Re: Patronizing - and it was RE: Out of Work Tech Writers

Subject: Re: Patronizing - and it was RE: Out of Work Tech Writers
From: "Steve Arrants" <stephena -at- compbear -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Wed, 19 Jun 2002 18:00:15 -0700


"Sean O'Donoghue-Hayes (EAA)" <Sean.O'Donoghue-Hayes -at- ericsson -dot- com -dot- au>
writes:
[...]

> I sometimes get that I am being patronizing when I describe to someone how
> to do something, as I tend to describe each step in clear
> "technical-writerese detail". Such as (1) careful with the hot water, (2)
> now you add the coffee....

[...]

> Has anyone else noticed this? Is this just a trait of people who are, or
want to be, technical writers?
>Or a conditioned reflex that develops over time from doing a job where we
> are "constantly" expected to explain in simple terms exactly what people
> should do - whether the task be simple or complex?

Oh yes, yes. I took a fiction writing class at the extension college here
in Sonoma county (CA). The
first criticisms I got was that my chapter read like a printer manual. I
had to unlearn the way I normally write
as a technical writer. You don't tell everything in fiction if you want
people to keep reading. Dry and complete might
be good for a chip installation guide; for a mystery, though, you end up
killing your audience.
A humbling experience, to be sure.

===================
steve arrants
http://www.compbear.com Certified Cruelty Free
"The dream was marvelous, but the terror was great.
We must treasure the dream, whatever the terror."
---Gilgamesh




^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Check out RoboDemo for tutorials! It makes creating full-motion software
demonstrations and other onscreen support materials easy and intuitive.
Need RoboHelp? Save $100 on RoboHelp Office in May with our mail-in rebate.
Go to http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l

Your monthly sponsorship message here reaches more than
5000 technical writers, providing 2,500,000+ monthly impressions.
Contact Eric (ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com) for details and availability.

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.


Follow-Ups:

References:
Patronizing - and it was RE: Out of Work Tech Writers: From: Sean O'Donoghue-Hayes (EAA)

Previous by Author: Re: UML know-how
Next by Author: Re: Re(2): Out of Work Tech Writers
Previous by Thread: Patronizing - and it was RE: Out of Work Tech Writers
Next by Thread: Re: Patronizing - and it was RE: Out of Work Tech Writers


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads