"On Writing Well" has been praised for its sound advice, its clarity and the warmth of its style. It is a book for everybody who wants to learn how to write or who needs to do some writing to get through the day, as almost everybody does in the age of e-mail and the Internet.
Whether you want to write about people or places, science and technology, business, sports, the arts or...
"On Writing Well" has been praised for its sound advice, its clarity and the warmth of its style. It is a book for everybody who wants to learn how to write or who needs to do some writing to get through the day, as almost everybody does in the age of e-mail and the Internet.
Whether you want to write about people or places, science and technology, business, sports, the arts or about yourself in the increasingly popular memoir genre, "On Writing Well" offers you fundamental priciples as well as the insights of a distinguished writer and teacher. With more than a million copies sold, this volume has stood the test of time and remains a valuable resource for writers and would-be writers.
作者简介
· · · · · ·
William Zinsser has been a mentor for countless people who want to write with clarity and confidence. His eighteen books include the classic On Writing Well, which has sold almost 1.5 million copies. He now teaches at the New School and at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism.
目录
· · · · · ·
INTRODUCTION
PART I Principles
1 The Transaction
2 Simplicity
3 Clutter
4 Style
· · · · · ·
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INTRODUCTION
PART I Principles
1 The Transaction
2 Simplicity
3 Clutter
4 Style
5 The Audience
6 Words
7 Usage
PART II Methods
8 Unity
9 The Lead and the Ending
10 Bits & Pieces
PART III Forms
11 Nonfiction as Literature
12 Writing About People: The Interview
13 Writing About Places: The Travel Article
14 Writing About Yourself: The Memoir
15 Science and Technology
16 Business Writing: Writing in Your Job
17 Sports
18 Writing About the Arts: Critics and Columnists
19 Humor
PART IV Attitudes
20 The Sound of Your Voice
21 Enjoyment, Fear and Confidence
22 The Tyranny of the Final Product
23 A Writer’s Decisions
24 Writing Family History and Memoir
25 Write as Well as You Can
SOURCES
INDEX
· · · · · · (收起)
Defense secretary Caspar Weinberger, assessing a polish crisis in 1984, said: “There is continuing ground for serious concern and the situation remains serious. The longer he remains serious more ground there is for serious concern.” (查看原文)
Practical, but not helpful. Maybe It's time to stop reading guiding books or videos. We already know how to work things out long ago. All we need is strength. Writing by heart and pay attention to the...Practical, but not helpful. Maybe It's time to stop reading guiding books or videos. We already know how to work things out long ago. All we need is strength. Writing by heart and pay attention to the detials. Stick to it and you gonna make it. Everybody can write.(展开)
纽约时报评价On Writing Well是一本指导英文写作的圣经，任何想让要自己文章简洁的人都应该没事拿出来读一读，膜拜膜拜。 Library Journal说，在这本书里，你可以看到“A love and respect for the language is evident on every page.” 读这本书的时候，我随时都把William ...
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上半年改文章改得头昏脑涨，被co-author批评做的东西很好就是不懂写，于是愈发觉得写作的重要性。Tom Rawski作为系里德高望重的老教授，在他的写作课被取消了之后，固执得让系里每年在新生欢迎会上给每个人发一本The Element of Style. 但那本书实在太条条框框了，to-do和not-t...
(展开)
Defense secretary Caspar Weinberger, assessing a polish crisis in 1984, said: “There is continuing ground for serious concern and the situation remains serious. The longer he remains serious more ground there is for serious concern.”
2020-12-29 02:33:024人喜欢
Defense secretary Caspar Weinberger, assessing a polish crisis in 1984, said: “There is continuing ground for serious concern and the situation remains serious. The longer he remains serious more ground there is for serious concern.”引自 4 Style
P15 I would put brackets around every component in a piece of writing that wasn't doing useful work. Often just one word got bracketed: the unnecessary preposition appended to a verb ("order up"）， or the adverb that carries the same meaning as the verb ("smile happily"), or the adjective that states a known fact ("tall skyscraper") . Often my brackets surrounded the little qualifiers that we...
