Creative writing principles translated to technical writing
From Neil Gaiman Teaches The Art Of Storytelling
The principles developed for creative writing, although rooted in fiction, translate powerfully to technical writing by focusing on the universal elements of clarity, economy, and commitment to truth, shifting the application from emotional truth to factual accuracy.
The goal of all writing is to use tools to form a connection with people and make them think differently. In technical writing, this connection is achieved by conveying precise information efficiently.
Here is how the concepts of voice development and mastery translate to the field of technical writing:
1. Clarity and Economy Define the Technical Voice
In creative writing, your “voice” is the unique style, personality, and textual rhythms—including diction and sentence structure—that allow a reader to recognize your work. For technical writing, which prioritizes functionality over personality, the definition of a strong voice centers on maximizing communication efficiency:
Compression and Conciseness: The creative writing ethos is that the fewer words you use to tell your story, the better; compression and economy are highly valued. For technical writing, this translates directly into the crucial task of ensuring instructions or documentation are concise and clear.
Attacking Wordiness: Neil Gaiman’s experience in journalism taught him the skill of rendering natural speech into formal, written dialogue, using the technique of compression. In a technical context, you must constantly “attack wordiness” and “trim excess filler words”.
Avoiding “Writerly” Voice: Writers are advised to avoid “writerly” voice, which involves unnaturally complex sentence structures, too many adjectives, or lengthy, unnecessary descriptions, as it can come off as overwritten. In technical writing, this overly ornate or complex style would actively sabotage the core purpose of providing straightforward instruction. (See Frankenstein’s preface for an example of how complex sentence architecture can obscure meaning.)
Focusing on What Needs to be Said: George Orwell’s questions for editing (which argue that bad thinking causes bad writing) become critical checks for technical documents: “What am I trying to say? What words will express it? What image or idiom will make it clearer?”. Technical writing demands extreme clarity of thought behind the prose.
2. Honesty and Verifiability Replace Emotional Vulnerability
In developing a creative voice, the writer is urged toward “radical honesty” and being willing to show “too much of yourself,” essentially performing the equivalent of “walking down a street naked” to reveal emotional truth.
In technical writing, this concept of “truth” shifts from emotional vulnerability to factual rigor:
Getting the Facts Straight: Whether building a magical world or describing reality, a key rule for verisimilitude is to “avoid technical mistakes”. If you are writing about the real world (as technical writers do), you must “get the facts straight”.
Verisimilitude via Specific Details: To make any world or explanation feel real and credible, whether a fictional tunnel or a complex technical system, you must “Provide specific, concrete sensory details”. In technical writing, this means ensuring that descriptions of steps, equipment, or processes are grounded in specific, concrete, and verifiable details.
The Power of Observation: Just as a fiction writer keeps a “compost heap” of observations, a technical writer must engage in extensive research and “do your homework”. Gaiman recommends that a writer should “always know more than you tell”. In a technical context, this means maintaining a deep understanding of the subject matter, even if only a small fraction of that knowledge makes it onto the page (the “iceberg” principle, where only 10% is visible).
3. Adapting to Audience and Purpose (Persona)
The choice of voice is inextricably linked to the audience and the story’s purpose.
Adopting a “Persona”: While a technical document might not feature an emotional personality, it often requires a persona or narrative voice that tells the story. This persona might take the form of the American Transparent voice Gaiman describes—a style so basic, clean, and conservative that the author seems invisible, serving to keep the focus purely on the information. This neutral, authoritative voice is ideal for most technical documentation.
Listening to the Audience: Technical writing, much like fiction, operates within “genre” expectations. The writer must assume the audience thoroughly understands the conventions of the technical document they are reading (e.g., a manual, a white paper, a specification sheet). Mastery involves knowing these expectations and delivering the required information in the expected format.
Use of Sensory Details: Even in technical description, incorporating concrete sensory details (like smell, which is often ignored but evocative) and focusing on the character’s experience (or user’s experience) is necessary to convey vividness and believability. If a piece of equipment is hot, loud, or vibrates, those concrete sensory details bring the description to life, even if the “character” is just the reader/user.
Dialogue and Instruction: Gaiman’s advice, stemming from his journalism background, encourages listening and compression when writing dialogue. In technical writing, this applies to instructions and tutorials, ensuring that the necessary steps are logically ordered and delivered using precise language, mirroring the efficiency of polished fictional dialogue.