I read On Writing Well earlier this year which made a huge impact on my thoughts about writing. I am revisiting my book notes and highlights in the last weeks of the year and thought I should post a summary of key takeaways from each book.

Zinsser stresses on these points when writing non-fiction.

• Thinking
• Passion
• Structure
• Editing
• Confidence

Clear thinking leads to clear writing.

• Don't do a brain dump and publish. Organize your thoughts and present them in a cohesive manner.
• Your sentences should be simple and contain only one idea. Readers can't process more than one idea at a time.
• People care about your writing if you have something interesting to say.
• Ask the following questions before you start, to frame how your article is going to converse with the readers.
  • In what capacity am I going to address the reader?
  • What pronouns and tense am I going to use?
  • What one point I want to make?
  • How much should I cover?

Confidence

• You're writing for yourself. Writing is an act of ego and your first audience is the you.
• Believe in your identity and your own opinion. Don't be afraid to take firm stance in your writing.
• You're an unique individual, try to show your uniqueness in your writing. Write about what you think and know.

Passion

• If you follow your affection and write about it, readers will engage well with your writing.
• Go after subjects that interests you, remember you're writing for yourself and if you write what interests you, readers will engage.

Structure

• First sentence is important for an article.
• Every paragraph should amplify the previous paragraph's message.
• Always collect more materials than you will use.
• Story telling is the compelling method to grab someone's attention. Look for ways to convey your writing as a narrative.
• Ending is almost as important as the beginning. When you feel you have told everything you know about a subject, you should stop.
• Don't overstate or misinform about anything in your writing. It'll undermine your credibility.
• Don't hesitate to imitate other writers. It will help you in finding your own style.

Editing

• Most first drafts can be edited and cut by 50% without losing any meaning.
• Read your writing aloud, you can identify the words that are not fitting your style and usage.
• Writing is just the first step of good writing. Rewriting is the important step.

Food for thought

The below two lines made me think a lot so I wanted to share them.

• Careers rise and fall simply because people can't clearly state an idea or a fact.
• (In writing) Quality is its own reward.

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This is my first attempt in summarizing books. I have doubts about this format. Let me know what do you think.

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