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
On William Zinsser’s office wall, there’s a photo of E.B. White with a typewriter. This represents the simplicity of writing: it just requires paper, a writing implement, and a wastebasket. Even though most people write on computers now, a writer’s job is still the same: “saying something that other people will want to read.” In part, On Writing Well is a guide to doing just that. Zinsser has always used E.B. White’s “seemingly effortless style” as a model, but he can’t teach it any better than White did in his revised version of William Strunk Jr.’s The Elements of Style. Instead, Zinsser decided to write a book about how to apply Strunk and White’s principles to journalism and nonfiction.
Zinsser introduces the 30th anniversary edition of his book with an image that he hopes his readers won’t forget. The photo of E.B. White also shows off Zinsser’s distinct personality as a writer. It demonstrates how he places himself in a specific American literary tradition, and it represents his main priorities in writing: simplicity and humanity. Of course, it also leads Zinsser into his case for why “other people will want to read” this book. He wants to build on Strunk and White’s legacy by offering context and practical advice for how readers should apply the principles Strunk and White laid out.
Themes
Zinsser has seen On Writing Well influence generations of writers and journalists over its six editions and more than 30 years in publication. In each new edition, Zinsser has tried to accommodate changes in technology, the English language, and the writing profession itself. He’s added sections about successful writers’ attitudes and adapted his 2004 book Writing About Your Life into a new chapter about writing family history and memoir.
Zinsser has done for many other writers what E.B. White did for him: helped them to write clearer, more engaging prose. He’s grateful for the opportunity to shape other writers, but he also knows that he has a serious responsibility to those other writers: he has to stay relevant and provide the best advice he possibly can. Therefore, he has periodically updated his book to reflect how writing and its place in society have changed.
Themes
Word processing, the internet, and email have revolutionized writing since the 1980s. While they made writing far easier and more popular, they didn’t make it any better. Word processing helps good writers revise, but also lets bad writers throw anything they want on a page and pretend it’s complete. Email forces everyone to write, but it prioritizes impromptu efficiency over revision and rewriting. In short, technology can “make writing twice as easy,” but it can’t “make writing twice as good.” The basic principles of this book will never change, and neither will the basic tools of good writing: hard thinking and the English language.
Although he’s revised On Writing Well over the years, Zinsser thinks that its core message remains the same because the basic rules of good writing are timeless. Good writing fundamentally depends on the writer’s mindset, effort, and decisions. Of course, this is why Zinsser loves his craft: a writer’s work is an expression of their individual mind and humanity. All writers grapple with the same basic challenge, whether in the past, present, or future. Technology doesn’t change this, even if it does make the writing process slightly easier.
Themes
