Fine Art of Technical Writing, The Book

This slender volume for the beginning technical writer doesn't delve very deeply into its subject, but The Fine Art of Technical Writing does make some nice points. Most appealing and useful is the book's premise: though its subject matter can be dry, "technical writing is a creative act." Author Carol Rosenblum Perry likens the technical writer to a ceramist, recommending that he or she get as much down on paper (or computer) as possible for the first draft, then think of that "rough text as a big, shapeless lump of clay" to be sculpted. Next is a more oblique analogy to figurative drawing. Perry urges the technical writer to consider the writing's "skeleton" (order), "body mass" (conciseness), and "muscle tone" (vigor). Finally, technical writing is compared to making music: "Writing, like music, depends on its dynamics ... varying degrees of 'loudness' and 'softness.'" Read More