2019-01-16 11:04:582人喜欢
P15
I would put brackets around every component in a piece of writing that wasn't doing useful work. Often just one word got bracketed: the unnecessary preposition appended to a verb ("order up"）， or the adverb that carries the same meaning as the verb ("smile happily"), or the adjective that states a known fact ("tall skyscraper") . Often my brackets surrounded the little qualifiers that weaken any sentence they inhabit ("a bit","sort of "), or phrase like "in a sense," which don't mean anything.引自 Chapter 3 Clutter
Q1 Style Good writers are visible just behind their words. If you aren’t allowed to use “I,” at least think “I” while you write, or write the first draft in the first person and then take the “I”s out. It will warm up your impersonal style. Sell yourself, and your subject will exert its own appeal. Believe in your own identity and your own opinions. Writing is an act of ego, and you migh...
2015-11-01 22:10:15
Q1 Style
Good writers are visible just behind their words. If you aren’t allowed to use “I,” at least think “I” while you write, or write the first draft in the first person and then take the “I”s out. It will warm up your impersonal style.
Sell yourself, and your subject will exert its own appeal. Believe in your own identity and your own opinions. Writing is an act of ego, and you might as well admit it. Use its energy to keep yourself going.引自 Part1:Principles
Q2 The Audience
Who am I writing for,It’s a fundamental question, and it has a fundamental answer: You are writing for yourself. Don’t try to visualize the great mass audience. There is no such audience—every reader is a different person. Don’t try to guess what sort of thing editors want to publish or what you think the country is in a mood to read. Editors and readers don’t know what they want to read until they read it. Besides, they’re always looking for something new.
This may seem to be a paradox. Earlier I warned that the reader is an impatient bird, perched on the thin edge of distraction or sleep. Now I’m saying you must write for yourself and not be gnawed by worry over whether the reader is tagging along.
I’m talking about two different issues. One is craft, the other is attitude. The first is a question of mastering a precise skill. The second is a question of how you use that skill to express your personality.
First, work hard to master the tools. Simplify, prune and strive for order. Think of this as a mechanical act, and soon your sentences will become cleaner. The act will never become as mechanical as, say, shaving or shampooing; you will always have to think about the various ways in which the tools can be used. But at least your sentences will be grounded in solid principles, and your chances of losing the reader will be smaller.引自 Part1:Principles
Q3 Words
Don’t let yourself get in this position. The only way to avoid it is to care deeply about words. If you find yourself writing that someone recently enjoyed a spell of illness, or that a business has been enjoying a slump, ask yourself how much they enjoyed it. Notice the decisions that other writers make in their choice of words and be finicky about the ones you select from the vast supply. The race in writing is not to the swift but to the original.
Make a habit of reading what is being written today and what was written by earlier masters. Writing is learned by imitation. If anyone asked me how I learned to write, I’d say I learned by reading the men and women who were doing the kind of writing I wanted to do and trying to figure out how they did it. But cultivate the best models
Also get in the habit of using dictionaries
And don’t scorn that bulging grab bag Roget’s Thesaurus
Also bear in mind, when you’re choosing words and stringing them together, how they sound. This may seem absurd: readers read with their eyes. But in fact they hear what they are reading far more than you realize. Therefore such matters as rhythm and alliteration are vital to every sentence引自 Part1:Principles
Q4 Usage
Good usage, to me, consists of using good words if they already exist—as they almost always do—to express myself clearly and simply to someone else引自 Part1:Principles
1. transaction Out of it come two of the most important qualities that this book will go in search of: humanity and warmth. 2.simplicity Writing is hard work. A clear sentence is no accident. Very few sentences come out right the first time, or even the third time. Remember this in moments of despair. If you find that writing is hard, it's because it is hard.
2016-09-07 03:34:54
1. transaction
Out of it come two of the most important qualities that this book will go in search of: humanity and warmth.
2.simplicity
Writing is hard work. A clear sentence is no accident. Very few sentences come out right the first time, or even the third time. Remember this in moments of despair. If you find that
writing is hard, it's because it is hard.
...and whatever form the sentences take will reflect the writer at his most natural. ...rewriting is the essence of writing "What do you do on the day when it isn't going well?" Dr. Brock was asked. He said he just stopped writing and put the work aside for a day when it would go better. I then said that the professional writer must establish a daily schedule and stick to it. I said that writin...
