Storytelling is an art, let's discover it among the pages of 5 great writers

Talking about storytelling applied to business communication is never easy.
Humankind is divided into two categories: on the one hand, those who put a sprinkle of storytelling everywhere (and, often, inappropriately, in a way that is out of place); on the other, those who consider storytelling too difficult or, worse, useless , because the goal of a business is to invoice.

The goal of a business is yes, to invoice – otherwise how can it continue to live? – but beyond this material aspect there is a mission, the desire to create value, to inspire, to guide, to feed an audience eager to change something in their lives for the better.

During my life, I have had the opportunity to meet, between the pages of a book, the images of a film, the notes and the words of the songs, many men of extraordinary talent, I have listened to their stories, read their stories, experienced their adventures. Thus I discovered that our brain, thanks to mirror neurons, records all the experiences read or seen in a film as lived. Simply put, for the human brain there is no difference between reality and imagination. The extraordinary power of stories is precisely this: they allow us to grow and evolve from the comfort of an armchair.

Why not help your prospects with good stories that give them an opportunity to transform?
Today, to delve into the topic with you, I thought I'd bother with some great writers to find out their advice for writing stories with a soul.

The craft of writing according to Stephen King

Stephen King is the cornerstone of my horror reading. Whenever I want to feel at home with a novel, I grab one of his and start reading. Whenever I can't find novels that I'm passionate about, when all the stories seem boring and all a bit the same to each other, I choose a novel by King. I trust I can read them all before I die, so he – the King of Thrills – remains my lifesaving library when publishing fails me. Or when I grow impatient and need red leaves on the driveways of the residential neighborhoods of some remote Maine town, some bizarre character who sells trinkets, animals I hope will be saved and children I root for from the first page.

On Writing , his essay on creative writing, is an essential handbook .
It's not (just) technique, but a love letter to writing.

1. If you don't have time to read, you also don't have time to write.
2. A short story is just a short story. It's like a stranger's kiss in the middle of the night.
3. Good descriptions need skills, and the first of these is that you have to read a lot to write a lot . It is good.
4. Stopping while writing a scene just because it's difficult is a really bad idea. Go ahead and write, because that piece might be the best you've ever written. Dig deep when you enter these complex situations: you're moving something big inside of you, don't stop.
5. The stories are divided into three parts. The narration , which takes the story from one point to another until the epilogue. The descriptions , which make the scenes realistic in the eyes of the reader. The dialogues , which bring realism to the characters.
6. The most interesting situations are always those that answer the question What if…?
7. The best stories are the ones that end up being character-driven and not situation-focused.
8. With passive verbs, something has already happened to the subject of the sentence. Eliminate the passive forms!
9. Descriptions begin in the writer's imagination and end in the reader's.
10. Less is more.
11. The road to Hell is studded with adverbs.
12. Always use the simplest and most immediate word in your vocabulary. Do not search for complex, obsolete or artificial words. Be direct.
13. Be Unique : Don't try to imitate someone else's style.
14. If you do it for fun, you will do it forever.

Writing advice for your communication, signed: Virginia Woolf

The power of suggestion is one of the most mysterious properties that words have. Anyone who has ever written a sentence must be aware, or at least partially aware, of this. Words are by their very nature full of echoes, memories, associations.

1. Keep a journal and see the benefits it has on your writing. Virginia Woolf held one that lasted twenty-six years.
2. Any method of writing is fine, as it is the writer's way of expressing himself.
3. Leave the house: it is as important as staying there. Virginia Woolf took long walks through which she gathered stories and characters that would fill her novels.
4. Humans are creatures of habit. A writing routine is essential for expressing one's abilities to the fullest.
5. Fighting your demons with the pen is part of growing up.
6. Find a quiet place to meditate.
7. There is a time to tell and live. Don't write about things that are too big.
8. Talent is not enough . Spend energy looking for brilliant ideas.

Marion Zimmer Bradley's writing tips

1. You write. Put all your ideas on paper.
2. Writing is 10% inspiration, 90% hard work.
3. Persist. Write every day. 1,000 pages seems like a lot, but three pages a day turns into a book in a year..
4. You don't need to learn to write, but to sell.
5. Read a couple of good fiction books.

Neil Gaiman's (dream) writing tips

Everyone has a secret world inside them.
I mean everyone.
All the people in the whole world, I really mean every person – no matter how deaf and dull-witted they appear to be.
Inside then they all have unimaginable magnificent, wonderful, stupid, fantastic worlds …
Not just a world.
Hundreds of worlds.
Maybe thousands.

– Neil Gaiman

1. You write.
2. Put one word after another. Find the most suitable word and write it.
3. Finish what you are writing. Then move on to the next story.
4. Throw out what you wrote. Re-read with the claim that you've never read anything like it before. Show it to friends whose opinion counts and ask for feedback on what you've created.
5. Fix it. Remember that, sooner or later, before reaching perfection you will have to let go of what you have written to dedicate yourself to your next story. Perfection is like reaching the horizon: move.
6. Laugh at your mistakes.
7. The main rule of writing is that, if you do it with enough assurance and confidence, you can do anything you like. This may be a rule of thumb for life and for writing, but it's definitely true for writing. Then write your story as it should be written. Write honestly and tell the best of your ability.
8. Real life doesn't have to be convincing, but fiction does.
9. Write down the things that interest you. Write the things people want to read.
10. Love books, love words and love stories passionately.
11. Write long and for a long time.

Charles Dickens' Emotional Writing Tips

Make them laugh, make them cry, make them wait.

1. Write down the things you have experienced. Travel a lot, meet people you wouldn't normally meet in your life and build your own stories based on what you've known in your life. There is not only writing.
2. Dickens said: “ I write with great care and pain (passionately passionate about my craft, and I think it is worth getting into trouble for it), persevere and work hard.” Imitate him: love writing and words with the same passion.
3. Dickens was a sportsman and claimed that he had to keep in training to be able to devote himself to writing with creativity and dedication.
4. Don't treat your readers like idiots and assume they're smarter than you.
5. Writing is difficult. Also for Dickens, who in one of his quotes says “Prowling about the rooms, sitting down, getting up, stirring the fire, looking out the window, teasing my hair, sitting down to write, writing nothing, writing something and tearing it up… ”. I like to imagine him wandering through the rooms of his home in the grip of doubts. Write, and if you don't like what you wrote, tear it up.
6. Don't be wordy. Take out the scenes, the sentences, the superfluous words that add nothing to the story, and eliminate them mercilessly. Only keep details that are relevant to the story.
7. Make your readers laugh.
8. Make your readers and female readers cry. Don't hesitate to tap into your emotional memory to do this.
9. Grab your audience's attention with your opening sentence. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” is the incipit of Tale of two cities (in Italian it has several translations, for which I report the English title)   and make the reader curious to understand the reason for this oxymoron.
10. Use cliff hangers to create strong endings. Dickens used this technique at the end of each chapter, also due to the fact that these were published on a weekly basis in English magazines.
11. Write vivid descriptions. In the descriptions of Dickens' novels, the reader feels the scents, sees the scenes, captures the sounds and voices. This made his stories unforgettable.
12. Strong characters. Dickens has managed to create memorable characters thanks to incredible characterizations. Who doesn't know Ebenezer Scrooge?
13. Dramaturgy. Dickens also wrote extensively for the stage and used staged action and dialogue to draw the reader into the story. Learn the art of playwriting and screenwriting - they could be of great help to you.

These are tips for writers and copywriters that you can adopt to improve the quality of your online communication, many of which are also applicable to a post that you want to publish on Facebook, Linkedin or Instagram.