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You're not the first person who's suggested to me that certain kinds
of writers are rare.
While we weren't talking about ability to see structure at the time,
another writer and I were talking about writers in the workplace. She
commented, after talking about many times she got to rewrite something
produced by another professional writer, that many writers are not
very good. She then went on to say, when an organization comes across
a good one, they are often willing to go to great lengths to keep
them.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bruce Byfield" <bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com>
Sent: June 16, 2001 4:44 PM
Subject: Re: Thinking Patterns (was RE: Interviews (5 Year Question))
> John Fleming wrote:
> >
> > Is this a good observation? Are we, as writers, better at certain
> > kinds of instructions than others?
>
> I think it's an even larger issue than that. First as a university
> instructor and later as a tech-writer, I've observed that very few
> people - whether writers or not - have a good sense of structure.
Many
> cannot see the structure of anything longer than a paragraph. Many
more
> have learned one or two structures that they try to use on all
> occasions, and are at a loss when their rote ideas don't work. Only
a
> handful can adapt their favorite structures, or generate new ones to
fit
> new information or requirements.
>
> My guess would be that many of the people who passed through your
> company fall into the second category. Standard-issue tech-writers,
> really - and I say that to observe, not to insult. Unfortunately,
> structurally-aware writers are rare, and often expensive.
--
John Fleming
Technical Writer
Edmonton, Alberta
email: johnf -at- ecn -dot- ab -dot- ca
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