Gems from the Writing Boot Camp

by Linda.Cunningham

Linda has been an STC member for 2 years. This is her first article.

When I told a friend that I was going to a one-day EBSTC-sponsored Writing Boot Camp to review the basics, he replied, "What could you possibly learn in a day that would be of practical value?" I thought that was a good question to ponder, especially if I wanted to ask my manager to send me to another class.

I attended the Boot Camp with two co-workers. Everett has a Ph.D. in the sciences and many years of experience writing manuals. Ben has a B.A. in Technical Writing and is new to the company. I have an M.S. in science and have been writing manuals for the last five years. After class, I asked each co-worker to share the gems he found in Leah Guren's class, and include them below with those I found.

Everett found Leah's suggestion to "cut the fluff" very reassuring. He often cuts phrases similar to "It is recommended that under certain circumstances you might consider doing…." Her 60-second challenge approach to editing intrigued him. He thought that if he could resist the urge to rewrite and make his eyes pick out the most glaring mistakes, then the little rocks and pebbles that needed editing would be apparent. A new consideration for Everett is not using Latin terms such as e.g.

Ben   

When Leah discussed her clients, she stated that the usual response to asking about their style guide was a brief pause followed by a comment about it being a project on the back burner. I could not help but notice Ben smile at hearing this. Since he was hired, Ben has been an advocate for the standardization of terms: is it shut-off or shutoff?. Ben was also fascinated when Leah told of the history behind the two spaces after a period. He had never really thought about the visual impact made by the white spaces at the sentence level. Ben appreciated the reminder to avoid absolutes when writing safety or hazard warnings, for example, writing "reduce the risk of" instead of "prevent."

Linda   

Leah mentioned that a person's linguistic ear for written language is set by age 7 or 8. I thought about how I usually react to the copy my SMEs give me and decided to be more gracious toward their work. My new word of the day was "virgule," which is a slash or stroke between two words, as in and/or. Leah's discussion of writing practices for internationalization, such as not using virgules or Latin, helped me better understand how to communicate with a world-wide audience.

In addition to the gems each of us found, I know that we benefited from spending a day with Leah and reflecting on the writing process as a whole while going "back to the basics."