"Tech writers" are not "tech writers"

[John Cook]

On 7/17/07, Chris Borokowski <athloi at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> I judge writers of technology as a I judge writers of literature. I
> care about the quality of the thinking in the output, and nothing else.
>

There is an art and craft to fiction, and it is an entirely different skill
set from technical writing.  (I'm still writing out the my own 'million
words of dreck' in sci-fi short stories and an ongoing serial novel,
online.)  Roger Ebert has a sharp intellect and writes phenomenal pieces of
film criticism, but one would hardly call what he writes 'literature'.  As
much as I value critical thinking behind the scenes, I still need art as
well as craft in what I read for fun.

My favorite sci-fi writer was Roger Zelazny.  He had the critical thinking
that you refer to but was also the most poetic of the New Wave authors, a
consummate stylist who very nearly spoiled me for lesser works by lesser
stylists.

-- 
John Cook
Technical Writer / Help Author
john dot cook at gmail dot com