Sublime
An inspiration engine for ideas
Most first drafts can be cut by 50 percent without losing any information or losing the author’s voice.
William Zinsser • On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: An Informal Guide to Writing Nonfiction
subtle stylist and a self-willed Everyman
Deborah Treisman • The Underground Worlds of Haruki Murakami
In this way, as an editor he did more than reflect the standards of his age; he consciously influenced and changed them by the new talents he published.
A. Scott Berg • Max Perkins: Editor of Genius
Only by repeated applications of process—writing and rewriting and pruning and shaping—can we hammer out a clear and simple product.
William Zinsser • Writing to Learn: How to Write - and Think - Clearly About Any Subject at All
Examine every word you put on paper. You’ll find a surprising number that don’t serve any purpose.
William Zinsser • On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: An Informal Guide to Writing Nonfiction
But you must choose the tense in which you are principally going to address the reader,
William Zinsser • On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: An Informal Guide to Writing Nonfiction
"The difference between an activeverb style and a passive-verb style— in clarity and vigor— is the difference between life and death for a writer. “Joe saw him” is strong. “He was seen by Joe” is weak. The first is short and precise; it leaves no doubt about who did what."
William Zinsser • On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction
What to include, what to leave out.
John McPhee • Draft No. 4
