To effectively communicate with lay audiences, it is helpful to use verve — enthusiasm and energy for an idea. We can add verve to technical writing and attract audiences by using intriguing titles and good beginning sentences. We can hold an audience's attention with colorful, interesting opening paragraphs. We can communicate by using analogies, using colorful words and phrases, using illustrations, using humor, repeating and explaining, being colloquial, translating terms, and detailing implications.

I have begun to suspect that many of the problems I see in technical writing books are introduced by the editor or publisher rather than by the author. A recent letter I received from an author whose book I reviewed sustains that opinion. I see a tendency by publishers to want to create a “universal” book to appeal to a larger audience and make more money. If that impression is true, I think the publishers' efforts are counter-productive.

We expect a book with the title The Writing System to be about a systematic approach to technical writing, a step-by-step method of producing good writing. Indeed, the emphasis of this book is on the strategy of writing, but it is both broader and narrower in scope than the title suggests. How can it be both broader and narrower?