On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction

by William Zinsser

We know that verbs have more vigor than nouns, that active verbs are better than passive verbs, that short words and sentences are easier to read than long ones, that concrete details are easier to process than vague abstractions.

An editor should never allow something to get into print that he doesn’t understand. If he doesn’t understand it, at least one other person won’t, and that’s one too many.

This arrogance is at its most injurious when an editor goes beyond changes of style or structure and enters the sacred realm of content. I often hear freelance writers say, “When I got the magazine I looked for my article and I didn’t even recognize it. They had written a whole new lead and had me saying things that aren’t what I believe.” That’s the cardinal sin—tampering with a writer’s opinions.

finally the purposes that writers serve must be their own. What you write is yours and nobody else’s.

You will write only as well as you make yourself write.