One of the many wondrous trends spawned by the outsourcing industry is that of hiring indifferent writers and expecting excellent writing. As I look through the recruitment ads, I see more and more of them rating a mythical quality called “domain expertise” higher than writing skills. What they mean is specialization in something else; not a particular branch of writing but a whole other subject. One ad for a business writer wanted applicants with MBAs or degrees in economics. Why, for God’s sake? Professional writers should be able to take a brief from an expert – in any subject – and write it in the language of whatever human being the expert wants to reach. That’s the whole point of the craft.
Meanwhile, the world is increasingly littered with product literature stuffed full of acronyms, incomprehensible user manuals, crowded newsletters, convoluted training presentations, press releases shrouded in jargon and white papers that read like an engineer’s stream of consciousness.
I met someone at a dinner party recently who does research in DNA nanotechnology. She explained her work in some detail, then looked at me doubtfully and asked me to repeat what she’d said so she’d know whether she was making sense. I paraphrased it back to her and she was terribly impressed. I explained that that was my job and for the first time in our conversation stopped feeling awestruck and small. But here’s the important thing: she wanted to know why I didn’t do “science writing” because “we get people with science degrees doing it and our articles make no sense to anyone outside our little circle”.
You don’t need someone with a science degree to write about science, or an MBA to write about business. You need someone who takes the writing part seriously, who thinks of that as his or her “domain” and keeps the skill sharp, current and flexible. And, not incidentally, this requires versatility, not specialization.
very well said..