By Shonell Bacon | Member
Last fall, I moved to Texas from Louisiana to pursue my PhD in technical communication and rhetoric at Texas Tech University. I was petrified.
Why?
I didn’t really know what technical communication was, and most of my work up to that point was more creative than technical. I had an MFA in creative writing. I was a published author of both short stories and novels. I was an editor of creative works. I wrote articles and taught on the writing craft. I knew I could, if I wanted to, write a novel about a technical communicator, but I wasn’t quite sure what I—as a creative artist—could bring to the technical communication field.
Having completed my first year of doctoral work, I am beginning to see that what I do is actually quite similar to the tasks completed by a technical communicator.
According to Richard Johnson-Sheehan, technical communication is the process of conveying information through writing, speech, and other media to a specific audience. A technical communicator’s job is to ask questions, find answers, and deliver those answers in an effective way to those who need the answers. They must investigate concerns, research issues, and interview an array of people who will help in the design and organization of information. They are strong writers, able to understand a client’s demand and a user’s need, and develop a project that satisfies both. They are often the ones who receive projects that need their critical eye in the editing process. They are also often the teachers, the mediators between clients and users that assist each camp in understanding the needs and thoughts of the other camp.
My jobs as creative writer and editor fit well with the goals of a technical communicator.
In fact, Johnson-Sheehan’s definition of technical communication fits well as a definition for creative writer—if you change the word “information” for “a story.” Before I start any creative project, I ask questions: who is the audience, what do they want, what story can I tell that can be directed at this audience? Typically, there are two audiences for me to consider: the publisher and the reader, which could easily be switched out for “client” and “user,” respectively. Once I move to the outline stage of a creative work, I’m asking questions like who is the main character, what conflict drives the story, what obstacles prevent the main character from achieving her ultimate goal. With answers in hand, I work to design a project that answers the logistical and story concerns of the publisher and that answers the need to be entertained and/or moved by the reader.
As an editor, my role as teacher and mediator is quite prominent. First and foremost, my allegiance is to the story before me, making sure its structure is strong, its characters are well developed, its pacing builds to a solid climax, and that its audience (I always try to read as the audience, not as self) would enjoy the work. Beyond that, often, my clients become users, too—users of my teachings of the writing craft. My goal is never just to edit a work and return it to the client; I also train the client to understand the writing craft so that every time she begins a new project, her understanding assists her in developing a better, stronger project.
Ultimately, I want to make sure I develop or edit a project that satisfies both my client and the readers, much like a technical communicator does with her client and user.
One important thing I’ve learned within the past year is that the title of what you do is not as important as the skills that you possess. A year ago, I would have never thought I could be a technical communicator. It seemed, well, too technical for me. I thought there would be a massive exodus of knowledge previously learned to make way for new knowledge that would deem me “technical communicator.” In the end, however, because I come to the technical communication field with desirable skills (albeit within the creative realm), the slide from creative to technical is an easy one to maneuver. And many times, the best ideas and projects I take on have wonderfully blurred the relationship between the two.
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