“[On Writing Well] is full of what might be called tips. But that’s not the point of the book. It’s a book about craft principles that add up to what it means to be a writer…Tips can make someone a better writer but not necessarily a good writer.”

From On Writing Well by William Zinsser, p.48

In his book, On Writing Well, Zinsser responds to a teacher who asked him to give tips for writing to his English class.  He tells the teacher he doesn’t do tips.  The quote above explains why.  It comes down to developing the craft of writing.

The thought of developing within me the craft of writing stirs my soul.  A current ripples within me when I contemplate the endeavor of taking a blank sheet and flooding words across it and then channelling the churning waters so that structure and style begin to form and the passion in me flows out and sweeps my readers away.  That is a good writer.  That is an author who is on fire for his craft.  That is who I am striving to be.

“Content management.  Isn’t that what we used to call ‘writing’?  I’ve been in the content-management business all my life.  I look for content that interests or amuses me, and then I manage it into a narrative.  It’s what all writers do if they want to keep paying the bills.  Dickens did it very well.  So does every good crime writer: Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, Raymond Chandler.” (From The Writer Who Stayed, William Zinsser, page 4)

I love simplicity.  I live by the cliché, “less is more.”  Let me illustrate.  I could tell you: “Create tension in the muscular fibers of your bicep to create a medial flexion while simultaneously initiating extension of the proximal digit of the extremity.  Time and gauge the distance to trip the circuit to cut the flow of alternating current so the incandescent filament stops emanating photons.”  Or, I could say “flip the switch to turn off the light.”  Too often, we make writing far more difficult than it needs be.  When Zinsser refers to writing as “content management” he gives me a simple plan.

Where do I see a plan in that statement?  Change it to an imperative.  Manage content.  Now I know what to do.  When I begin writing, no matter what the genre, I begin with a batch of content.  If it’s prose, I have facts and arguments.  If it’s fiction, I have characters and a story arc.  Either way I have a collection of content.  So now I need to manage that content.  I must organize it.  Refine it.  Make it do what I want it to do.  Looking at my writing as content management makes it simple for me.