Toadmaster
Legendary Pubber
- Joined
- Oct 24, 2018
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I am a data geek, always have been. Give me horsepower, dates, muzzle velocities etc and I am a happy camper. I also come from a background of fact based report writing (who, what, where, when, why and how).
I am also an amateur historian, it really doesn't much matter the subject, if it is history I'm in. If it is history about the development of gadgets .
What I find though is when trying to write something a little softer, more interesting to read, it tends to come across as Joe Friday "just the facts ma'am". It often resembles a fleshed out list of bullet points. I have 20+ years of ruthless trimming of any non-essential language to get past.
Anyway I guess my question is where do you start when trying to humanize lists of data points to make them more interesting reading. Part of the way I got to this point was from taking classes on technical writing, short, and too the point.
Creative writing classes seem to go too far the other way, I'm not looking to write the next Harry Potter book, just livening up some interesting historically based technical material so it is more interesting. There are some historians and science writers who seem to do this well, where do they learn this?
If anyone knows the name of this particular branch of writing I'd be interested so I can try to find a class. Books, blogs etc with tips for this style of writing would be very welcome.
I am also an amateur historian, it really doesn't much matter the subject, if it is history I'm in. If it is history about the development of gadgets .
What I find though is when trying to write something a little softer, more interesting to read, it tends to come across as Joe Friday "just the facts ma'am". It often resembles a fleshed out list of bullet points. I have 20+ years of ruthless trimming of any non-essential language to get past.
Anyway I guess my question is where do you start when trying to humanize lists of data points to make them more interesting reading. Part of the way I got to this point was from taking classes on technical writing, short, and too the point.
Creative writing classes seem to go too far the other way, I'm not looking to write the next Harry Potter book, just livening up some interesting historically based technical material so it is more interesting. There are some historians and science writers who seem to do this well, where do they learn this?
If anyone knows the name of this particular branch of writing I'd be interested so I can try to find a class. Books, blogs etc with tips for this style of writing would be very welcome.