RE: techwriting style vs press release

Subject: RE: techwriting style vs press release
From: Lynne Wright <Lynne -dot- Wright -at- tiburoninc -dot- com>
To: "Combs, Richard" <richard -dot- combs -at- Polycom -dot- com>, "Porrello, Leonard" <lporrello -at- illumina -dot- com>, "techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2012 18:07:42 +0000

Anybody who's gone to open mic night at the spoken word café or thumbed through a lesser literary mag will know that there is AT LEAST as much tremendously awful poetry as there is bad tech writing.

Yes, being able to apply some creative problem-solving skills will improve your output, but knowing how to craft oblique metaphors and pretty wordscapes? Can't see that being useful in a medium where the key is to communicate simply and directly.

-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+lynne -dot- wright=tiburoninc -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+lynne -dot- wright=tiburoninc -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of Combs, Richard
Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2012 1:56 PM
To: Porrello, Leonard; techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: RE: techwriting style vs press release

Porrello, Leonard wrote:

> And once again American anti-intellectualism rears its ugly head. The
> poet is one who has mastered the most difficult aspects of language.
> Going back to Plato, most if not all of the greatest prose writers in
> the western intellectual tradition were also poets.
>
> Why would anyone want to keep students away, for any amount of time,
> from the best examples of great writing that our culture has to offer?
> If everyone who wanted to write were trained by a poet, the airwaves
> and internet wouldn't be so full of nonsense. Technical documents
> wouldn't be so poorly written. The problem with commercial writing
> isn't that writers can't master story telling or economy or who, what,
> where, when, why, and how. It is that they have no poetic sense.

I've encountered quite a bit of bad technical documentation over the years. In no case have I ever thought that the problem was lack of poetic sense, imagery, emotions, or self-expression. :-)

Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Polycom, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
303-223-5111
------
rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
303-903-6372
------






^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Create and publish documentation through multiple channels with Doc-To-Help. Choose your authoring formats and get any output you may need.

Try Doc-To-Help, now with MS SharePoint integration, free for 30-days.

http://bit.ly/doc-to-help

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as Lynne -dot- Wright -at- tiburoninc -dot- com -dot-

To unsubscribe send a blank email to
techwr-l-leave -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com


Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.techwhirl.com/email-discussion-groups/ for more resources and info.

Looking for articles on Technical Communications? Head over to our online magazine at http://techwhirl.com

Looking for the archived Techwr-l email discussions? Search our public email archives @ http://techwr-l.com/archives

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Create and publish documentation through multiple channels with Doc-To-Help. Choose your authoring formats and get any output you may need.

Try Doc-To-Help, now with MS SharePoint integration, free for 30-days.

http://bit.ly/doc-to-help

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-

To unsubscribe send a blank email to
techwr-l-leave -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com


Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.techwhirl.com/email-discussion-groups/ for more resources and info.

Looking for articles on Technical Communications? Head over to our online magazine at http://techwhirl.com

Looking for the archived Techwr-l email discussions? Search our public email archives @ http://techwr-l.com/archives


Follow-Ups:

References:
RE: techwriting style vs press release: From: Bowes, Rebecca
Re: techwriting style vs press release: From: Peter Neilson
RE: techwriting style vs press release: From: Brian.Henderson
RE: techwriting style vs press release: From: Porrello, Leonard
RE: techwriting style vs press release: From: Combs, Richard

Previous by Author: RE: Having fun with your resume - good idea/bad idea
Next by Author: RE: techwriting style vs press release
Previous by Thread: RE: techwriting style vs press release
Next by Thread: RE: techwriting style vs press release


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads