For all of my adult life, from my first university right up to the moment that I am typing this up on my keyboard, I have been professionally positioned on the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) side of the fence. I even have a PhD which makes me a bit of an expert in what I do, I guess.
“What madness is this?” you ask.
“Are not Alyson Madden-Brooker who tells stories about angels and demons?”
Yes, that is me too. I write fantasy, a little sci-fi, magic realism. I gleefully mix characters together to examine the illogical chemistry of love and romance.
But don’t we all have different sides to our lives, different dimensions into which we stretch? Of course we do. In me it’s probably a little more extreme. I am a person that does not exist only as one thing. I see myself as both an artist and a scientist, both a fantasy and a creative author (To be honest, the last time a did a full personality test the assessors went away puzzled. It was like I was two different people.)
And for decades and decades in my work I have been writing reports, performing studies, referencing evidence and trying to never veer from the real and practical. It’s my ‘day’ job.
But the other side of me, the other girl in me, needs her space and freedom too. She needs to create. And mostly, she is the far happier version of me.
So what is the same between them?
You would think that it is a case of ‘Never the twain shall meet’ the existence of two universes, one of matter and the other antimatter, and neither of these should ever touch for fear of the collapse of the known universe!
Well not quite! There are a few things that are always going to be the same. Even if they are ‘differently’ the same! So here is my list of what the two different worlds of writing have in common.
- We have to write for an intended audience. There are certain norms of writing ‘behaviour’ that need to be adhered to. Of course the styles are different, but we have to have a style, (though this tends to be tighter and narrower in technical report writing where personal expression and creative delivery is somewhat suppressed!)
- There must be a narrative flow to take the reader along on a journey. There must be a beginning, a middle and an ending (albeit us ‘techies’ may describe it as introduction, body and conclusion).
- We must do our research. Oddly enough, even in the full flow of vampire attacking fantasy, we can get pulled up by not knowing the right year that a particular model of car was introduced! (I confess that I am far less rigorous in my creative writing. The world I am presenting is often how I feel it should be rather than how it is!)
- We still agonise over the correct choice of word, grind our teeth over Oxford comas, and cry hard when the computer messes up our beautiful page format.
- We strive for consistency. For technical writing we align with standards or make formal definitions to take forward. For creative writing, our internal universe still needs to make coherent sense, so even made up rules of magic need to be kept to.
- We sob — always — when a mistake is found five minutes after publishing.
And the differences?
After taking on board the above list, I have to at least go through the matter-antimatter list.
- Technical reporting leads the reader to a defendable and usually predictable conclusion. Fiction writing is all about dropping surprises on the reader, making unexpected (though not unbelievable) twists and turns. Surprises are often frowned up in the ‘real’ world, and if something comes up during an assessment, we ensure ‘spoilers’ are put out before the report whenever that is allowed.
- The aim of fictional stories is to promote emotional reactions. The aim of a technical report is to deliver information, devoid and separate to any feelings on the subject.
- The often quoted “show not tell” maxim does not apply to technical reporting where we tell, explain and justify. In storytelling, we want the reader to experience through the characters via their behaviour and dialogue rather than be directly told something. (I am not a full fan this “rule”, as it’s only really a guide that should be used intelligently, and not an absolute.)
- Pain caused and ultimate body-count is allowed to be way higher in fiction!
- Technical reports tend to be checked and authroised as part of internal QA procedures. I don’t need to hunt for editors and beta readers!
How does one cope with a foot in both worlds?
Well, I do have to have a flexible outlook and just occasionally some nimble feet. As a consultant, I need to work (and write) for my livelihood. As a person, I need to write fiction for my soul. I am always acutely aware that the writing is done differently, for different reasons and different audiences.
An advantage for me is that I have been ‘power-using’ many of the interesting features built into Microsoft Office for more than three decades and I can take those skills into my fiction writing ( I whipped up the diagram for this post in ten minutes using PowerPoint, so it’s not just Word)
The thing I demand of myself in both worlds is that I work hard, maintain professionalism and never let my own standards drop.
I try to be a decent person in both my worlds.
