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276 ON WRITING WELL acter. As a teen-ager, it turned out, he had gone with his father on the haj to Mecca (many Tuareg eventually converted to Islam) and had stayed for seven years in Arabia and Egypt to study English, French and Arabic. The Tuareg have a language of their own, with a complex written alphabet, called Tamashek. Mohammed Ali said he had to take us first to the police station in Timbuktu to have our passports checked. I've seen too many movies to feel comfortable in this kind of interview situation, and as we sat in a dungeon-like room being interrogated by two armed policemen, not far from a jail cell where we could see a man and a boy sleeping, I had another flashback—this one to The Four Feathers and the scene of the British soldiers long imprisoned at Omdurman. The oppressiveness stayed with me when we got back out and Mohammed Ah" walked us through the forlorn city, dutifully showing us its few "points of interest": the Grand Mosque, the market, and three dilapidated houses, commemorated by plaques, where Laing, Caillié and the German explorer Heinrich Barth lived. We didn't see any other tourists. Again, the Four Feathers allusion, like the mention of Beau Geste, will bring a chill of recognition to anyone who knows the movie. The fact that the movie was based on a real campaign— Kitcheners expedition up the Nile to avenge the Mahdi's defeat of General Gordon—gives the sentence an edge of fear. Obviously Arab justice in outposts of the Sahara is still far from merciful. Once more the asterisk announces a change of mood. It says, in effect: "So much for Timbuktu itself. Now we're going to get down to the real business of the story: looking for a camel caravan." Making these divisions in a long and complex article not only helps the reader to follow your road map. It also takes
A Writer's Decisions 277 some of the anxiety out of the act of writing, enabling you to break your material into manageable chunks and to take one chunk at a time. The total task seems less formidable, and panic is staved off. At the Azalai Hotel, where we appeared to be the only guests, we asked Mohammed Ali how many tourists were in Timbuktu to greet the salt caravan. "Six," he said. "The six of you." "But..." Something in me didn't want to finish the sentence. I took a different approach. "I don't understand what this word 'Azalai' means. Why is it called the Azalai Salt Caravan?" "That's the word the French used," he said, "when they organized the caravan and all the camels made the trip together once a year, around the beginning of December." "What do they do now?" several voices asked. "Well, when Mali got its independence they decided to let the traders bring their salt caravans to Timbuktu whenever they wanted to." Mali got its independence in 1960. We were in Timbuktu for an event that hadn't been held in 27 years. The last sentence is a small bomb dropped into the story. But it is allowed to speak for itself—just the facts, please—without comment. I didn't add an exclamation point to notify readers that it was an amazing moment. That would have spoiled their own pleasure of discovery. Trust your material. My wife, among others, was not surprised. We took the news calmly: old travel hands who have faith that they will find their camel caravan one way or another. Mainly our reaction was one of amazement that the canons of truth-inadvertising had been so brazenly disregarded. Mohammed Ali
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On Writing Well
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On Writing Well cssao THE CLASSIC G
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C O N T E N T S osso INTRODUCTION 1
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INTRODUCTION CSSQ When I first wrot
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INTRODUCTION xi writers worse. Good
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P A R T I -esee- Principles
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4 ON WRITING WELL Absolutely not, h
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6 ON WRITING WELL of gimmicks to "p
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8 ON WRITING WELL struction that le
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10 ON WRITING WELL is too dumb or t
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12 ON WRITING WELL Faced with such
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14 ON WRITING WELL typical of hundr
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16 ON WRITING WELL think there's mu
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QSSSO Style So much for early warni
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20 ON WRITING WELL unique. The read
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22 ON WRITING WELL I realize that t
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24 ON WRITING WELL aging boxers don
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26 ON WRITING WELL tion or sleep. N
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28 ON WRITING WELL who fill the air
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30 ON WRITING WELL religion and the
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32 ON WRITING WELL and it allows fo
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34 ON WRITING WELL someone is forev
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36 ON WRITING WELL instance, and yo
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CSSSO Usage All this talk about goo
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40 ON WRITING WELL Mumford that the
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42 ON WRITING WELL Just where Webst
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44 ON WRITING WELL Meanwhile the ba
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46 ON WRITING WELL back, though I'd
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8 CSS30 Unity You learn to write by
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Unity 51 Such fatal mixtures are co
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Unity 53 When your zest begins to e
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csso The Lead and the Ending The mo
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The Lead and the Ending 57 I've oft
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The Lead and the Ending 59 One reas
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The Lead and the Ending 61 warehous
