On Writing Better: Tips from a South by Southwest Panel
In "Writing, Better," a presentation at the South by Southwest conference in Austin last month, the presenters offer some good tips for writing:
- Greg Storey says to focus on the structure of your story most of all.
- Browyn Jones, says to try writing drafts in unsent e-mails as a way to feel more comfortable writing and also to write conversationally.
- Erin Kissane, an editor for A List Apart, says most writers' manuscripts aren't rejected because of grammar or punctuation errors. Their submissions are rejected for three reasons: the content doesn't fit the audience of the publication, the structure/logic is poor, or the message is unclear.
Erin's advice resonated strongest for me. I think as writers we sometimes focus too much on details of style, without first ensuring how the structure and logic of our content fits with our audience. Getting the commas right is important, but on a hierarchy of priorities for readers, it may rank near the bottom. Clarity and accuracy are critical, especially for technical subjects. Without clarity, even a grammatically beautiful sentence becomes worthless.
Sponsored
About Tom Johnson
I'm an API technical writer based in the Seattle area. On this blog, I write about topics related to technical writing and communication — such as software documentation, API documentation, AI, information architecture, content strategy, writing processes, agent skills, tech comm careers, and more. Check out my AI courses for more on the latest in AI and tech comm. If you're looking for info about documenting APIs, see my API documentation course.
If you're a technical writer and want to keep on top of the latest trends in tech comm, be sure to subscribe to email updates below. You can also learn more about me or contact me.
Finally, I want to note a couple of things. I usually write the first drafts of my posts myself and then use AI to improve accuracy, clarity, and detail in places, so my writing is a mix of human and AI. (Hopefully that's not too off-putting.) Also, the opinions I express on my blog are my own perspectives, not those of my employer.