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Subject:Re: Creativity in Technical Communications From:"Wayne J. Douglass" <wayned -at- VERITY -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 26 Mar 1997 12:17:03 -0800
At 01:36 PM 3/26/97 -0600, Rachael Schumacher wrote:
>My question: Is there a place in technical writing
>for creativity, and if so what are the limitations?
>
Good question, Rachael.
Creativity in technical writing, as in most other endeavors, is regarded
with deep suspicion, especially in a corporate context. Like most formula
writing, technical writing seldom departs from the tried and true. In fact,
going against the grain is frequently undesirable; you don't want to
distract the readers who rely on your text to repair complex pieces of
equipment, for example.
When it occurs at all, creativity in technical writing is frequently hidden
behind the scenes (see the thread on how to extract info from subject matter
experts, for example).
--Wayne Douglass
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