What are the simplest tricks to writing well?

“I didn’t have time to write a short letter so I wrote a long one instead.”

Mark Twain

The tips are from “On Writing Well” by William Zinsser and Draft №4 by John McPhee

• Take long sentences and make them short
• Simplify. Look for the clutter in your writing and simplify it.
• Eliminate any unnecessary words. Edit like you are going to get $5 for every word you delete.
• Re-examine each sentence you put on paper. Is every word doing new work? Can any thought be expressed with more economy? Is anything pompous or pretentious or faddish?
• Take confusing ideas and make them clear
• Write for yourself not others. “You are writing primarily to please yourself, and if you go about it with enjoyment you will also entertain the readers who are worth writing for.”
• Think of writing as a process not as a product.
• For a far richer and more specific list of alternative words, use a dictionary, not the “scattershot wad” in a thesaurus
• Take unrelated concepts in different areas and make them related
• Have confidence in yourself as a writer. When you’re getting nowhere and “you don’t know what to do. Stop everything. Stop looking at the notes. Hunt through your mind for a good beginning. Then write it. Write a lead.”