TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:How to deal with incorrect editing? From:Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 29 Dec 2003 13:03:01 -0500
Rachael Lininger wondered: <<The first piece of writing I gave to my
manager was changed to be ungrammatical. I tried to point this out, but
was afraid to push very hard. I've since checked my references to make
sure I'm right, and I am.>>
Push, but not hard. We editors are only human, and sometimes we screw
up--particularly if we're new to the job, but even we grizzled veterans
occasionally have our moments. The key here is to understand that
writer-editor relationships should be collaborative and supportive, not
adversarial, and it's worth going the extra mile to avoid outright
combat.
Talk to the editor, and start by thanking them for what they did
right--you can be appropriately and honestly grateful for that part of
the work. Then raise any problems, explaining your position and why you
feel you're right. Ask what bothered them about the original writing,
then propose a solution that addresses their concern. Even if your
original text was correct, this gives the editor a clear message that
you want to work with them, not against them, and that the goal is to
give them one less thing to correct next time. Most editors appreciate
authors with an open mind.
Of course, not all who dress as editors are really editors, and some
people who fall into the role without adequate training don't have a
clue about the notion of collaboration. If it's truly a question of
making something that's right into something that's wrong, and the
editor won't admit their error, sometimes you must enlist an arbitrator
to help them see the light. Much though I advocate cooperation, I've
occasionally gone to the mat with an editor over errors that I simply
couldn't accept. Try negotiation first, but don't back down if they're
wrong and will cause problems by that wrongness.
RoboHelp for FrameMaker is a NEW online publishing tool for FrameMaker that
lets you easily single-source content to online Help, intranet, and Web.
The interface is designed for FrameMaker users, so there is little or no
learning curve and no macro language required! Call 800-718-4407 for
competitive pricing or download a trial at: http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l4
---
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.
