear of writing a place?• Two Principles:1. Style2. Substance• Eliminate facts that are already known

Ch: 14 & 15Writing About Yourself: Memoirs

& Science and Technology

Memoirs People want to see individuality from your writingPeople want to see what makes you uniqueWrite for yourself not for the editorsWrite with confidence and with pleasureOf all topics to write about, the one you know best is yourself

MemoirsExcessive writing about yourself can be hazardousDetails, emotion, places, people, and events make a memoirA memoir is your personal historyYou must become the editor of your life

Science and TechnologyAnyone who thinks clearly can write clearlyYour job is to describe something as if the reader knows nothingUse your own experience to add clarityAny subject can be made clear and robust by anyone

Ch. 16 & Ch. 17Business Writing: Writing in

Your Job &

Sports

Be Human

• All the paper circulating through the office/work space/class is a form of writing.

• Just because people work for an institute does not mean they have to sound like one.

• Short words invite while long words that lack the word “I” seem detached.

• Vulnerability has a strength of its own!

To the Customer

• Make it easy to read.• The customer should not have to translate or interpret

what is said in promotional material. It should invite and offer up an understanding of their needs.

• Present yourself as you, not a machine.

Sports

• Don’t use redundant information that overpowers the sport.

• Too many journalists try to be psychoanalytic and describe more of the athlete’s past life than the sport itself.

• The reader is likely reading because they played the sport themselves at some point and want to see it from other perspectives.

• The author warns about being too critical of athletes. They deserve respect because what they do is difficult, and most people cannot perform as well.

Sports Language

• Hard to avoid cliché words (pigskin, southpaw, a twin killing, etc.) even though they make the article seem repetitive or cheap.

• Never be afraid to repeat a player’s name and, since you’re writing it for a mass public, keep it simple to understand.

• Don’t be obsessed with numbers or get carried away; only important statistics.

Ch. 18 & 19Writing about the Arts: Critics and

Columnists&

Humor

The Arts

• The arts are all around us: writing, painting, acting, dancing, play instrument

• Writing about the arts is to appraise new works, evaluate performance, recognize what is good and what is bad, and a encompasses a special body of knowledge

• Read about the arts, keep in touch with cultural events• Critics- someone who evaluates the arts; the stage on

which journalist do their fanciest strutting

Humor

• Secret weapon of nonfiction writing• Do not make the same joke 2 or 3 times• Write about the moments in life by mocking it• Humor never dies• Few writers realize humor is their best tool• Humor is an act of gross exaggeration.