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The editor should make your two manuals AR and AP read as if they were
written by the same author: after all, all six of you write for the same
company. That's their role. If it's not, what is the editor's role? How have
you been able to define their jurisdiction without this basic premise.
There should be *no* obvious personal stamp. If the standard is "Click
<Next> to continue" I shouldn't see "Click the <Next> button to go to the
next window." If the standard is "Type a 40 character description" I
shouldn't see "Type a description. The length of the field is 40
characters."
Therefore, by reading 6 of your manuals, one from each writer, I shouldn't
be able to tell that they were written by 6 people. They should have the
same wording, the same styles, the same formatting, etc.
Is this easy? No, certainly not. But if you have a department style guide,
you are already ahead of the game. Argument one:
Anything else is "individual writing style" and should be allowed
because otherwise
a) the writer is stripped of creativity
<Technical writing is not about being creative. That's for poets,
novelists, short story writers, opinion writers, etc. TW is about
communicating *facts* about the product you are writing about.>
b) there's a negative impact on the writer-editor relationship.
<If the writer has the style guide, doesn't follow it and the editor
says, "s/b "Click <Next> to continue" that should reflect poorly on the
writer for not following the standard, not the editor. If everyone is
breaking the style guide, change the style guide to what everyone is doing.>
I agree with argument 2.
Paul
<snip>
Manuals should be consistent in terminology, phrasing, and organization,
except where differences are required based on the audience. The editor
should edit manuals aimed at the same audience to sound as much as possible
as if they were written by the same person.
<snip>
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