Write a Better Technical Article in Half the TimeWritten by Christine Taylor
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Writing Final Draft 20.You’ve done rough draft, 1st draft, and are into 2nd draft. You’ve put everything in your own words and are observing your outline structure. The article is starting to sound less like something you’ll get blamed for, and more like something you might actually claim. 21.Edit for readability, grammar and style. 22.Use active voice in all your writing. “Active voice” is a sentence construction where subject performs verb action. Don’t go to sleep on me, this is important. Example: “The dog bit boy.” Quick, active, easy. Here’s an example of passive voice: “The boy was bitten by dog.” Yikes! 23.Technology writing is full of hideous passive voice construction. Here’s another example from a technology marketing document: “This successful vendor interoperability was demonstrated at Summit in Chicago.” Ack! Instead, write: “Vendor teams successfully demonstrated interoperability at Summit in Chicago.” See how easy that was? PLEASE use active voice. Everyone will be so much happier. 24.If you learn nothing else about business writing in all your born days, learn to write in active voice. Subject all of your sentences to this simple little exercise and you will improve your writing 100%. 25.Please don’t be boring, but don't get too cute. I will stick in something funny every once in a while -- mostly because I get a big kick out of myself -- but don’t get too chummy. Final Draft 26.You’re almost there – you see light at end of tunnel, and it isn’t a train. Now is time to polish sentence structure and word choice, and punch up your paragraphs. 27.Polish your opening paragraphs. Add a snappy lead, define what you're talking about and why it's important, and list three or so points you’re going to make. 28.Read through your article and make sure you’ve made those points. If you did an outline, main points should already be subheads. (See why an outline is so great?) 29.Polish your conclusion. The conclusion doesn’t have to be undying prose, but do restate your points and conclusions. 30.Read through one more time for overall readability. 31.Run your spelling and grammar check. 32.Save and send – but be careful to send right file! I accidentally turned in my rough draft once instead of completed final. Luckily this was with one of my oldest clients, so they contacted me and asked me for real article. A new client would simply have assumed complete incompetence on my part. 33.And for final tip: everything gets easier with practice. Good thing, too.
Christine Taylor is president of Keyword Copywriting, which helps marketing and PR pros leverage their relationships with technology clients. E-mail her at chris@keywordcopy.com, call her at 760-249-6071, or check out Keyword’s Website at www.keywordcopy.com.
| | To Write Or Not To WriteWritten by Mallory York
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If you usually outline and now find yourself at a dead end, try spontaneously writing something--without an outline. Anything will do. Write random scenes and keep them all in a folder or journal to read later--who knows, one might even inspire a new story for you. For those who usually write spontaneously and are at a dead end, perhaps you should experiment with outlining. I used to swear I would never outline. But when I gave in and tried it, I did get some good results. If outline seems too rigid, you might try what works for me--which is to put less detail into outline. I have a very detailed writing style, so it's natural for me to want to note every little thing in outline. But that was a mistake. I've learned to write outline with just enough detail so that I will know what will happen, when and how, and then move on to actual story-writing. So answer to 'to outline or not to outline?', at least as far as I'm concerned, is 'to outline--loosely, and only if it works well for you.? In closing, here are some tips for writing a more flexible outline: 1) Keep it simple. You don't need to write outline with perfect grammar and punctuation, or from your point of view character's perspective. Remember, this is just a generalized guide. 2) Try not to get too detailed about what happens in any one particular scene. Just figure out where they are in beginning ('They're slogging along roadside in rain.') and where they are at end ('They finally decide to stop and rest, so they make a tent out of umbrella and blankets and go to sleep') and fill in blanks when you actually write scene. 3) Write it in present tense. That seems to make it easier to feel more in immediate "now" of story, and seems more natural to me. Even though I always write in past tense in my stories (present tense actually annoys me in stories, but that's just my preference I guess) I always write my outlines in present tense. The outline seems more immediate and real when written in present tense, and helps me stick with it and develop outline all way to end of story. I suppose you could write your outlines in whatever tense you like, but this is just another way to distinguish real writing of story from outline-writing. 4) Enjoy yourself. A writer's mood translates through in their word choice, so if you're writing humor but are actually feeling angry, funny story may seem a little forced. While not always true--I frequently write angst and sad stories even though I'm generally happy--the truth is that if you don't enjoy writing your stories, what was point? And if your answer was 'money', perhaps you should try a different profession and just pursue fiction writing as a hobby. Happy scribblin'! Mallory York
Mallory York has been drawing since before she knew how to date a picture, and has been creating anime art for four years. Among her favorite anime series are Fushigi Yuugi, Gundam Wing, and The Slayers. You can read some of her fanfic at Fanfiction.net and view more of her artwork at HTTP://WWW.L7S.NET and also at HTTP://WWW.ELFWOOD.COM.
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