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I think what Louise (and others) are getting at when they question the
desirability of "creative" tech writing is a semantic issue. It is very
possible and desirable to be a creative person and a tech writer. Your comments
about getting the job done illustrate precisely the kind of creativity which is
vital in most any career. I think the departure comes when the "creative" tech
writer decides that what is needed (in his writing) is some sort of individual
"personality" (the writer's voice?). I have seen this lead to volumes of
expository prose and convoluted language with endless variations of the same
information presented so the reader (or maybe the writer) would not be bored.
What is needed is a clear, concise way of presenting (frequently obtuse)
information. My advice to you would be to continue to be creative, but be wary
of being misunderstood in your quest to make people aware of that creativity.
Good luck and thanks for the info.
Regards,
Tom
<<Tom -dot- Tomasovic -at- na -dot- nwmarkets -dot- com>>
No corporate opinions expressed here.
______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Resume critique / resources [Ref:C255182]
Author: INTERNET TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU at Multimessage
Date: 5/14/97 9:08 PM
Louise:
>I quickly looked over your resume and two things jump out: First,
>"creative technical writer" is a don't-fit condition. That combination
>doesn't fly -- tech writers aren't supposed to be "creative" (they can
>be, but it's not something you wanna publicize); creative is a term much
>more suited to marketing communication types.
John:
That thing about creativity being looked upon with suspicion by technical types
doesn't make much sense to me.
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