2017-04-11 08:08:47
...and whatever form the sentences take will reflect the writer at his most natural.引自 The Transaction...rewriting is the essence of writing引自 The Transaction"What do you do on the day when it isn't going well?" Dr. Brock was asked. He said he just stopped writing and put the work aside for a day when it would go better. I then said that the professional writer must establish a daily schedule and stick to it. I said that writing is a craft, not an art, and that the man who runs away from his crafts because he lacks inspiration is fooling himself. He is also going broke.引自 The Transaction...professional writers are solitary drudges who seldom see other writers.引自 The TransactionAs for students, anyone might think we left them bewildered. But in fact we gave them a broader glimpse of the writing process than if only one of us had talked...There are all kinds of writers and all kinds of methods, and any method that helps you to say what you want to say is the right method for you.引自 The TransactionBut all of them are vulnerable and all of them are tense. They are driven by a compulsion to put some part of themselves on paper, and yet they don't just write what comes naturally. They sit down to commit an act of literature, and the self who emerges on paper is far stiffer than the person who sat down to write. The problem is to find the real man or woman behind the tension.引自 The Transaction...the most important quilities that this book will go in search of: humanity and warmth.引自 The TransactionGood writing has an aliveness that keeps the reader reading from one paragraph to the next, and it's not a question of gimmicks to "personalize" the author. It's an question of using the English language in a way that will achieve the greatest clarilty and strength.引自 The Transaction
地点： Connecticut 美国康乃迪克州（位于美国东北部） avocation vs vocation 业余爱好&业余爱好 easy,fun, words flow vs. not easy, not fun,hard, lonely, words seldom flow absolutely not to rewrite vs. rewriting is the essence of writing When it's not going well, just stop it. vs. writing is a craft not an art, and that the man who runs away from his craft because he lacks inspiration is fooling...
2019-01-22 21:43:57
地点： Connecticut 美国康乃迪克州（位于美国东北部）
avocation vs vocation 业余爱好&业余爱好
easy,fun, words flow vs. not easy, not fun,hard, lonely, words seldom flow
absolutely not to rewrite vs. rewriting is the essence of writing
When it's not going well, just stop it. vs. writing is a craft not an art, and that the man who runs away from his craft because he lacks inspiration is fooling himself. He is also going broke.
circulate in the literary world vs. professional writers are solitary drudges are seldom see other writers
panel ：A panel is a small group of people who are chosen to do something, for example, to discuss something in public or to make a decision. 专门小组
bohemian: An artist well-known for wearing filthy coveralls, or a musician who shares a cheap apartment with eight roommates and a pet monkey might be described as bohemian---that is, willfully unconventioal and nonconformist in both appearance and lifestyle.
A nonconformist lifestyle 一个不属于英国国教的生活方式，即一个与众不同的生活方式
arduous 艰辛的
gusto 热情
on the side: 作为兼职 Maybe I should take up surgery on the side.
aliveness 活力
gimmick 噱头
This is the personal transaction that's at the heart of good nonfiction writing. Out of it come two of the most important qualities that book will go in search of : humanity and warmth人性与温度
Good writing has an aliveness that keeps the reader reading from one paragraph to the next, and it's not a question of gimmicks to "personalize" the author. It's a question of using the English language in a way that will achieve the greatest clarity and strength.
Living is the trick. Writers who write interestingly tend to be men and women who keep themselves interested. That's almost the whole point of becoming a writer. I've used writing to give myself an interesting life and a continuing education. If you write about subjects you think you would enjoy knowing about, your enjoyment will show in what you write. Learning is a tonic. 写下来的东西 要大声...
2022-05-09 08:07:41
Living is the trick. Writers who write interestingly tend to be men and women who keep themselves interested. That's almost the whole point of becoming a writer. I've used writing to give myself an interesting life and a continuing education. If you write about subjects you think you would enjoy knowing about, your enjoyment will show in what you write. Learning is a tonic.引自 21 Enjoyment, Fear and Confidence
写下来的东西 要大声读出来，看自己还喜欢不
Cliches are one of the things you should keep listening for when you rewrite and read your successive drafts aloud.
Cliches are the enemy of taste.
