《On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction》是一部关于非虚构写作的专业工具书，作者William Zinsser在书中通过自己在阅读和写作中不断积累的经验，写作中应该遵循的原则、方法、形式和心态，剖析了一个优秀的写作者通过运用语言创造出最大限度的清晰度和力度来吸引读者一段接一段地读下去的奥妙。
作者强调文字的简洁，写出我心的个人风格，信奉A love and respect for the language is evident on every page，方法最简单却最实用。书中还提供了各种非虚构文学的写作方法，包括访谈、游记、回忆录，甚至科学与技术，商务写作，体育、评议、幽默等，对写作小白来说都提供了很有价值的启发。
本文是关于《On writing well》中写作原则和写作技巧的读书笔记。
一、 写作原则
1.动手写。
写作不是一种天赋，而是任何一个人在经过科学训练后都能获得的一种能力。写作中最重要的是动手开始写，而不是寻找灵感。
绝大部分情况下，我们并不是因为有了灵感才开始写作，而是开始写作后才有了灵感。这是因为写作本身就是深度思考的过程，脑海中原本不清晰的逻辑和概念在写作中会慢慢理清，思路也会慢慢打开。静下心来，开始动笔，这是写出好文章的第一步。
2.好文章是改出来的。
好文章并不是灵感突现的产物，而是在粗糙原稿上无数次修改后的结果。就像William Zinsser在书中所说，要动手写，写完后大声把你的文字读出来，修改，再继续改，一直改到自己满意为止。好文章是改出来的。
3.写出我心。
热爱语言，尊重自己写的每一个字，带着情感去创作，这样才能写出优秀的作品。
二、写作技巧
1. Simplicity & Clutter 简洁
简洁性是On Writing Well整本书的灵魂。一句话也不多，一句话也不少就是这本书描述的写作最高境界。
2. Style 风格
最基本的原则就是做你自己。只有把自己融入到作品中，写出我心，才会有自己的风格。
The point isthat you have to strip your writing down before you can build it back up. Youmust know what the essential tools are and what job they were designed to do.Extending the metaphor of carpentry, it's first necessary to be able to sawwood neatly and to drive nails. Later you can bevel the edges or add elegantfinials, if that's your taste. But you can never forget that you are practicinga craft that's based on certain principles. If the nails are weak, your housewill collapse. If your verbs are weak and your syntax is rickety, yoursentences will fall apart.
为什么必须要有自己的风格呢？
First, learn tohammer the nails, and if what you build is sturdy and serviceable, takesatisfaction in its plain strength.
Style is organicto the person doing the writing, as much a part of him as his hair, or, if heis bald, his lack of it. Trying to add style is like adding a toupee.The problem is not that he doesn'tlook well groomed; he does, and we can only admire the wigmaker's skill. Thepoint is that he doesn't look like himself.
Therefore a fundamental rule is: be yourself.
3. The audience 为谁而写
Who am I writing for?
It is a fundamental question, and it has afundamental answer: You are writing for yourself. Don't try to visualize thegreat mass audience. There is no such audience—every reader is a differentperson.Editors and readers don'tknow what they want to read until they read it. Besides, they're always lookingfor something new.
You are writingprimarily to please yourself, and if you go about it with enjoyment you willalso entertain the readers who are worth writing for. If you lose the dullardsback in the dust, you don't want them anyway.
Whatever yourage, be yourself when you write. Never say anything in writing that youwouldn't comfortably say in conversation.
4. Words 措辞
其中深为认同的一点是要写好文章，首先学会模仿。朗读喜欢作家的作品，尽情地模仿他，坚持练习下去，不知不觉中脱胎换骨成了另一个自己。写作需要灵感，但更需要坚持和练习。
Make a habit of reading what is being writtentoday and what has been written by earlier masters. Writing is learned byimitation. If anyone asked me how I learned to write, I'd say I learned byreading the men and women who were doing the kind of writing I wanted to do andtrying to figure out how they did it. But cultivate the best models.
Also get in the habit of using dictionaries.看到这里我很有马上下单买一本同义词词典的冲动！
Suchconsiderations of sound and rhythm should be woven through everything youwrite. If all your sentences move at the same plodding gait, which even yourecognize as deadly but don't know how to cure, read them aloud.
Remember thatwords are the only tools you've got. Learn to use them with originality andcare. And also remember: somebody out there is listening.
5. Unity 整体性
这一部分作者主要强调我们要从小处着眼，细节着手，用心去观察，才能写出与众不同的好文章。
Every writing project must be reduced before you start to write.
Therefore think small.Decide what corner of your subject you're going to bite off, and be content to cover it well and stop. Often you'll find that along the way you've managed to say almost everything you wanted to say about the entire subject.
Enthusiasm is the force that keeps you going and keeps the reader in your grip.When your zest begins to ebb, the reader is the first person to know it.
As for what point you want to make, every successful piece of nonfiction should leave the reader with one provocative thought that he or she didn't have before. Not two thoughts, or five—just one. So decide what single point you want to leave in the reader s mind. It will not only give you a better idea of what route you should follow and what destination you hope to reach; it will affect your decision about tone and attitude. Some points are best made by earnestness,some by dry understatement, some by humor.
文章的结构也很重要，一个好的开头，内容丰富的主体和牛光闪闪的结尾是一篇好的文章的核心三要素。
The most important sentence in any article is the first one. If it doesn't induce the reader to proceed to the second sentence, your article is dead. And if the second sentence doesn't induce him to continue to the third sentence, it's equally dead.
The positivereason for ending well is that a good last sentence—or last paragraph—is a joyin itself. It gives the reader a lift, and it lingers when the article is over.The perfect ending should take your readers slightly by surprise and yet seemexactly right.
这本书的中文译名叫《写作宝典》，你get到了吗？