Creative Writing versus Technical Writing: Surely the Difference is Obvious? Part 1
If you're a technical writer, you're probably looking already thinking - 'that's absurd, the differences are obvious'. But think for a moment; you know they're obvious because you are a technical writer.
Bear in mind that most people have never heard of technical writing, won't know what it is and indeed, may be taking a technical writer's work for granted every day. For those that aren't technical writers, or technical authors, let me explain it to you in comparison to creative writing: something much more familiar to most.
The first and most obvious difference is in the approach, right at the start. With creative writing, the author, more often than not, has a blank sheet of paper to start from. This is where the creativity is born, through formation of plots, characters and limitless descriptive licence. The subject or plot is open to change or development throughout the work as the writer sees fit. For the technical writer, no such creative freedom is afforded. The technical writing assignment is just that, an assignment with a defined requirement and a preset goal. Technical writing is all about imparting technical knowledge and information in a clear, concise and unambiguous manner, with the objective of giving the reader the information they need or are looking for on the subject. Technical writing usually takes the form of manuals or handbooks of user instructions, maintenance procedures, safety information or technical descriptions. You can see therefore that the absence of a creative influence is necessary to ensure that the information being communicated is written and presented in a structured and objective way.
Given the significant difference in approach to technical writing, the technical author can be a rare individual. Yes, there are lots of competent writers out there and yes, there are lots of competent engineers and technical specialists. But the technical writer needs to be both, and so finding an experienced author with the technical expertise can be very difficult. Many creative writers believe they can turn their hand to technical writing to help earn their living but few will be successful. This can be in part due to a lack of technical knowledge and experience and in part to their need to be creative. Many creative writers will find the discipline of technical writing too restrictive.
Since a technical writer is interested only in imparting correct, factual technical data, they have no need to worry about whether the manual they are writing 'flows' like a creative writer must in their storylines. The writing is structured with pre-defined subjects and pieces of information that must be produced to support the product or customer. This means that the production of a single manual (or dataset, if you've come over all electronic) can be undertaken by more than one writer at a time, as it should be inherently without a discernable personal style; one of the most important things for a creative writer to establish.