William Zinsser Writing Style Analysis

Principle and Methods Reflection
Writing may seem like a gift that some do not possess, but it is simply a skill that develops with long hours of practice and dedication. William Zinsser constructed a novel explaining the true amount of effort writing requires. He introduced ten principles and methods that enhance writing skills when perfected. These principles take concepts that most upcoming writers struggle to grasp and strip them into easily taught lessons. Out of the ten principles and methods introduced, five reflected strengths and weakness that would be valuable in my personal repertoire once corrected and mastered. Simplicity, clutter, style, audience, and leading and ending are the principles and methods that exhibit my weaknesses, …show more content…
Two of these are style and audience. Style is a principle that can make or break texts because it contains the personality of the author. It breathes life into whatever is being written and places a piece of the writer within the text. In my personal writings I manage to leave glimpses of my personality and attitude towards the subject by the words I use, my sentence structure, and how I present the topic. It does not matter what type of piece I am writing. My writings reflect my characteristics as the author, making style a trait that I am close to mastering. Zinsser describes audience as the targeted reader. One must write with the audience in mind in order to craft a piece that would hold the interest of the desired target. It is easy for the author to stray from their style in order to please the audience, creating a lifeless work. Throughout my short writing career, I have not encountered any difficulty with sacrificing style for audience. The audience only contributes to the content mentioned within my work. The targeted group is interested in the material imbedded in the work and the tone or style of the piece is what holds the interest. These two principles strengthen my writing and simplicity and clutter are two that mar my writings, but there is one that serves to both strengthen and weaken my texts, the lead and the …show more content…
Because the lead is the initial tug on the readers’ interest, it must be strong enough to keep their interest as well as grasp it. I have no issues with gaining the attention of the audience within the first paragraph. I open with a hook that draws interest and follow with several equally interesting sentences. The ending of a piece does not come as easily to me. Zinsser mentioned keeping the ending just as interesting as the beginning and bringing the piece full circle by tying in details from the introduction. When ending a piece, I struggle with completely mimicking the introduction I crafted. The problem I face with ending my writing is the lack of strength in my concluding paragraph. The end hold no sense of importance even though it should wrap up the text in its entirety. Zinsser’s principles and methods prove that there are aspects of writing that are not easy feats, and my own skills are a testament to that as