What ‘The greatest writing book’ teaches us about writing well online
Learning from William Zinsser’s ‘On Writing Well’ — often quoted as one of the best books on the craft of writing non-fiction
I wasn’t always a decent writer.
In fact, it took me writing well over several hundred articles to see my words create any real traction.
Much of this was found through practice, but it was mentors like Zinsser who accelerated my learning and had dramatic effects on the quality of my words.
Here’s what it has taught me about writing online (and elsewhere) impactfully:
Write about your passions without thinking about what others think.
You can’t allow ‘needing to look cool and fit in’ to interfere with your words.
We need more writers willing to talk about exciting shit that the writer truly cares about. Be brave. Go where you would love to go.
Cut out every single unnecessary word or phrase. I see long-winded tweets all over Twitter, and it drives me insane.
Continually ask yourself: ‘what exactly am I trying to say?’
The cleaner the tweet and the less verbose the wordage, the more able that tweet can convey meaning to the reader.
Your writing must be a reflection of your true self. Good writing like this is channelled through a relaxed hand.
To be a relaxed writer, you need to be willing to make many mistakes, which comes from writing a lot. It also requires you to write in a present flow.
Write to inspire yourself first.
I’ve said it before: if you can’t feel or understand your own writing emotionally, your reader won’t either, and they must, or they will never want to read your words again.
Your beginnings and endings make for a great reader experience. In the world of tweets, we’re talking about sharpening up your opening hook (first line) and ensuring you have a meaningful or powerful last line or payoff.
Get great at writing by writing a lot. Nothing beats showing up every day with a commitment to write a minimum of words. To be outstanding at writing tweets, you need to tweet every day.
Never say in writing what you would not comfortably say in conversation.
This says a lot about trying to be someone you’re not. Your lack of integrity in your words will be felt by the reader.
The same applies to cliches.
Be original, and reward the beauty of your own intuitive words by putting these to paper (your Twitter feed).
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