Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in On Writing Well, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Human Element
Simplicity vs. Clutter
Process and Organization
The Gift of Writing
Summary
Analysis
When students have an idea, they often jump to imagining their finished articles in print. But Zinsser thinks that this is dangerous: by fixating on the finished product, writers jump past all the key decisions they have to make about structuring their work. American culture is obsessed with results, and this leads writers to worry more about finishing and selling their work than actually writing it.
Planning is extremely important, but students don’t generally value it. By deciding what they want to write before figuring out what they want to write about, Zinsser’s students do themselves a disservice. They set themselves up for false starts and frustrations. Instead, they should figure out their material before deciding how to structure their work. For Zinsser, focusing on quality is actually a better path to success than focusing on success.
Themes
To fight this obsession with results, Zinsser tried a radical experiment in one of his writing classes for adults. Learning to structure long pieces is the most underrated nonfiction writing skill, so Zinsser decided to spend an entire semester on organization. His students wouldn’t have to submit any writing: they’d just have to pick a place that matters to them and figure out what, how, and why they wanted to write about it. One woman chose her church, which recently caught fire, and said that she planned to interview the people who ran it. But Zinsser encouraged her to choose a more personal angle. Many students struggled to compress their topics enough to make them manageable, and others stumbled into their topics when they least expected it, like when they uncovered a long-lost memory in class.
Zinsser’s approach probably feels as foreign to his readers as it did to his students. Most people learn to write by meeting other people’s demands—they have to complete specific assignments for specific deadlines. They often have power over the content of their writing, but they almost never control the form. This is the opposite of what nonfiction writers should do: follow their material. Therefore, by focusing on planning and research instead of getting words on paper to meet a deadline, Zinsser’s students completely transformed their approach to writing. They learned to look for the most compelling story, rather than simply finding something good enough to submit. In turn, they took the time to truly understand their material and make the personal connection that they need to present it convincingly.
Themes
Zinsser’s class succeeded because his students didn’t have a deadline: they had to focus on the process, not the product. This is the best way for writers to approach a project. For example, one of Zinsser’s students chose to write about his hometown but couldn’t figure out whether he wanted to write a memoir, a personal essay, or an investigative reporting. Instead, he wrote a 350-page book combining all three. He learned to appreciate the writing process and care less about getting published.
Zinsser knows that not all writers are lucky enough to avoid deadlines, but his principle still holds: writers can better explore and connect to their material when they set their own schedule. They should plan, but they should also be flexible enough to change their plans when the material calls for it. They should let content determine form, rather than trying to impose form on content. Zinsser’s student gained much more from his project by letting it become a book, but he wouldn’t have been able to do this if he had to fulfill someone else’s deadline.
Themes
In conclusion, Zinsser explains that good writers need a quest and an intention. Their job is to look for deeper meaning in the world, then tell the story of this quest through their work. And they can always choose whether they intend to “affirm and celebrate” something in their writing, or else to “debunk and destroy” it.
Quest and intention give a piece of writing unity by defining its narrative arc. Therefore, Zinsser suggests that writers should define their quests and intentions when they plan their work, just like they should define their tone, pronouns, and tense. Zinsser also reminds his readers that writing itself is a valuable tool. It’s a tool for writers’ self-discovery and reflection, and it's a tool for them to uplift or shoot down certain ideas for the public. Zinsser’s implication is clear: writing has real power to change the world for better or worse, and writers should be careful to use that power to good.
Themes
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