Re: You're SUPPOSED to have good communication skills if you're a tech writer

["Bonnie Granat" <bgranat -at- editors-writers -dot- info>]

From: "Bruce Byfield" <bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com>

:
: Andrew Plato wrote:
:
: >How then is writing any different. A writer who proudly proclaims he/she is
a
: >good writer is like a doctor saying he understands medicine. YOU"RE
SUPPOSED TO
: >HAVE GOOD COMMUNICATION SKILLS IF YOU CALL YOURSELF A WRITER!
: >
: >
: What I don't understand is the idea that good writing skills can exist
: in isolation.

I don't think that is at all what Michael was saying. No, I don't think he was
saying anything of the sort.

:
: But the need for content is especially important in a genre as practical
: as technical writing - nobody is going to admire the writing skills in
: your manual or help system if there's no content.

Oh, dear. I fear the malady is indeed catching. Nobody said this, Bruce.
Nobody has advocated no content.


This seems such a
: basic point that I feel that I'm being condescending even mentioning it.
: Yet, from the number who think that writing skills are enough, the point
: seems nowhere near as basic as I imagine.
:

Who said writing skills are enough? A technical writer writes about technical
subjects. A technical writer is not a technie wannabe who can't make it as a
technie and cannot write either, but who lords his alleged technical expertise
over fellow writers.

A technical writer does not need to possess vast knowledge about technical
subjects, but needs to be highly interested in them, able to learn them -- as
required to perform the job, and able to write about them with grace and
accuracy. For an expert audience, greater technical knowledge would be
necessary -- that's obvious.

It is utterly absurd to say that a technical writer must possess highly
developed knowledge about a technical subject. That is simply not true. *Some*
technical writers need to possess such knowledge because of their audience,
but not all need such depth in a technical subject. The joy of learning and of
explaining technical concepts to others is sufficient.

Were the whole truth to be told, there is in fact, a good article that could
come of this that would present the various gradations of "technical" that are
indeed responsible for this never-ending verbal battle over whose ox is bigger
and nastier.

___________________________________
Bonnie Granat
Granat Editorial Services
http://www.editors-writers.info





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