Taste chooses words that have surprise, strength and precision.引自 20 The Sound of Your Voice
写自己真正感兴趣的东西，你的热情会从文章里体现出来
Living is the trick. Writers who write interestingly tend to be men and women who keep themselves interested. That's almost the whole point of becoming a writer. I've used writing to give myself an interesting life and a continuing education. If you write about subjects you think you would enjoy knowing about, your enjoyment will show in what you write. Learning is a tonic.引自 21 Enjoyment, Fear and Confidence
真诚能打动人，真心想知道对方那么对方就真心想要回答你
Also remember that your assignment may not be as narrow as you think. Often it will turn out to touch some unexpected corner of your experience or your education, enabling you to broaden the story with strengths of your own. Every such reduction of the unfamiliar will reduce your fear.引自 21 Enjoyment, Fear and Confidence
有一个主题要发散地想，think broadly
Push the boundaries of your subject and see where it takes you. Bring some part of your own life to it; it's not your version of the story until you write it.引自 21 Enjoyment, Fear and ConfidenceIf you master the tools of the trade -- the fundamentals of interviewing and of orderly construction -- and if you bring to the assignment your general intelligence and your humanity, you can write about any subject. That's your ticket to an interesting life.引自 21 Enjoyment, Fear and ConfidenceThat was interesting. I'm struck by how often as a writer I say to myself, "That's interesting." If you find yourself saying it, pay attention and follow your nose. Trust your curiosity to connect with the curiosity of your readers.引自 21 Enjoyment, Fear and Confidence
不必被final product吓到或者限制到，不要先考虑文章能不能卖出去
写一个地方，可以变成一个quest，找出这个地方的meaning, idea, some sliver of the past
Moral: any time you can tell a story in the form of a quest or a pilgrimage you'll be ahead of the game. Readers bearing their own associations will do some of your work for you.引自 22 The Tyranny of the Final ProductIt all begins with intention. Figure out what you want to do and how you want to do it, and work your way with humanity and integrity to the completed article. Then you'll have something to sell.引自 22 The Tyranny of the Final ProductAll your clear and pleasing sentences will fall apart if you don't keep remembering that writing is linear and sequential, that logic is the glue that holds it together, that tension must be maintained from one sentence to the next and from one paragraph to the next and from one section to the next, and that narrative -- good old-fashioned storytelling -- is what should pull your readers along without their noticing the tug. The only thing they should notice is that you have made a sensible plan for your journey. Every step should seem inevitable.引自 23 A Writer’s DecisionsThe hardest decision about any article is how to begin it. The lead must grab the reader with a provocative idea and continue with each paragraph to hold him or her in a tight grip, gradually adding information. The point of the information is to get readers so interested that they will stick around for the whole trip.引自 23 A Writer’s DecisionsEach sentence contains one thought -- and only one. Readers can process only one idea at a time, and they do it in linear sequence. Much of the trouble that writers get into comes from trying to make one sentence do too much work. Never be afraid to break a long sentence into two short ones, or even three.引自 23 A Writer’s DecisionsNow, what do your readers want to know next? Ask yourself that question after every sentence.引自 23 A Writer’s DecisionsWhen you get such a message from your material -- when your story tells you it's over, regardless of what subsequently happened-- look for the door.引自 23 A Writer’s DecisionsDecide what you want to do. Then decide to do it. Then do it.引自 23 A Writer’s DecisionsYour product is you. The crucial transaction in memoir and personal history is the transaction between you and your remembered experiences and emotions.引自 24 Writing Family History and Memoir
先别管写下来的东西别人怎么想或者是被提到的人的privacy怎么办，写完了他们不愿意那可以再删。要freely and honestly来写
Your first job is to get your story down as you remember it -- now.引自 24 Writing Family History and MemoirIt can also be an act of healing for you. If you make an honest transaction with your own humanity and with the humanity of the people who crossed your life, no matter how much pain they caused you or you caused them, readers will connect with your journey.引自 24 Writing Family History and Memoir
最重要的reducing advice是：think small。别想把你觉得重要的事全部都写进去
Look for small self-contained incidents that are still vivid in your memory.引自 24 Writing Family History and Memoir
可以周一挑一个还记得住的event，写三五页，必须有开头有结尾。然后第二天再选一个event写三五页，不一定和第一天的有关。坚持写两三个月，甚至6个月，不要上来就着急写整本memoir。最后把写好的都铺在地上，看看what they tell you and what patterns emerge。看了之后你就知道什么重要，什么有意思，什么emotional，就能有一个narrative了。
You must find some way to elevate your act of writing into an entertainment. Usually this means giving the reader an enjoyable surprise. Any number of devices will do the job: humor, anecdote, paradox, an unexpected quotation, a powerful fact, an outlandish detail, a circuitous approach, an elegant arrangement of words.引自 25 Write as Well as You Can
Motivation is at the heart of writing Interviewing is one of those skills you can only get better at. You will never again feel so ill at ease as when you try it for the first time, and probably you'll never feel entirely comfortable prodding another person for answers he or she may be too shy or too inarticulate to reveal. But much of the skill is mechanical. The rest is instinct -- knowing ho...
