TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Re: Formatting Freak - long From:"Murrell, Thomas" <TMurrell -at- ALLDATA -dot- NET> Date:Wed, 25 Aug 1999 15:09:59 -0400
Wallace Stokes wrote:
> It seems that we suffer from the same disease. I have never quite figured
> out how people just start writing without some idea of how the document
> should flow and how it should appear. Yet it happens all the time and I'm
> able to earn a pretty good living cleaning up their messes. I guess we
> shouldn't complain. In this age of specialization, perhaps we have found
a
> comfortable niche. Enjoy. :-)
We all don't have the same writing style or approach to our tasks. Nor do I
think we need to. Some people need to dive right into a writing task and
figure out organization as they go along. Others need to map everything out
before they start the first bit of content development. Most people are
probably somewhere in the middle, leaning to one extreme or the other.
I remember spending two years teaching writing process. It involved
teaching people to write multiple drafts. It was a very educational
experience, both for the students--from what they said--and for me as the
teacher. However, that is not the way I write at all. I'm what I call a
start-and-stop writer. I start at the beginning and write myself into a
corner. Then I back up, discarding some of the trash I accumulated along
the way, to a point where I can proceed in a more positive direction. I
take off in that direction until I write myself into another corner, when I
repeat the above process.
So I only write "one" draft, but I have started and stopped so many times
that it really is an iterative process. It's just done is a way that works
for me. I'm sorry, but I can't write to an outline. When I do have to
provide one before I start, I have learned not to let myself become its
prisoner. I know other people who cannot write until they have signed
requirements, an approved outline, and 47 other things that I can't stand to
wait on.
The trick seems to be to get along with people of different writing
approaches. Just another opinion from the trenches.
Tom Murrell
Senior Technical Writer, Alliance Data Systems, Inc.
CAD4A - (614)729-4364
Fax: (614)729-4499 mailto:tmurrell -at- alldata -dot- net
