Classic Book on Writing Remains Relevant for Modern Writers

When Rachel Strasner, 21, was required to read On Writing Well for class, she never thought she would actually enjoy it. “Something that I really liked about the book is how it brings us back to writing as a discipline. It’s something you have to work at – not everyone is a natural writer.”

“If your job is to write every day, you learn to do it like any other job” Zinsser writes. This is comforting to any writer who has had the feeling of writer’s block. The reader is reminded that it’s not always easy but “you learn to write by writing”.

Zinsser says “the most important sentence in any article is the first one.” He begins the book with an anecdote that immediately engages the reader. It’s a story about him being on a panel for “a day devoted to the arts” at a school in Connecticut and the interesting responses he gives to the students. Immediately the reader wants to hear more of Zinsser’s advice. Luckily for them, following the anecdote is a whole book of it.

Another student, Heidi Shannon, 21, says even though “we have so many different forms of communication, like email and facebook – we’re still using the written word.” In her opinion, the book remains relevant because “the written word doesn’t change; you still need to be a good writer, clear, and concise – that’s not going to change because we have faster ways of getting our words to many people – you still have to write well.”

Strasner agrees. She feels the book “goes back to a more disciplined nature of writing. We live in age where anyone can be a writer; people blog, people write journals, people get published and you think ‘I could’ve written that’.”
The main thing Strasner respects about the book is the idea that “there’s a lot of study that goes into becoming a writer” – it’s not just something that someone can simply do. It must be worked at it.

On Writing Well is filled with constant reminders that writing is hard work, but to remember to “sell yourself, and your subject will exert its own appeal.” And as always, that “good writing has an aliveness that keeps the reader reading.”