Re: You're SUPPOSED to have good communication skills if you're a tech writer
How then is writing any different. A writer who proudly proclaims he/she is aWhat I don't understand is the idea that good writing skills can exist in isolation. That's not true of any type of writing. That's why, a writer like Oscar Wilde, although undeniably a talented stylist, seems superficial even for a writer of light comedy - his plays arent' about much of anything (if you don't believe me, try, as I did once, reading his collected plays one after another; the sole exception to my remarks is his novel Dorian Gray, which is so altogether more serious that it might have been written by another writer altogether).
good writer is like a doctor saying he understands medicine. YOU"RE SUPPOSED TO
HAVE GOOD COMMUNICATION SKILLS IF YOU CALL YOURSELF A WRITER!
But the need for content is especially important in a genre as practical as technical writing - nobody is going to admire the writing skills in your manual or help system if there's no content. This seems such a basic point that I feel that I'm being condescending even mentioning it. Yet, from the number who think that writing skills are enough, the point seems nowhere near as basic as I imagine.
--
Bruce Byfield bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com 604.421.7177
http://members.axion.net/~bbyfield
"I denounce the heresy of Creationism
that would dismiss my mourning as sentimental
and allege a unique sentience divided us;
evolution would alow our parallel minds to meet
if love alone could not."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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