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.
RE: Politeness in editing (was: When the thesaurus attacks...)
Subject:RE: Politeness in editing (was: When the thesaurus attacks...) From:"Jane Carnall" <jane -dot- carnall -at- digitalbridges -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 11 Dec 2001 12:23:02 -0000
on 12/10/01 2:56 PM, Jo Baer at jbaer -at- mailbox1 -dot- tcfbank -dot- com eloquently
stated:
> I would indeed suggest the shorter words, along with a comment starting
with
> "In my
> experience..." or "I've found..." and ending with something about why
short
> words
> are better.
Edwyn Kumar wrote:
>The purpose of an edit is to give the writer solid information on how to
>increase the quality of their manuscript. Often, these suggestions can be
>blunt, harsh, straight-forward and very hurtful from a personal standpoint,
>but highly effective from a technical, grammatical and contextual
>perspective.
>I'd rather have a brutal edit, a stellar manuscript and positive reviews,
as
>opposed to a kind edit, mediocre manuscript and brutal reviews!
I've been both editor and writer-being-edited, and I agree with Edwyn: but
I'd say that it's much easier to take the brutal edits if they are
accompanied by praise for the good parts. An excellent editor of my
acquaintance once said that when she sends an MS back she always tries to
begin her remarks with some positive comment and to include positive
comments (even if just a "I like this!" through the MS). That's not always
feasible or appropriate in a tech writing situation, but if there isn't
anything positive at all to say (not even "You put in a lot of work on
this") then you have a major problem that can't be fixed by peer edits...
Jane Carnall
Technical Writer, Digital Bridges, Scotland
Unless stated otherwise, these opinions are mine, and mine alone. Apologies
for the long additional sig: it is added automatically and outwith my
control.
E-mail is an informal method of communication and may be subject to data corruption, interception and unauthorised amendment for which Digital Bridges Ltd will accept no liability. Therefore, it will normally be inappropriate to rely on information contained on e-mail without obtaining written confirmation.
This e-mail may contain confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient (or have received this e-mail in error) please notify the sender immediately and destroy this e-mail. Any unauthorized copying, disclosure or distribution of the material in this e-mail is strictly forbidden.
Collect Royalties, Not Rejection Letters! Tell us your rejection story when you
submit your manuscript to iUniverse Nov. 6 -Dec. 15 and get five free copies of
your book. What are you waiting for? http://www.iuniverse.com/media/techwr
Your monthly sponsorship message here reaches more than
5000 technical writers, providing 2,500,000+ monthly impressions.
Contact Eric (ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com) for details and availability.
---
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.
