The craft of technical writing with Marcia Riefer Johnston

In this episode, I’m talking with Marcia Riefer Johnston, a technical writer who’s worked in our industry for 40 years. We talk about how the profession has evolved since she first started in it, the grammar patterns that have helped her tighten up her writing, and how “creative” writing and “technical” writing are just different expressions of the craft of writing.

Marcia and I discuss how tech writing has evolved in the last 40 years as the tooling and field have evolved—from literally cutting and taping printed instructions together to using sophisticated content management systems and modular content. She shares the user feedback from her first set of technical instructions for using a remote control set-top box at Magnavox, highlighting how important user feedback is to help determine what needs to be documented.

Throughout our conversation, we explore practical grammar techniques that have helped both Marcia and me strengthen our writing, such as restructuring sentences to center the reader rather than the tool. We also discuss how adding “by zombies” is a great way to suss out if you’re using passive voice (e.g. “This podcast is being listened to by zombies.”) and the strengths and weaknesses of the be verbs (am, is, are, was, were, be, being, etc.).

We also talk about the value of sharing what you know, and how putting that knowledge out into the world can reap unexpected benefits. And we talk about the fact that the division between “creative ”writing and “technical” writing feels like a false binary: all acts of language are creative, and technical writing shares a lot of overlap with forms like poetry.

We close by discussing how technical writers manage feedback from reviewers and explore how a significant percentage of technical writing involves project management skills such as managing conversations and helping everyone align on what the documentation should do.

For both of us, handling contradictory feedback from reviewers usually involves having a larger conversation about what the problems or issues were, rather than only focusing on solutions. We theorize that part of the value tech writers bring is our ability to identify less-than-desirable user experiences and to not just take suggested edits as gospel but to question and explore the need for those edits.

About Marcia Riefer Johnston

Marcia’s loved tech writing from the time she first heard the words technical and writer together. These days she brings technical and writer together as a consultant for Baxter International. In 2013, she fulfilled a dream by writing her book Word Up! How to Write Powerful Sentences and Paragraphs (And Everything You Build from Them). Two years later, her pocket-sized collection came out: You Can Say That Again: 750 Redundant Phrases to Think Twice About. Occasionally she posts on her own blog at Writing.Rocks. She lives in Portland, Oregon, where she makes things with scrumptious yarn, does New York Times crossword puzzles with her husband (especially the Thursday and Sunday puzzles), and lures in family and friends to play Wingspan and other games.

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Creators and Guests

Kate Mueller
Host
Kate Mueller
Kate is a documentarian and knowledge base coach based in Midcoast Maine. When she's not writing software documentation or advising on knowledge management best practices, she's out hiking and foraging with her dog. Connect with her on LinkedIn, Bluesky, or Write the Docs Slack.
Chad Timblin
Producer
Chad Timblin
Chad is the Head of Operations for The Not-Boring Tech Writer. He’s also the Executive Assistant to the CEO & Friend of Felines at KnowledgeOwl, the knowledge base software company that sponsors The Not-Boring Tech Writer. Some things that bring him joy are 😼 cats, 🎶 music, 🍄 Nintendo, 📺 Hayao Miyazaki’s films, 🍃 Walt Whitman’s poetry, 🌊 Big Sur, and ☕️ coffee. Connect with him on LinkedIn or Bluesky.
Marcia Riefer Johnston
Guest
Marcia Riefer Johnston
Marcia’s loved tech writing from the time she first heard the words technical and writer together. These days she brings technical and writer together as a consultant for Baxter International. In 2013, she fulfilled a dream by writing her book Word Up! How to Write Powerful Sentences and Paragraphs (And Everything You Build from Them). Two years later, her pocket-sized collection came out: You Can Say That Again: 750 Redundant Phrases to Think Twice About. Occasionally she posts on her own blog at Writing.Rocks. She lives in Portland, Oregon, where she makes things with scrumptious yarn, does New York Times crossword puzzles with her husband (especially the Thursday and Sunday puzzles), and lures in family and friends to play Wingspan and other games.
The craft of technical writing with Marcia Riefer Johnston
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