Style

Style is what distinguishes one piece of writing from another, but more especially one writer from another. Henry David Thoreau's style is different from Henry James' which is yet again different from G.K. Chesterton's. Jane Austen's style is a rippling stream or bubbling pool and Charlotte Brontë's is an erupting volcano. Style must occur naturally. If it is put on, the reader will notice, and be put off. As Zinsser writes, "Sell yourself, and your subject will exert its own appeal. Believe in your own identity and your own opinions. Proceed with confidence, generating it by put will-power. Writing is an act of ego, and you might as well admit it. Use its energy to keep yourself going" (26).

Quiz

1. Whose work is this? "We became--at least I became--dressy. It was the age of the "knut": of "spread" ties with pins in them, of very low cut coats and trousers worn very high to show startling socks, and brogue shoes with immensely wide laces. Something of all this had already trickled to me from the College through my brother, who was now becoming sufficiently senior to aspire to knuttery. Pogo completed the process. A more pitiful ambition for a lout of an overgrown fourteen-year-old with a shilling a week pocket money could hardly be imagined; the more so since I am one of those on whom Nature has laid the doom that whatever they buy and whatever they wear they will always look as if they had come out of an old clothes shop. I cannot even now remember without embarrassment the concern that I then felt about pressing my trousers and (filthy habit) plastering my hair with oil. A new element had entered my life: Vulgarity. Up till now I had committed every other sin and folly within my power, but I had not yet been flashy."

2. In what novel do the following characters appear? Clara Middleton, Vernon Whitford, Sir Willoughby Patterne

Answers to the previous quiz
1. A more concise version of this sentence would be Many people attended the subscription series' third concert.
2. The characters Sir Harry Otway, Mrs. Butterworth, and Mr. Floyd appear in E.M. Forster's A Room With A View.

Organizing the Info

We've finished brainstorming. Now it's time to organize the info, to decide what we'll discuss first. Sometimes this won't be difficult because the topic will determine the organization, such as a paper on a process, or a journey. Or perhaps you are comparing and contrasting two things. But sometimes, many times, we aren't writing that sort of paper. And it can be difficult to decide in what order all the info goes, and because it's difficult, because I need this reminder more than any other, I'll end this blog with a quote from William Zinsser's On Writing Well:

"Different subjects call for different approaches. Your job is to present your material in the way that serves it best: to find the right voice and the right framework. Maybe you should be strongly present in your story; maybe not. Usually the material tells you at the start how it wants to be narrated. But after that the writer must be in charge, shaping and organizing. Organizing is the most unsung and untaught of the writing skills, but it's just as important as knowing how to write a clear and pleasing sentence. All your clear and pleasing sentences will add up to chaos if you don't keep remembering that writing is linear and sequential, that logic is the glue that holds it together, that tension must be maintained between every sentence and every paragraph, and that narrative--good old-fashioned storytelling--is what should pull the reader along without his ever noticing the tug. The only thing the reader should notice, subconsciously, is that you have made a sensible plan for the trip and know where you're going. Every step should be inevitable" (Zinsser 244).

Note

Zinsser, William. On Writing Well. 4th ed. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1990.

Solutions to Friday Quiz; Book Review

For some reason, I was not able to copy and paste from Friday's post to this so I could type in the solutions, nor was I able to copy and paste from another application the quiz with solutions, so I decided to add the answers to Friday's blog so you won't have to keep scrolling back and forth. If anyone can explain why I haven't been able to copy and paste on this and provide a solution, please let me know; I have usually been able to copy and paste when necessary.

William Zinsser's On Writing Well

William Zinsser instructs readers on different types of writing and grammar rules while taking them through the writing process from first idea to finished product. In Part I: Principles, he focuses on the aspects of composition applicable to any type of writing, including the relationship between writers and readers, conciseness, and word usage. Part II: Forms covers the larger concerns such as the introduction and the conclusion and different types of subjects, including regional, science, business, sports, and criticism. Part III: Attitudes emphasizes what happens after writers finish the first draft as he gives instruction and reassurance on word processor use during the rewriting process, how writers can trust their material to tell them when to omit passages, and details on the decision-making process. Throughout the book he uses examples to illustrate his instructions and explains them well. Some examples are from writing read by everyone on occasion, such as workplace memos, and others from specific works. Zinsser has new ideas for the readers but he gives these in a conversational "we're learning together" tone that, along with the information itself, makes this book helpful to anyone who wants to learn to write well.

Note

Zinsser, William. On Writing Well. 4th ed. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1990.