2022-05-07 08:08:59
Motivation is at the heart of writing引自 11 Nonfiction as LiteratureInterviewing is one of those skills you can only get better at. You will never again feel so ill at ease as when you try it for the first time, and probably you'll never feel entirely comfortable prodding another person for answers he or she may be too shy or too inarticulate to reveal. But much of the skill is mechanical. The rest is instinct -- knowing how to make the other person relax, when to push, when to listen, when to stop. This can all be learned with experience.引自 12 Writing About People: The Interview
When you use a quotation, start the sentence with it. Don't lead up to it with a vapid phrase saying what the man said.引自 12 Writing About People: The InterviewHe enjoyed his trip so much that he wants to tell us all about it -- and "all" is what we don't want to hear. We only want to hear some. What made his trip different from everybody else's ? What can he tell us that we don't already know?引自 13 Writing About Places: The Travel ArticleThe article that records everything you did on your trip will fascinate you because it was your trip. Will it fascinate the reader? It won't. The mere agglomeration of detail is no free pass to the reader's interest. The detail must be significant.引自 13 Writing About Places: The Travel Article
First, choose your words with unusual care. If a phrase comes to you easily, look at it with deep suspicion; it's probably one of the countless cliches that have woven their way so tightly into the fabric of travel writing that you have to make a special effort not to use them.引自 13 Writing About Places: The Travel Article
所有大家都知道的形容就没必要写
Eliminate every such fact that is a known attribute: don't tell us that the sea had waves and the sand was white. Find details that are significant. They may be important to your narrative; they may be unusual, or colorful, or comic, or entertaining. But make sure they do useful work.引自 13 Writing About Places: The Travel ArticleDistill the important from the immaterial引自 13 Writing About Places: The Travel ArticleFinally, however, what brings a place alive is human activity: people doing the things that give a locale its character.引自 13 Writing About Places: The Travel Article
写就要写自己在意的，自己擅长的，才能写出自己的特点，不要写自己觉得别人想看的, you have every permission
We're looking for whatever it is that makes you unique. Write about what you know and what you think引自 14 Writing About Yourself: The MemoirIf you write for yourself, you'll reach the people you want to write for引自 14 Writing About Yourself: The MemoirMake sure every component in your memoir is doing useful work. Write about yourself, by all means, with confidence and with pleasure. But see that all the details -- people, places, events, anecdotes, ideas, emotions -- are moving your story steadily along.引自 14 Writing About Yourself: The MemoirTo write a good memoir you must become the editor of your own life, imposing on an untidy sprawl of half-remembered events a narrative shape and an organizing idea.引自 14 Writing About Yourself: The MemoirOne secret of the art is detail. Any kind of detail will work-- a sound or a smell or a song title -- as long as it played a shaping role in the portion of your life you have chosen to distill.引自 14 Writing About Yourself: The MemoirThe best gift you have to offer when you write personal history is the gift of yourself. Give yourself permission to write about yourself, and have a good time doing it.引自 14 Writing About Yourself: The MemoirWriting is thinking on paper. Anyone who thinks clearly can write clearly, about anything at all.引自 15 Science and Technology
science写作必须有逻辑顺序
It's just a matter of putting one sentence after another. The "after," however, is crucial. Nowhere else must you work so hard to write sentences that form a linear sequence. This is no place for fanciful leaps or implied truths. Fact and deduction are the ruling family.引自 15 Science and Technology
Describing how a process works is valuable for two reasons. It forces you to make sure you know how it works. Then it forces you to take the reader through the same sequence of ideas and deductions that made the process clear to you.引自 15 Science and Technology
science写作最重要的是不能fuzzy
It's the principle of leading readers who know nothing, step by step, to a grasp of subjects they didn't think they had an aptitude for or were afraid they were too dumb to understand.引自 15 Science and Technology
金字塔式写作：最底层是one fact a reader must know before he can learn any more，然后再根据第一点来broaden一些，第三句话让第二句话再broaden一些，然后move beyond fact into significance and speculation比如一个新的discovery如何改变了已知的事情，新的research avenue如何会被open，这个research能应用在那。金字塔能有多wide倒是没有限制，但是从一个narrow fact开始是很重要的。
让读者对于你的science有代入感是很重要的，需要寻找human element。说你自己的experience也是可以的，毕竟你自己也是人，可以和读者有一定程度上的联结。另外一种方法是weave a scientific story around someone else。还有一种方法是relate to something they are familiar with。把一个抽象的概念reduce成他们能visualize的一个image.
