10 things that hx writers hate

Fictional dialogues, real situations

For many years now, as I have the opportunity to communicate with UX-writers from a heap of different companies. Even if we are working on completely disconnected products, we are faced with strikingly similar problems.

Below I tried to cover some of them. All dialogues are fiction, but they are based on real events.
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If you're wondering what it is like to be a UX writer, here’s a quick review.

1. “I need only one word”

Designer: “Hi, I need to come up with text for this button. Can you help me?"

Writer: “Of course. What does the button do? ”

Designer: “Well, she sends a private message to all users in the current thread who have not yet responded. Then she creates a separate thread where only these people are present. And this new thread is not displayed in their profile. ”

Writer: “Okay. And the places there are only one word? ”

Designer: “That's right. Only one."

2. “For technical reasons”

Developer: “For technical reasons, we cannot make changes to the system. You will only need to write a copy of the UI with explanations of how this works. ”

Writer: “Can you at least display different messages for different scenarios?”

Developer: “Nope, you can't do that either.”

Writer: “For technical reasons?”

Developer: “Aha.”

3. “Add expression”

CEO: “M-yes, something is not right. Faded somehow. Can you add more expressions? Put an exclamation mark or something else. ”

Writer: “But then there is already an exclamation mark.”

CEO: “Well, yes, just add more. It needs more to stand out. Do not explain. Focus! ”

4. “Disclaimer of legal liability”

Product Manager: “The legal department says we need to add a disclaimer text here. There is a 0.0005% chance that the product will not work as intended. ”

Writer: “But no one will read it down there.”

Product Manager: “Yes, so I’ll repeat, in case you don’t understand, the legal department says that we need to add here a text disclaiming legal liability. Can you speed up the process? ”

5. “It sounds weird”

Client: “I don’t like the way this sentence sounds.”

Writer: “Good. Can you describe in more detail? ”

Client: “I don't know. These words ... In my opinion, they somehow sound strange. Can you fix it? ”

6. “We can not localize this”

Localization department: “Our translator says that there is no such word in their language. Can you rewrite? ”

Writer: “But we have this word used everywhere in ...”

Localization department: “I apologize, but you have to rewrite. Wherever it occurs. ”

7. “It will take no more than a minute.”

Colleague: “Hi, you're a writer, right? Can you help me quickly edit this text? This will take no more than a minute. ”

Writer: “Of course! What can I do?"

(5 hours passed)

Colleague: “Hello, are you still working on the edits?”

Writer: (typing fiercely) “Yes ... Give me another minute.”

8. “What words?”

Stranger: “So what are you doing?”

Writer: “I am a writer. I’m writing the words you see in Dropbox. ”

Stranger: “Wait, are there any words in Dropbox? What words?"

9. “More Designers!”

Director: “Awesome news! We just hired 15 more designers! ”

Writer: “Great! Does this mean we also hired writers? ”

Director: “No, only designers.”

Writer: “A. Then who will write all these words? ”

(Birds chirping in the distance)

10. “Because SEO”

Marketing Department: “According to our SEO research, these 8 keywords are in trend. Can you paste them into a copy of the home page? ”

Writer: “But we do not use these terms anywhere.”

Marketing department: “Yes, but this is SEO. Aren't you interested in more clicks? ”