guides R_M's Guide to Writing Guides

[Robotech_Master]

R_M'S GUIDE TO WRITING GUIDES

 

or

 

GUIDECEPTION

 

When someone on Discord suggested I write this, it was meant as a joke—but after I thought about it, I realized I did have a few pointers I could pass on about guide-writing. And passing on pointers is what writing a guide is all about, so…here we are.

 

Hopefully these tips will provide you with a bit of guidance that will help you make your own guides even better. But if you want some really useful advice, and have the time and effort to spend, I'd suggest reading a book or two about technical writing for beginners. For example, Technical Writing for Dummies. It's fashionable to make fun of the "for Dummies" title, but these books are usually written in a clear and simple style that helps get the basic point across. It's not going to come close to what you'd get from a technical writing degree or even a single school course, but you don't exactly need to study rocket science to write a computer game guide. If you don't want to spend the money to buy it, you can probably find something suitable in your public library's ebook program.

 

KEEP IT SIMPLE, SIR-OR-MA'AM

First things first. There is a form of cognitive bias nearly everyone has, and about the only way to overcome it is work in technical support for a while. After we learn to do something, we tend to forget how hard it was to learn. We just know that it's easy for us now, and we unconsciously assume that everyone else knows about the same things. So we tend to skip steps that are obvious to us but aren't obvious to other people.

 

For example, say you wanted to tell someone how to clear their web browser cache. Your natural impulse might be to say "All right, open your web browser's 'options' menu, and…" But the person you're talking to might not necessarily understand computers. You might need to start by telling them to log into Windows, or even to make sure that their computer's power switch is turned on. 

 

If your guide is going to be most useful, you need to start from basic principles. That's why, in my own guide to making millions on the market in minutes, I don't just tell people, "Craft an Uncommon Enhancement and convert it by type until you have a Rare." I go step by step, telling them how to open the converter interface, drag the Enhancement into it, and so on. It may help you to pretend you're explaining it to your mother. 🙂

 

ESCHEW OBFUSCATION

Try to keep your language as simple as possible, avoiding using too many and too long words. If someone is trying to figure out an unfamiliar process, they shouldn't also have to struggle with unfamiliar words or grammar. I'm not always best at this, myself; my natural writing style tends toward verbosity. But pay attention to feedback. If someone tells you they're having a hard time understanding part of your instructions, you may have to go back and rephrase.

 

TRY NOT TO GUESS

Sometimes in some of my guides, I didn't know something, so I took a guess. Guess what parts of the guides turned out to be wrong?

 

If you don't know something, and haven't been able to find it out, say so. It's okay; no one expects you to know everything. Of course, that only works when you actually know you're guessing. And, of course, if someone points out somewhere that you were wrong, you should correct the guide when you can.

 

MAKE LISTS

Lists can be useful when you have multiple things to discuss. If there are separate steps you're describing that lend themselves well to doing sequentially, a numbered list works great. If you want to describe multiple related things, a bullet list is a good choice. These make it easier for readers to process multiple steps or multiple items than just writing paragraphs about them.

 

ASK FOR FEEDBACK

It can be a good idea to run your guides by beta readers before you post them. They can tell you whether you're being clear enough for someone who isn't you to understand, as well as point out any problems with grammar or spelling they notice.

 

If any other good ideas cross my mind, I'll make sure to update this guide to say so. As always, if I made any mistakes, please let me know!

[thunderforce]

Do not write in white text on a yellow background, it is hard to read? 🙂

[SuperPlyx]

Now someone use this to make a guide to using Mid's Reborn. I just found out yesterday you could drag powers to move the levels around. Could add a list of keyboard shortcuts and tips and tricks to using the app.

[Bopper]

3 hours ago, SuperPlyx said:

Now someone use this to make a guide to using Mid's Reborn. I just found out yesterday you could drag powers to move the levels around. Could add a list of keyboard shortcuts and tips and tricks to using the app.

Would this video tutorial help you? @Vayek put this together.

 

[Vayek]

On 4/23/2020 at 9:48 AM, Bopper said:

Would this video tutorial help you? @Vayek put this together.

 

Hey, that old google account and attached Youtube account was compromised and perma banned while i slept one night. 

I republished the original source videos from that series (unedited) here: