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Travis Turner is the editor-in-chief at Evil Martians. He helps write, edit, and shape content on a number of cool topics, including Ruby. With a background ranging from journalism and EdTech to his time as an IT consultant, he brings a wide-ranging perspective to his work. He places an emphasis on reader experience, helping developers find their voice, share knowledge, and illuminate interesting stories.
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Okay, so I can see that about 40 to 50% of the people are raising their hands, which is great! My goal today is to give everyone a crash course—there's really no other way to say it—about writing and editing technical content. We won't be talking about grammar, style, or anything too specific; I find that stuff pretty boring. Instead, we're going to look at this topic from a broader perspective, focusing on mindset and process. I hope you can take away something from this that you can apply on your own if you choose to.
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My talk is titled "Narrative Reflections: Transmuting Ruby Code into Storytelling Gold." This title is chosen because it rhymes; after all, 'code' and 'gold' are close! I thought having a rhyming title might increase my chances of being accepted to speak, and here I am now, so I guess it worked! This illustrates how writing can open doors for you, allowing you to enter spaces you didn't think you were qualified for.
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Now, rather than why this talk is titled what it is, let’s discuss how to begin any talk or article. In the spirit of this topic, I'm going to start with a story. Once upon a time, I was pursuing a creative writing degree about 10 years ago. The experience is much like what you see in movies—sitting in circles quite a bit, often a pretty uncomfortable experience.
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You develop a strong sense of mental fortitude in these programs since you know that whenever a hand goes up, you're likely about to hear something incorrect. In the midst of this challenging environment, I became aware of something called Google Cardboard. For those unfamiliar, it was a product that Google introduced to generate interest in VR (Virtual Reality). It was cool; people were standing around, mouths agape, reaching out as if they were touching something magical—an experience that captivated me.
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I ordered one, and as I recall, it took a bit of time to arrive. I vividly remember trying it out for the first time in a Rite Aid parking lot in 2014. At that moment, I placed my phone into the viewer, and I was transported! I realized I had made a significant mistake by majoring in creative writing and dedicating so much time to those writing circles. I was always interested in technology, but back then, I thought I couldn't do it. Yesterday, during your presentations, what I saw felt chaotic and overwhelming.
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This experience sparked my journey towards technology. I wanted to apply storytelling to tech, and putting that VR headset on opened my mind to new possibilities. So, why am I sharing this story? There will be an important callback to that VR moment later, but more importantly, it's about context. Context is one of my top concerns as an editor.
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I want to provide you with some context about who I am and my mindset since it might be helpful for you to understand my approach to this work. For example, on this slide, there's a number 'two.' This number doesn't belong here, demonstrating that context is important. You might get the general meaning, but having the proper context significantly enhances understanding.
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Let's talk about what I do now. At Evil Martians, we have a blog where we post diverse content, usually once or twice a week. We cover backend, frontend design, open source, and Ruby. The first thing about our writing approach is that it's entirely voluntary. There are no strict requirements to contribute; it's all driven by interest and creativity. The second pillar of our writing ethos is freedom—authors can approach topics however they want, in any format they prefer, as long as the content remains valuable or interesting to the readers.
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That value is judged by me and a small group of colleagues who help decide which topics move forward. Thankfully, our team has a really good grip on what we’re looking for. Lastly, I emphasize developer and author happiness. I want every team member to feel proud of their posts. The goal is for the authors to feel a sense of accomplishment when viewing their published works—almost tear-jerking when they see it all come together!
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We are a remote team, and I reflect on how some major tech corporations have perks like bean bag chairs, video games, and foosball tables. We don't have that, so I humorously refer to myself as a human foosball table. I'd like to share an infographic I created which represents our most recent 100 blog posts. These 100 ominous black squares represent our blog posts related to Ruby. It turns out about a third of our content touches Ruby in some way. I want to focus on one particular post that isn't Ruby-specific but was created by a frontend engineer.
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This post, titled "Why Should Developers Write? Three Reasons and Three Common Blocks," generated some interesting feedback from the community. As someone passionate about writing, I enjoyed seeing reactions from our readers, especially since we have such a supportive community. However, I also encountered negativity from a few individuals on Reddit, prompting me to take a moment to address this.
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It’s unfortunate, but these comments were rather harsh. Nevertheless, the good news is that the moderators of that subreddit deleted the entire thread shortly after it was created. This wouldn't happen on Ruby or Rails subreddits because our community is generally much more positive and respectful.
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I felt it was necessary to highlight the importance of writing despite the negativity. Writing serves many valuable purposes: first, it contributes to the community. It's a means of connecting with like-minded individuals and finding collaborators for open source projects, even if it may feel cynical to say. It's also about promoting your products, sharing your knowledge as an open-source project, and developing your skills.
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There's a common belief: if you can explain a concept to someone else, it indicates a solid understanding. Writing down those explanations creates a record of your understanding, ultimately aiding your skill development. Writing can enhance your career opportunities, as many job interviews include questions about past work challenges you’ve overcome. Imagine having a ready answer by saying, 'Actually, I have an article about that!'