Always start with too much material. Then give your reader just enough.引自 15 Science and TechnologyAnother way of making science accessible is to write like a person and not like a scientist. It's the same old question of being yourself. Just because you're dealing with a scholary discipline that's usually reported in a style of dry pedantry is no reason why you shouldn't write in good fresh English.引自 15 Science and TechnologyThe principle of sequential writing applies to every field where the reader must be escorted over difficult new terrain.引自 15 Science and TechnologyJust as in science writing, anixety is a big part of the problem and humanity and clear thinking are a big part of the solution.引自 16 Business Writing: Writing in Your JobFour articles of faith: clarity, simplicity, brevity and humanity引自 16 Business Writing: Writing in Your Job
use active verbs and avoid "concept nouns"
很多公司公开的文章等等都感觉没人情味，用上I 就更有人情味
The way to warm up any institution is to locate the missing "I." Remember: "I" is the most interesting element in any story.引自 16 Business Writing: Writing in Your JobIf you work for an insitution, whatever your job, whatever your level, be yourself when you write. You will stand out as a real person among the robots引自 16 Business Writing: Writing in Your Job
写东西前要努力orient youre readers to the special world they are about to enter。做好足够的铺垫，remind一些fact，不能expect人家就知道
What is crucial for you as the writer is to express your opinion firmly.引自 18 Writing About the Arts: Critics and ColumnistsDon't strain for laughs; humor is built on surprise, and you can surprise the reader only so often.引自 19 Humor
You learn to write by writing. All writing is ultimately a question of solving a problem. Unity is the anchor of good writing. Unity 是首要的。读者潜意识需要order。代词要统一，是第一人称还是第三人称还是observer？时态要统一，过去时就过去时，现在时就现在时。决不能来回混着用。 Therefore ask yourself some basic questions before you start. For example: "In what capacity am I going to address the rea...
2022-05-06 08:45:51
You learn to write by writing.引自 8 UnityAll writing is ultimately a question of solving a problem.引自 8 UnityUnity is the anchor of good writing.引自 8 Unity
Therefore ask yourself some basic questions before you start. For example: "In what capacity am I going to address the reader?" (Reporter? Provider of information? Average man or woman?) "What pronoun and tense am I going to use?" "What style?"(Impersonal reportorial? Personal but formal? Personal and casual?) What attitude am I going to take toward the material? (Involved? Detached? Judgmental? Ironic? Amused?)
How much do I want to cover? What one point do I want to make?
引自 8 Unity
Every writing project must be reduced before you start to write.
Therefore think small. Decide what corner of your subject you're going to bite off, and be content to cover it well and stop. This is also a matter of energy and morale. An unwieldy writing task is a drain on your enthusiasm. Enthusiam is the force that keeps you going and keeps the reader in your grip. When your zest begins to ebb, the reader is the first person to know it.引自 8 Unity
文章只要一个point，不是2个，不是5个，是一个。让人takeaway只要一个。
Lead必须抓住人的眼球
It must cajole him with freshness, or novelty, or paradox, or humor, or surprise, or with an unusual idea, or an interesting fact, or a question.
NExt the lead must do some real work. It must provide hard details that tell the reader why the piece was written and why he ought to read it.
Continue to build. Every paragraph should amplify the one that preceded it. Give more thought to adding solid detail and less to entertaining the reader. But take special care with the last sentence of each paragraph. 引自 9 The Lead and the Ending
每段最后一句话要承上启下
到处要阅读，哪怕是说明书，广告什么的
Another moral is to look for your material everywhere, not just by reading the obvious sources and interviewing the obvious people. Look at signs and at billboards and at all the junk.引自 9 The Lead and the Ending
用讲故事的方法来写作just tell a story，是特别simple但是有时候我们会忘记就用这个simple的solution
Always look for ways to convey your information in narrative form.引自 9 The Lead and the EndingFor the nonfiction writer, the simplest way of putting this into a rule is: when you're ready to stop, stop. If you have presented all the facts and made the point you want to make, look for the nearest exit.引自 9 The Lead and the Ending
有时候结尾可以点题再重复一下开头，有时候用quote也不错
不要用cliche的形容词比如笔直的树等等，用的形容词要准确形容你要形容的东西
Again, the rule is simple: make your adjectives do work that needs to be done.引自 10 Bits & Pieces
一些小的两次可以删a bit, a little, sort of, rahter ,quite, very, pretty much, in a sense等等
Good writing is lean and confident.引自 10 Bits & Pieces
关于that和which，通常情况下都要用that,除非用了会ambiguous。如果这句话必须用一个逗号才清楚，那大概率需要用which。比如take the shoes that are in the closet说明还有别的shoe在别的地方，但是take the shoes, which are in the closet 只有一双鞋，但是需要逗号才清楚。
句子要有主语，最好是个活人。读者才能visualize活人在做这个事。可以换成most people... some people ... you can see ...
The current xxx
The common reaction is xxx
xxx isn't the only response to xxx
What is so eerie abour these sentences is that they have no people in them. They also have no working verbs -- only is or isn't.引自 10 Bits & Pieces
解决一个怎么也改不好的句子的好方法就是把它删了，改来改去都改不好的时候问自己Do I need it at all?
Rewriting is the essence of writing well: it's where the game is won or lost.引自 10 Bits & PiecesRead your article aloud from beginning to end, always remembering where you left the reader in the previous sentence.引自 10 Bits & Pieces
不要用surprisingly, predictably, of course等等，要相信自己的material，不要在fact前面加什么副词
Readers can do their own marveling. They will also enjoy being allowed to think for themselves. The reader plays a major role in the act of writing and must be given room to play it. Don't annoy your readers by over-explaining-- by telling them something they already know or can figure out.引自 10 Bits & Pieces
要写自己真正感兴趣的事情
No area of life is stupid to someone who takes it seriously. If you follow your affections you will write well and will engage your readers.引自 10 Bits & PiecesNo subject is too specialized or too quirky if you make an honest connection with it when you write about it.引自 10 Bits & Pieces
写东西脑子要清楚 The answer is to clear our heads of clutter. Clear thinking becomes clear writing; one can't exist without the other. 写东西不能让reader work hard，不然很容易lose reader Writers must therefore constantly ask: what am I trying to say? Surprisingly often they don't know. Then they must look at what they have written and ask: have I said it? Is it clear to someone encountering the...
2022-05-03 09:21:03
写东西脑子要清楚
The answer is to clear our heads of clutter. Clear thinking becomes clear writing; one can't exist without the other.引自 2 Simplicity
写东西不能让reader work hard，不然很容易lose reader
Writers must therefore constantly ask: what am I trying to say? Surprisingly often they don't know. Then they must look at what they have written and ask: have I said it? Is it clear to someone encountering the subject for the first time? If it's not, some fuzz has worked its way into the machinery. The clear writer is someone clearheaded enough to see this stuff for what it is: fuzz.引自 2 SimplicityWriting is hard work. A clear sentence is no accident. Very few sentences come out right the first time, or even the third time. Remember this in moments of despair. If you find that writing is hard, it's because it is hard.引自 2 Simplicity
Clutter要专门注意去掉，比如一些没用的介词 face up可以用face来替代, personal friend里的personal， at the current point of time就是now， experiencing这种词都没用。没用的副词比如smile happily的happily可以去掉，没用的形容词如tall skyscraper里的tall。
Writing improves in direct ratio to the number of things we can keep out of it that shouldn't be there. Examine every work you put on paper. You'll find a surprising number that don't serve any purpose.引自 3 Clutter
能短就不长，比如except就不要用with the possible exception of, because就是because不是due to the fact that， he couldn't不要用totally lack the ability to 等等
Don't inflate what needs no inflating引自 3 ClutterMost first drafts can be cut by 50 percent without losing any information or losing the author's voice.引自 3 ClutterYou can develop the same eye. Look for the clutter in your writing and prune it ruthlessly. Be grateful for everything you can throw away. Reexamine each sentence you put on paper. Is every word doing new work? Can any thought be expressed with more economy? Is anythign pompous or pretentious or faddish? Are you hanging on to something useless just because you think it's beautiful?
