March 04, 2004
To be or not to be
I spent a goodly portion of today writing user documentation. It's something I've successfully managed to avoid doing in the past since the task usually got foisted off onto some other poor unfortunate soul. Alas, the someone elses are now long gone so it's down to me. Still, even though it's not a job I particularly relish, I don't despise it either.
What I quickly realised when Microsoft Word's grammar checker started churning through what I'd written was that I've got a nasty habit of falling into the passive voice. It made me realise just how little I know about writing. I did well at English at school, but I never learned much about the structure of the language itself, or how to best use it. Even today I'd struggle to tell you what an adverb is and certainly I don't know much about the pitfalls I no doubt fall into near every day. Neil Gaiman's advice for aspiring writers is the wondrously simple: "Just write". But how do you write well? And how do you improve if you don't appreciate the mistakes you've made? I supposed I'd best get people to critique what I've written, but that rather implies I should have something to critique. I'll need to do something about that.
In keeping with the theme this week, I'd like to think I can write well, but I know I can write better.
I'm surprised - your weblog writing is direct, witty, concise: you have a fine written style, my boy! And you don't overuse pretentious punctuation (semi-colons in particular), like... well, me.
It's only the context that's different. You have the fundamental skills, so you should be fine. Quit worrying and get on with it.
Posted by: Jonathan Sanderson at March 5, 2004 10:49 AMThe passive is pretty common in technical documentation, and I'd generally say the passive is OK in that context. Word's grammar checker generally assumes you're writing a business letter, since that is what it is usually used for. There is a way to tell it what kind of document you are writing, though I know not how.
IMHO, your writing style is much, much better than average. Better than mine, anyway.
Posted by: simon at March 5, 2004 08:33 PMAs I may have mentioned before, I envy you your writing style. As I know I have mentioned before, it reminds me greatly of the good Mr Gaiman - simple, yet elegant, and a joy to read.
So if I may quote Mr Gaiman, also quoting something a friend has been saying to me a great deal of late: Just write.
Posted by: Kevin at March 5, 2004 10:27 PM"We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done." -Longfellow (presumably H.W.)
While I think that gives somewhat short shrift to others, I like the quote. It hints at the gap between what we do and what we can/could do. That gap can drive me freakin' batty when I see how wide it is, in places. Nice view though.
from your blogs, I consider you are a witty and prolific writer. Don't give into the misgivings.
Posted by: Michelle at March 6, 2004 09:50 PM