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The Lead and the Ending 63 general
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The Lead and the Ending 65 (lia and
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The Lead and the Ending 67 Somethin
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Bits & Pieces 69 sive-voice writers
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Bits & Pieces 71 tences become long
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Bits & Pieces 73 pistol might be lo
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Bits & Pieces 75 go." Look for all
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Bits & Pieces 77 The common reactio
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Bits & Pieces 79 who are so busy th
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Bits & Pieces 81 of thought. Compar
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Bits & Pieces 83 This still leaves
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Bits & Pieces 85 eral different way
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Bits & Pieces 87 which sick people
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Bits & Pieces 89 It's no longer nec
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Bits & Pieces 91 know that about ho
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96 ON WRITING WELL midst, and none
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98 ON WRITING WELL Magazines were s
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1 2 CSSO Writing About People The I
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102 ON WRITING WELL building turned
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104 ON WRITING WELL roommate. With
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106 ON WRITING WELL Obviously the t
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108 ON WRITING WELL used words and
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110 ON WRITING WELL call the person
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112 ON WRITING WELL revelation by J
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114 ON WRITING WELL Now, nobody thi
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1 3 -esee- Writing About Places The
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118 ON WRITING WELL rency. Half the
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120 ON WRITING WELL Bernardino out
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122 ON WRITING WELL American spore.
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130 ON WRITING WELL Nine of my site
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132 ON WRITING WELL recalled that u
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134 ON WRITING WELL want to see pop
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136 ON WRITING WELL to the roots of
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138 ON WRITING WELL My father loved
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140 ON WRITING WELL Row overlooking
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142 ON WRITING WELL chagrin was acc
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144 ON WRITING WELL Johnson, who gr
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146 ON WRITING WELL tors on adulter
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1 5 OSSO Science and Technology Tak
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150 ON WRITING WELL ing it up—but
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156 ON WRITING WELL The nautilus ha
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158 ON WRITING WELL really belt it
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160 ON WRITING WELL constant relati
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162 ON WRITING WELL Constructed lik
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1 6 csso Business Writing Writing i
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168 ON WRITING WELL First notice ho
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170 ON WRITING WELL During this yea
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172 ON WRITING WELL edly. Whenever
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174 ON WRITING WELL needs. It began
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176 ON WRITING WELL I learned about
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182 ON WRITING WELL What ever becam
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186 ON WRITING WELL lete's psychic
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188 ON WRITING WELL moment is ripe
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190 ON WRITING WELL making the driv
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192 ON WRITING WELL little League,
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1 8 CRSSD Writing About the Arts Cr
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196 ON WRITING WELL Probably only t
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198 ON WRITING WELL a play, don't j
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1 9 csso Humor Humor is the secret
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210 ON WRITING WELL use to disguise
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214 ON WRITING WELL heart, the home
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216 ON WRITING WELL Ade was a repor
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218 ON WRITING WELL medium—dogger
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224 ON WRITING WELL sion, said, "We
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Page 245: PART IV Og&O Attitudes
Page 248 and 249: 234 ON WRITING WELL There is a kind
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Page 262 and 263: 248 ON WRITING WELL Also remember t
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Page 268 and 269: 254 ON WRITING WELL WOODPECKER, APR
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Page 278 and 279: 264 ON WRITING WELL Writing is rela
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Page 310 and 311: 296 SOURCES 66 "Coolidge," by H. L.
Page 312 and 313: 298 SOURCES 188-90 Confessions of a
Page 315 and 316: I N D E X osao Aciman, André, 136
Page 317 and 318: Index 303 Eisenhower, Dwight, 239 E
Page 319 and 320: Index 305 Lin, Maya, 130 Lincoln, A
Page 321 and 322: Index 307 Satire, 209 Saturday Even
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