Book · 336 pages

On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction

William Zinsser · Harper Collins / Google Books Paid Beginner

Before you worry about sounding different online, this teaches you to sound clear, and clarity is where a real voice starts. Zinsser's whole argument is that good writing means stripping the clutter and relaxing into how you actually think, not performing. It is the calmest antidote to advice that tells you to add hooks and hot takes.

• Clear thinking is the basis of clear writing: cut every word that is not doing work.
• Be yourself and write with warmth; readers can tell when you are faking a voice.
• Style is not decoration you bolt on, it is what is left when you stop trying to impress.