I’m Not a Technical Writer

…And that’s not entirely a bad thing.

So, I was thinking to myself earlier today (or well, late yesterday, given it’s 1 AM and I can’t fucking sleep), after posting a simile I thought was bad in a Discord chat.

You see, I though the simile was a lacklustre simile; however, I got a collection of people telling me that the simile was perfectly fine and I was making it out to be worse than it was.

The simile in question was akin to, “The lava bubbled like boiled oatmeal.”

Now, aside from feeling like a right idiot for posting the simile and calling it bad, par for the course when it comes to using Discord, really, that made me realize something.

I’m not a very technical writer.

This came as no surprise to me, because I’m not really a technical anything. I’m not a technical drummer or gamer, so it’d make sense that I’m not a technical writer.

Now, I’m not talking here about using tropes as tools, I do that plenty, and that doesn’t really feel like a technical thing to me. It’s just basically using prestablished patterns to create your own pattern. Repurposing the Money Beat into the grooviest drum beat known to man (looking at you, Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 2), doesn’t change that it’s the Money Beat; just like how using a few comedy tropes as subversion tactics doesn’t change that you used comedy tropes.

No, I’m talking about things such as less dialogue tagging, averting LUS at all costs, changing up your sentence structure, and things like that. The type of stuff that makes your stuff be liked by critics because of the nuance, or the writer to change things up a little.

These are worthy goals to work for, if you want to do any of that, than why not? There’s people who care about that stuff a lot, and that’s fine.

I’m just saying that I’m not one of them.

Sure, I’m sure devoting yourself to fixing up those problems will make a story more enjoyable to write. None of us want to write 5 paragraphs of, “The lavender unicorn said.” Hell, I don’t, either. But, my only criteria for a story is that if I’ll enjoy reading it, then that’s all it needs.

Generally when it comes down to it, these little nuanced things aren’t something that I notice a lot in stories. Aside from absolutely comical levels where every paragraph is the same, I’m more focused on the core of the story.

So, I consider it a very low priority to fix up all the little things. They have their uses, sure. It can mean the difference between getting clocked with a frying pan of sadness or just tapped with a ribbon of melancholy.

I feel like that’s why I’m not technically gifted at really anything, and why I don’t try to become that way. Sometimes, when you’re playing I Saw Her Standing There on drums, they just need to drive, because that’s what you’ll be focused on the most.

At least, in my opinion.

And until next time; be awesome!
-Dashie