Carol Hattrup, Senior Technical Writer HCLTech for T-Mobile noted that we as technical writers have an advanced skill that many others don't have, the skill to wield words. As tech writers, need to get out of our rational brain for this session.
As a tech writer, already a natural poet. What is a poem. Again, as a tech writer, there are 2 forms we already know. And the better we get at poetry, the better we get to tech writing.
The ways tech writing and poetry overlap.
- Curiosity. One way to enter a poem is to ask a question
- Brevity
- Attention to detail, every character and word metters in a poem
- Word choice
- Specifics, use concrete, specific words to describe the world
- Structure, even free verse poems are structured
- Formatting and style
- Vocabulary, grammar, and punctuation
- Visually appealing
- Iteration
- Voice and tone
- Working with people, especially an audience
- Active voice, actually rarely use passive voice in poems
Most modern poems won't typically hard rhyme at the end of every line, won't use vague, non-specific, abstract language, aren't very long, and don't do deep dives into the poet's own feelings.
Effective poems use strong imagery, repeat sounds throughout, explore universal experiences and feelings, but in individual specific ways, are grounded an actual places and objects, and use surprise, contradiction, mystery, and imagination.
An effective poem doesn't create meaning on purpose. Instead, need to let readers bring their own meaning to the poem. When you let the reader bring their own meanings, you realize they are coming in different seasons of their life.
2 forms of poems a tech writer already knows:
- List poem (reference topic)
- How-to poem (task topic)
A list poem uses a list or catalog format as its primary structure, and content can be related in some way.
A how-to poem is a type of "instructional" poetry, typically structured as a set of instructions, often metaphorical, with content ranging from everyday tasks to complex emotions, and usually written with imperative sentences.
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