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Re: What makes a technical writer: writing talent first.
Subject:Re: What makes a technical writer: writing talent first. From:Mark Baker <mbaker -at- OMNIMARK -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 28 Apr 1999 10:16:30 -0400
Beth Kane writes
>To me, tech writing is less related to "technical" and more related to
>"writing."
> ...
>You must have _both_: writing talent and technical curiosity/aptitude.
>I maintain that it's easier to learn the latter, later in life, than it is
>to suddenly pick up a talent for clear and concise explanation.
I think we have to recognize that the amount of both technical and writing
talent needed depends heavily on the job. Technically, a technical
communicator needs to be able to discourse freely with a user of the product
they are writing about. I have documented office phone systems and I have
documented a programming language. It requires less technical aptitude to
discourse freely with users of telephones than with users of programming
languages. The degree of technical talent required is proportional to the
difficulty of the product, and the process the product is used for.
Similarly, it takes different level of writing talent to write different
kinds of material. Conceptual introductions, for instance, are much more
difficult to write than procedural reference material. The degree of writing
talent required is proportional to the difficulty of the writing task.
I agree that good writing can be hard to learn. While good prose
construction is a learnable craft, there is still and intangible quality to
good writing. But this is also true of many technical fields. Programming is
a good example. While it is prima-facia a mechanical skill which should be
learnable, in fact it is a high art with as many intangibles as good
writing. While you don't have to be the world's greatest programmer to
document a programming language, you do have to have some aptitude for the
art, and that is no easier to acquire than an aptitude for the art of
writing.
Few professions maintain the fiction that any practitioner is a suitable
replacement for any other. (Teaching is a lamentable exception.) We don't
expect podiatrists to do brain surgery of electrical engineers to build
bridges. Lets not kid ourselves that technical communication is a
homogeneous profession.
---
Mark Baker
Manager, Technical Communication
OmniMark Technologies Corporation
1400 Blair Place
Gloucester, Ontario
Canada, K1J 9B8
Phone: 613-745-4242
Fax: 613-745-5560
Email mbaker -at- omnimark -dot- com
Web: http://www.omnimark.com
