Re: You're not the only person who can write

[Solveig Haugland <solveig -at- techwriterstuff -dot- com>]

Hi all,

I think this general topic is a good point. And I apologize if this has been
covered already, but I just wanted to mention that many people mean different
things by "good writing".

* Standard stereotypical definition of good writing -- knowing your nouns and
verbs and participles and Elements of Style. Often but not always with a serious,
no-frills style.

* Essential elements of good technical documentation -- the tasks the users need
to do, organized well, and presented in a complete but concise way that makes it
as easy as possible for the user to do them.

* And then there's the aspects of teaching, instructional design, all that stuff,
which is helpful when you're presenting new concepts though not necessarily when
you're just showing people how to wrap text in a spreadsheet.

* Good writing could also mean something readable and engaging and interesting,
which can apply effectively to technical documentation. Look at "Head First Java"
or "Not Just Java".

* And other stuff I'm not thinking of just now.

So "good writing" is, well, a rather vast topic, and often people use that same
term to describe different subsets of the whole. I don't have any particular
point beyond that, just that discussing "good writing" can be a bit complicated
because of all the things it can cover.

Solveig
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
solveig -at- techwriterstuff -dot- com

"I'm the Editor Your Momma Warned You About."
http://www.techwriterstuff.com
Products expressing the agony and ecstacy of being a techwriter.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~