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Subject:RE: on technical writers From:"Sean O'Donoghue-Hayes (EAA)" <Sean.O'Donoghue-Hayes -at- ericsson -dot- com -dot- au> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 12 Apr 2002 10:16:55 +1000
Susan,
In fact Michael Crichton's first books are very much like this.....cardboard
characters and an "elegant" problem to be solved.....read the Andromeda
Strain for example....
whilst Grisham wrote books about law, and placed characters in interesting
cases...that were interesting because we didn't know about the law...in his
earlier books especially the "elegant" legal problem and the way in which
characters solve it is a greater character - and gives the character depth -
than the actual characters themselves...the subject becomes a
character....(and Tom Clancy did military hardware and organisations...)
however enough from me.....with one last point, this seems to indicate that
if you have technical knowledge, writing the fiction in some area of that
knowledge means you can create both a believable and interesting "reality"
that your lightly drawn up characters can inhabit; and this could be where
you can start a writing career...
(oh and before anyone says it, yes those two guys are also VERY GOOD
writers....I really hate the way, especially, that Grisham can painlessly
suck me in till the last page - and that is meant as a compliment...)
regards and thanks,
Sean O'Donoghue-Hayes
>>from Susan
....These authors weren't known for their characterizations, but for
the "objects and events" they described. I'd say this type of work has some
similarities to tech writing, though admittedly with more excitement built
in. The 1956 novella "Nerves" by Lester Del Rey, for example, describes in
detail the steps of a nuclear meltdown and the subsequent corrective
efforts. That, and it's a darn exciting story.
> In fact, I'm working on a story *about* a technical writer.
Go for it! Have fun. I'm sure you'll find plenty of inspiration for
characters around this board :-)
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