Writing is a quiet tug-of-war. One impulse wants to get ideas out honestly. The other questions if it makes sense to someone else. William Zinsser puts this struggle into words through On Writing Well. He gives two pieces of advice that seemingly contradict each other. Don’t lose the reader to distraction, but write for yourself… not the reader.

Leading to the question: how can the reader matter and not matter at the same time?

Clarity of Thought is Key

When Zinsser discusses losing the reader, he’s talking about clarity. Writing can make perfect sense to the person who created it and absolutely no sense to the reader. That’s unfinished thinking. Zinsser encourages writing that:

• Is confident and purposeful
  
• Conveys ideas naturally and completely
  
• Uses conversational language

Writing with clarity communicates ideas effectively. Mastering the tools of writing means simplifying, pruning and creating order — making sentences lean and direct. Following these principles doesn’t deflate writing, it reduces the odds of losing the reader.

Why Writing for Yourself Still Matters

Zinsser argues that writing for an imagined audience is one of the quickest ways to kill genuine voice. The moment writing starts guessing what people want, it becomes generic. When we write for ourselves and go about it with enjoyment, we entertain the readers who are worth writing for.

Furthermore, Sandra Delgado explains it well in “Why Writing for Yourself is More Important than Writing for Others”. Writing for yourself lets your true voice shine, enables you to write something meaningful and makes writing feel authentic.

Where the Balance Actually Is

If writing exists only for the writer, it risks becoming self-indulgent. If it exists only for the audience, it risks becoming stale. Strong writing lives between: honest enough to be interesting and clear enough to be readable.

Zinsser isn’t contradicting himself. He’s describing the process of writing — start personal, end purposeful. Similarly, Stephen King offers interesting advice: write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open. 

• When drafting, write for yourself
  
• When revising, think about the reader

Chart a Course… or Don’t

The writing process has no single path. There are countless ways to approach it and just as many distractions to push it off course. Following a rigid route can get in the way, but balance is usually found through writing, clarifying and writing again.

Practice writing for yourself, then revise with intention. Cut the distractions. Shape the ideas. An audience will follow. Eventually, writing won’t feel like a tug-of-war at all.

References:

Zinsser, W. (2016). On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction. Harperperennial.

Delgado, S. (2023, May 26). Why Writing for Yourself is More Important than Writing for Others. Medium.

Ahn, D. (2018, April). Writing Advice from 3 Famous Authors. Medium; The Writing Cooperative.