Re: Technical Writing - What's the catch?

[John Cook <john -dot- cook -at- gmail -dot- com>]

> "I'm gonna copy some of the stuff in this novel to a Tech Writers'
> newsgroup posting.  I'll mix-in some other stuff about how nobody
> respects tech writers.  You watch.  In six hours they'll all be wailing in
> unison, and nobody will call bullshit.  Works every time."
> 
> Look, I'm having a little fun here, and I apologize to Rahul -- if he's legit.
> 
> Yet he asked for it, so he got it.
> 
> LQ

(briefly delurking)

Unless I'm missing something, this piece appears to me to be an essay
conveying an opinion, not a white paper, not a chapter in a technical
document.

Give the man a break.

Rahul sounds like he loves words.  I wager you can say the same for
any of us reading this list.  So what if he sounds like Tycho
(reference to the Penny Arcade gaming author)?  That's his
prerogative.  I happen to love Tycho's writing.  Is it genuine?  Is it
parody?  All I know is that he has a brilliantly verbose vocabulary,
painting with words as if they were colors of the rainbow and not mere
utilitarian implements.  Tycho has inspired in me a gleeful abandon
that I had previously denied myself when writing essays.

It is a completely different deal with other writing that I do.  When
writing tech and gaming posts for an online site, I write as a
journalist.  When writing blog posts, I write as a fan.  When writing
novels, I write with creative abandon.  And when I write technical
documentation, I write with an emphasis on clarity and brevity, where
my focus is on the accuracy of the content, the presentation to the
end-user, and the deliberate use of language appropriate to the
project.

I suspect it is the same with many here.

With that said, clarity is almost always an important component, even
when expressing one's opinion in an essay.  I get that.  That's a
lesson that comes with experience, especially when you're looking to
stimulate dialogue and not just provoke a response.

I hope that this thread will end up being just that, an ultimately
positive learning experience, (and not just for Rahul).

Kind regards,

John Cook
Technical Writer
Camtronics Medical Systems

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