The Art of Stylish Writing
- GURUDUTT
KAMATH,
(Documentor’ column in Express Computer from
an old issue)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
“In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was…’. If I began this column with these words, what would you think?
What Kind of feeling would be invoked in you? If you have read the Bible, you
would think, "Hey, this writer has borrowed this wonderful sentence from
the Bible. He is a well-read person. He
is a clever writer”. You would feel tempted to read further as the writer has
shown some erudition, some style. ‘Begin at the beginning, go towards the end,
and when you come to the end, stop’. This is advice from ‘Alice in Wonderland’,
which I churned out to workshop participants telling them how to get started.
Quotes are again a stylistic device you use to strengthen your prose by
borrowing liberally from earlier, and definitely better writer than yourself….
like borrowing a cool T-shirt from your brother or, if female, some jewels from
your mother.
Recently, I was astounded when I was requested by a director of a top
software company to include some style in the proposal that I was editing. I
chuckled and told him that I doubt if even 5 percent of technical writers in
India were aware of style. Here technical writers are struggling to write
proper grammatical English. Try reading their e- mails. They are so full of
errors. In fact, ages ago I got a marketing e-mail from a technical writing
company that contained too many errors. I wrote to this "friend" and
advised him against spoiling the reputation of India. Of course, I never got a
reply.
“To be or not to be”
To be or not to be stylish is the question. Of course, if you are
stylish how much style can you include? These are days of brands &
designer-wear .Can you get away with the same in your writing? Can you be
flamboyant in your response to an RFP (Request for Proposal)?
I
would hesitate to use elegant prose because most of the primary audience would
be techies and nerds. They would be thirsting for technical words and
solutions. Most of them would not even recognize the difference. As a learned Swami said, some of us cannot recognize the
difference between a bull and Aishwarya Rai!
If your proposal were stylishly written, the focus would go on your
language and not on your solution. I think this would be a good strategy to
adopt if you had a weak solution. Of course, the director's suggestion was to
avoid an overly technical and stark proposal. The secondary audience made up of
managers and accounts (who are not overly technical) would find heavy technical
stuff threatening. Explaining to them in delectable, delicious English would
make the proposal palatable. When they have feasted on your English, they would
then eat out of your hands and lap up your solutions.
I had the pleasure of reading a highly technical document
(Part of proposal) written like a novel. I could breeze through it. It was a
delight to read. The writer had total control over the language and the
technology. Here was prose that you would like to take to bed to read! The
writer had taken liberties with the language, using the poetic license that he
seemed to possess. I am sure just this document could win the order. The
company would award us the contract because the solution was right and it was
presented so well. We were providing customer delight from the proposal stage
itself. We were doing it in style and it would be a pleasure to deal with us.
Now, do not go writing stylish prose in all your writings. Marketing
material is game for such devices. Presentations are again fair game. However,
with technical stuff like manuals, installation manuals, etc, one has to tread
extremely carefully.
Take
“wired-“, the nerd magazine. It is extremely, rebelliously, stylish. I
think it has iconic status in terms of style. None of our local computer
publications can risk this style. One has to keep the audience in mind. Will
the audience appreciate it? Will the audience
understand it?
Simple Style
Basically, the style should blend well with the purpose. When you go to
a party and make a style statement you should be noticed. You should stand out
but not so much as to be out of the party. When you
write, your prose should be noticed. Readers should delight in your prose.
Simplicity, I think, is the highest virtue in technical writing. Brevity comes
a close second. In most
technical writing, the style should be such that it should not be noticeable.
Your style should serve its purpose. If it is a proposal, it should win you the
contract. If a presentation, it should win you the audience. If a manual, the
users of the system should accept the system wholeheartedly.
Element of style
There is one book that is worth its weight in gold on this subject…”
Elements of style “by EB White. How many of our technical writers have read
this book? How many technical writing companies have this in their library?
Hunt for this book and add style to your technical writing.
*********************************************************************