Which is the best ‘technical writing’ manual?

All the books I’ve come across about technical writing are terrible. That sounds harsh. But think about it like this. Why is someone writing a book about technical writing? Probably because they think technical writing is different to any other writing. And that’s why these authors write terrible books.

Do yourself a favor and let go of the idea that writing for a technical audience is somehow different to other writing. Get a book on how to write non-fiction and use that instead. All you need to learn is how to write clearly so that your reader understands what you mean. You do that by putting yourself in the shoes of the reader and at each stage of writing, thinking:

“How far are they from knowing this thing already? What do I need to add to their knowledge to get them there?”

This is the basic rule of writing. Think of someone. Ask them how far they are from knowing x. Fill in the gaps until they understand x.

Let’s apply it in a couple of simple examples. As a writer you usually decide you want to teach or explain something, and you start with “I want to teach people how to ice a cake.” The problem is, what is your definition of “people”? Some readers have iced hundreds of cakes with rolled icing but want to know about piping. Some readers never even baked a cake before. Are you really going to try to write for both of those… at the same time?

By applying the basic rule of writing you will get a drastically different set of instructions.

Example 1 Fill the icing bag half full with your standard icing mix. Take hold of the top in one hand and twirl the bottom half, creating a tight seal. Cut off the bottom with scissors leaving the desired diameter hole. Begin with the outside of the cake and squeeze…

Example 2 Icing is basically just powdered sugar with water added. If you mixed a cuppa-soup before, you should get the hang of making it no problem! The trick is to get the consistence right so that your icing spreads easily but doesn’t droop or flow off the cake. Let’s begin by assembling the following ingredients…

I hope you can instantly see the difference. For the expert audience we’re 1) missing out what they already know, 2) assuming they know what standard mix of icing is, 3) moving very quickly through the material. What we are most definitely not doing is writing in a special way, using convoluted phrases or hard words or jargon, nor are we writing in an “academic” way. We’re merely writing to the intended audience.

In the second example we’re starting much earlier because we’ve established the reader won’t even know how to make icing. We’re being more supportive “you should get the hang of it”, and we’re going much more slowly, not assuming any prior knowledge about what icing is.

The two books I recommend on writing

Writing Successful Self-Help and How-To Books (978-0471037392), Jean Marie Stine

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft (978-1444723250), Stephen King