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Again, sorry to be responding to this so belatedly, but I'm behind on
the digests and this struck enough of a nerve that I felt the need to
reply on list.
I'm afraid I must respectfully disagree with a few points ..
<<-----Original Message-----
From: Mark L. Levinson [mailto:nosnivel -at- netvision -dot- net -dot- il]
Creative writing is full of indirectness.
Hemingway said, "If you tell it, you've lost it."
In technical writing, you had better tell it or
for sure you've lost it.>>
This is a bit of a sore point for me because I wrote a term paper on the
similarities and differences between technical and fiction writing,
making this and other assertions about the differences, and was severely
rebuked not overlooking a significant issue. Yes, it's true that
technical writing must make its point outright, and yes it's true that
fiction *generally* shouldn't, but to claim there are any absolute
prohibitions in fiction overlooks the whole issue of rhetoric. Fiction
writers can do things that are official no-nos for rhetorical purposes.
(I'm deliberately not providing examples, lest I stray too far off
topic.)
<< What we're practising is not creativity but
problem-solving. >>
Well, if you define creativity as strictly making up people, places,
things, and events, then yes you're right. I would argue, however, that
the construction of a well-crafter piece of prose that simply conveys
information about existing things can also be creative. You're creating
the prose, and you're creating the clear explanation out of chaos.
DD
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