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The Power of Storytelling summit

The power of storytelling – Classical Wisdom

This should be a fascinating summit with speakers from across the disciplines: classicists, writers, academics, journalists, a communications expert, a photographer, an actress and political experts. I’ve just registered my space and, as a taster, I ordered Philip Freeman’s How to Tell a Story, an updated translation of Aristotle’s Poetics. Aristotle, of course, summarised story […]

Rick Rubin

“Sometimes it’s enough to offer clues.” – Rick Rubin #writing

“There’s a tremendous power in using the least amount of information to get a point across.” “No need to take the audience by the hand and walk them through the work. Sometimes it’s enough to offer clues.” Two insightful quotes from the legendary record producer Rick Rubin. When we write corporate or marketing content, too […]

The secrets of narrative immersion #writing

If you’re a writer of content creator, you’ll find no shortage of insights in Paul Zak’s new book, Immersion: The Science of the Extraordinary and the Source of Happiness, The basis of the book – which covers advertising, film, music, education & training, events & attractions, presentations and retail – is the underlying biomechanical processes that […]

You have 15 seconds…

You have 15 seconds to grab attention. “If you don’t get attention within 15 seconds, it’s very difficult to get it back. And then really tell stories at human scale. Again, most storytellers know this already, but have those authentic characters with real emotions. Let them face some kind of crisis. Build a mystery around […]

How stories work in a data-driven world

The Sea We Swim In: How Stories Work in a Data-Driven World, by Frank Rose is worth a read. It criss-crosses from business stories like Harry’s, the razor brand, and Warby Parker (eyewear) to modern media phenomena like The Waking Dead and West World to explore how stories survive and grow in our modern, hyper-connected […]

Words that work for UK business

There’s been plenty of press about Dr Frank Luntz’s recently published survey of Britain’s “politics, economics and culture wars.” Most has focused on “wokeism” and the party political implications of changing attitudes. However, the section on business and business language (from slide 89 in this deck) should be required reading for business writers. Luntz says […]

Professionals, hacks and amateurs – @thisisseth

The amateur contributes with unfiltered joy… The professional shows up even when she doesn’t feel like it… A hack is a professional who doesn’t care. Another insightful post from Seth Godin: Serviceable is for hacks. Memorable and remarkable belong to professionals and hard-working amateurs. Read Seth’s full post, here. Photo by Evan Dvorkin on Unsplash

The Inciting Incident in nonfiction

The Inciting Incident, or Call to Action, is central to fiction and storytelling, but does it have a place in nonfiction? Especially in straightforward commercial writing? Of course it does. Everything is storytelling. Here’s Steven Pressfield (The War of Art) on the topic. Photo by Marc Kleen on Unsplash

Where bad grammar guides come from?

Why are there so many poor grammar and style guides, out there? One common problem is that they simply parrot the errors of the past, losing the subtlety of the original along the way. Presumably, in the name of clarity. Here’s an interesting piece from the Economist on 18th century grammarian Robert Lowth, whose prejudices […]

Do you want truth or coherence? #writing

It seems we prefer coherence to inconvenient truth, according to a 2019 research paper covered in the British Psychological Society’s Research Digest. That helps to explain why a political party (in particular) can risk an outrageous, but plausible, lie. Even when followed by a less “interesting” or coherent truth, it’s often the tasty lie that […]

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