Technology writing for beginners

Good writing doesn't always come easily.

It boils down to making an effort to think clearly — then turning your lucid thoughts into words in a logical fashion.

Most people can usually produce simple, straightforward copy even if they've little experience.

Start by sticking to basic words and simple sentence structures. Don't worry if it feels like plodding. You can experiment when you feel more confident.

Inexperienced technology writers often have one of three faults:

• A pompous and overbearing style. Avoid this by being friendly, although not too chatty. And by using active language.
• Too technical. By this I mean it does not explain technical aspects clearly enough to non-experts. Fix this by keeping the jargon to a minimum and explaining tricky ideas in simple terms. Don't worry if  this makes your writing longer.
• Trying to be cute. There's nothing wrong with making jokes or using everyday speech, but beginner writers often take this too far, to the point where it's hard to understand what is being said.

Pitching your copy at the right level is the hardest part of technology writing. It's accepted wisdom with technology writers that no one ever succeeds in this business by overestimating the reader's intelligence, but then we also know no one succeeds by underestimating them either.

Remember people who are expert in one area of technology, may not automatically understand other areas. And a technically literate readership does not give one a licence for sloppy explainations of complex technical matters.

If you find this difficult to grasp, imagine you are writing for an intelligent colleague working in another area of your organisation.

• Picture that person reading your words.
• What questions would they ask if you were in the room with them? Make sure the text answers these questions.
• Have you written something they would find patronising? Hit the delete button and make that point again.

Finally, always get someone to proofread your copy. Ask them to point out what doesn't make sense and to see if you've made any obvious errors. Don't take offence if they find lots of things that need changing, your pride will be more wounded if the rest of the world saw your mistakes.

Update: I'm indebted to Thomas Beagle for reminding me about bullet points. Like the man says, use them where possible to break up block of text and make your writing easier to navigate.