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

["Fiona Hurley" <fiona -dot- hurley -at- gtnet -dot- com>]

> 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.

Jean M Auel (author of the "Clan of the Cave Bear" series of books) used to
be a technical writer for Tektronic. If you've ever read the books, you'll
know that they contain passages that could have come from the User's Guide
to Ice Age Survival. I was half expecting an index with entries such as:
mammoths
  cooking
  hunting
  skins, uses of
  See also fur wraps, recipes

They're still a pretty good read, BTW.





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