Quite an interesting book but sadly it was all plagiarized from the dictionary
Recently I was helping a friend write a philosophy paper, which is a fun activity and challenging task but one thing I came to notice is that both of us where quite often focusing on the writing prose and not enough time answering the questions.
Then I came to the realization that I always go down that road, focusing on the prose instead of getting the technicalities out of the way first hand, be it on my blogs. essays or even assignments and exam questions. Luckily I was not the only one struggling with this problem, upon investigation I came to the conclusion that most of my friends who write do spend most of their time on the prose, which makes one question if that is good or bad and how do you find the balance.
Starting from middle school most of are told to submit our writings in for English classes, then we get an understanding of what a good writing should be like and how the ideas should flow and how our words should be placed to keep the reader engaged and captivated by whatever it is we are trying to tell. We are given tips and tricks and ways of writing, something like varying your word choice (if you use the word cop in one sentence you should use police officer in the other sentence) and much more.
But once you join the academic sphere1 or the work force you are faced with the harsh reality that nobody cares how many fancy words or repeated words are there in your writing, the matter at hand becomes does your piece of work tackle the technical details, is it trying to provide solutions to the problems.
Depending on the area of your work you are supposed to use domain specific language, weather it be writing a report on a field expedition you did with your crew or a quick documentation on the new small graphics library you created.
But focusing on technicalities does not mean your writing should be full of Industry jargon or quotes from relevant literature, because after all a good writing (for me personally) is one that is brief simple to understand and gets the point across without any confusion. It’s also possible you go on explaining what you mean by exists for the coming 500 pages2, but we all know how that will end.
So, when to include prose? if your tackling a highly technical and domain-specific topics, I would suggest tackling the problem at hand upfront and not worrying much about the prose. But that is always not the case because depending on the purpose of your writing and audience it might be something you want to consider.
How to find the balance? Achieving balance often depends on what you, as the writer, aim to accomplish in the end. because after all the writer best knows his audience than anyone else, for example writing an introductory material might require you to include some form of prose be it using metaphors to illustrate examples or keep a simple flow so the reader does not get overwhelmed quickly; however if your working on a complex material that requires intense background literature knowledge on the topic, then including prose might seem like a waste of time to the reader.
It all comes down to understanding the objective of your writing and the audience, still sharpening your prose won’t hurt, not everyone can experience Anna Karenina3. It’s also a good skill to be able to adjust your writing to fit any given scenario as a writer.