Michael Mackey

This week’s reading from On Writing Well by William Zinsser really made me stop and think. Zinsser says two things that sound like they totally clash in chapter 5. Which really stood out for the remainder of the reading. 

First, he warns us not to lose our readers, as the majority of them are impatient and will drift off if we get sloppy or boring. But then he says we should write for ourselves and not for the reader.

At first, I thought that made no sense. I felt as though it was contradictory advice, because how can you focus on the reader and yourself at the same time? But after reading it again, I think he’s talking about two different parts of writing.

The first part is the craft, this is how we build sentences and choose the words we do. This is where the reader comes in. He explained how we need to write clearly all while staying organized, and cutting out the extra filler words that are unnecessary for the reader. If someone stops reading because a sentence is confusing or full of “big” filler words, that’s our fault. This is where the we (the writers) come into play. 

The second part is voice, what we write about and how we sound to the reader. This is for us, the writer. If we try too hard to guess what the “audience” wants, our writing starts to feel fake. Zinsser basically says: if you’re honest and having fun writing it, the right readers will enjoy it too. 

Authentic writing will attract authentic readers who will genuinely enjoy what your writing about. If your passionate about it, the reader is going to be more likey to be engaged in the reading and most likely passionate at the end. 

This idea reminds me of Jakob Nielsen’s article, How Users Read on the Web. He found that people don’t read every word, instead, they scan. So if we want them to keep reading, we have to make our writing clear, short, and real. Both Zinsser and Nielsen agree: people want truth and clarity, not fancy fluff.

My biggest takeaway after reading chapters 3-7 is to write in a way that sounds like me, but make sure you (the reader) don’t get bored. If I care about what I’m saying and say it simply, chances are, you’ll care too.