Simplify, simplify.引自 3 ClutterTherefore a fundamental rule is: be yourself.
They must relax, and they must have confidence.引自 4 Style
Leaders who bob and weave like aging boxers don't inspire confidence - or deserve it. The same is true of writers. Sell yourself, and your subject will exert its own appeal. Believe in your own identity and your own opinions. Writing is an act of ego, and you might as well admit it. Use its energy to keep yourself going.引自 4 Style
You are writing for yourself.引自 5 The AudienceNever say anything in writing that you wouldn't comfortably say in conversation. If you're not a person who says "indeed" or "moreover", or who calls someone an individual ("he's a fine individual"), please don't write it.引自 5 The Audience
不要用拼在一起的词，比如形容词被硬永成名词，notables, greats， 名词硬永成动词比如to host，硬从动词切下来的名词比如emote，或者动词硬变成的名词比如beef up
Writing is learned by imitation.引自 6 Words
要注意词放在句子里听起来的声音怎么样，读者读的时候是有音律的。
I write entirely by ear and read everything aloud before letting it go out into the world. See if you can gain variety by reversing the order of a sentence, or by substituting a word that has freshness or oddity, or by altering the length of your sentences so they don't all sound as if they came out of the same machine. An occasional short sentence can carry a tremendous punch. It stays in the reader's ear.引自 6 Words
门特
Harper Perennial2006版
临素光
中国人民大学出版社2013版
Miss Coconut
Daydreaming
Harper Perennial2006版
大炎
青杉树
中国人民大学出版社2013版
Defense secretary Caspar Weinberger, assessing a polish crisis in 1984, said: “There is continuing ground for serious concern and the situation remains serious. The longer he remains serious more ground there is for serious concern.”
49 有用 yihan爱书橱 2012-12-28 18:10:42
世上本没有英语写作教程，考试的人多了，也便有了英语写作教程。而这本书不是。作者非常真诚地把写作当作一名手艺教给我们。观点步骤一清二楚。读来还像一本精致的小说！对我的写作有很大启迪！
1 有用 喵夫斯基 2014-10-11 01:40:50
Mostly harmless
5 有用 Zhuo 2018-09-25 05:33:02
作者如此热爱自己的母语，从用词到文体，再到情怀态度，不遗余力地引导人们用简洁、明晰的英语去写出好的作品。原本是为了学习英文写作而读，过程中却被作者选用的引文频频打动，写作之道是普适的，作者提倡的方法也不仅仅适用于英语，对中文写作也有很多启发。
98 有用 琴 酒 2013-03-18 21:09:54
虽然跟我寻找的academic writing并无半毛联系，但是中箭中到体无完肤之后深受启发。最深的一点在于，自信的作者要敢于用绝对的方式——砍掉形容词，副词，时间状语等种种限定——清晰地说出“我”。
2 有用 阿提斯 2017-04-08 17:31:56
边读边用书里的建议给学生修改文章，不得不说都是非常实用的技巧，效果立竿见影。作者本人穿插的一些anecdotes 也不失为他所推崇的写作方法的一种言传身教。一本读完会觉得自己有了新手装备可以尝试开始写东西的实用书籍。
0 有用 Enos 2022-05-24 11:48:16
Practical, but not helpful. Maybe It's time to stop reading guiding books or videos. We already know how to work things out long ago. All we need is strength. Writing by heart and pay attention to the... Practical, but not helpful. Maybe It's time to stop reading guiding books or videos. We already know how to work things out long ago. All we need is strength. Writing by heart and pay attention to the detials. Stick to it and you gonna make it. Everybody can write. (展开)
0 有用 晚年生活 2022-05-18 20:45:53
外语系的老师让买的
0 有用 Lullaby 2022-05-05 02:02:00
这本书读完之后我突然顿悟了一个问题，其实所有语言的写作都有相同之处。英语写作不怎么样的人，很有可能中文写作也不怎么样。
0 有用 heycinderella 2022-05-03 09:18:27
on writing well write的是真well
0 有用 Roy 2022-04-24 02:35:58
书开篇就写要剪短干练，然后洋洋洒洒给我写了三百页？ 看了一百页之后就真的有点看不下去了，冗长繁琐，没啥有用信息。又看了五十页最后决定放弃了。我很少放弃读完一本书，但是这本书真心说名过其实了。