Re: Individual vs. Departmental Writer's Voice

[Janice Gelb <janiceg -at- marvin -dot- eng -dot- sun -dot- com>]

In article 1631B1EA5E24D41181590008C72B5C8A0EB48C -at- EXCHANGE, EEstep -at- mrisystem -dot- com (Elizabeth Estep) writes:
>
>The question: 
>
>Assuming that two modules are writing to the same general audience
>(accounting clerks and accountants), is it appropriate for a departmental
>editor to make edits to keep two separate manuals (say one for an Accounts
>Receivable module and one for an Accounts Payable module) consistent in tone
>and type of language? 
>
>We've two writers making the following arguments: 
>
>1 - Only the types of style as defined in the departmental style guide (i.e.
>punctuation, limited passive voice, bulleted lists formats) should be
>enforced. Anything else is "individual writing style" and should be allowed
>because otherwise a) the writer is stripped of creativity, and b) there's a
>negative impact on the writer-editor relationship. 
>
>2 - Manuals should be consistent in terminology, phrasing, and organization,
>except where differences are required based on the audience. The editor
>should edit manuals aimed at the same audience to sound as much as possible
>as if they were written by the same person. 
>

This is a difficult question to answer without knowing the 
types of edits to which writer #1 is objecting. Generally, 
manuals from the same company should sound as if they come 
from the same source, so they should reflect a consistent 
style. OTOH, too strict a style (e.g., making an editorial 
distinction between using "refer to" for cross-references 
to external sources and "see" for internal ones) probably 
won't be noticed by the reading audience. 

Past a certain point, individuality is fine, but if writers 
really value creative writing above all else, they should be 
writing fiction under their own names. Once they write manuals 
coming from a company, they have to submerge their creativity 
to a certain extent for the greater good of a common voice 
from the company.

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