simonyoungwriters.com

Last time I wrote about the craft of writing. This time I’m going to focus on one of the most important components of writing.

User-generated-content is revolutionising business models as companies wake up to the inherent possibilities of crowdsourcing.

This doesn’t mean, however, that anything goes, any more than “anything” has ever “gone”. The only thing that’s changed is who judges.

In the old days (until about 5 years ago), creative product was intermediated through managers, agents and publishers. Now, with platforms like blogging and online video, the voice of the people can be more clearly heard.

To be sure, there’s some amazing talent out there (like this, this and this) but what’s missing is the crucial skill of storytelling, specifically the element of sustained suspense.

Sure, you wonder what song the guy could be singing backwards, but once he’s started playing his backwards song backwards (making it go forwards) the punch line is over. And with a “normal day” there’s no sense of danger, of the risk that these two guys could ever fail. Once you’ve seen the first trick, you’ve seen them all.

These videos gather a whole lot of views, but do they gather relationships? Relationships are all that matter today. And relationships start with stories. To oversimplify, stories have suspense. Suspense means you’re willing to come back. Coming back means you become a part of someone’s life, and they become part of yours.

(It’s that same principle of “coming back” that explains the friendships I’ve made on Twitter)

Does this only apply to the entertainment industry? Heck no.

In the last two weeks I’ve seen references to storytelling in product design, web design and also these killer quotes from Tom Peters on storytelling in marketing and sales:

“Work incessantly on your story – most economic value springs from a good story (think Perrier!)”

“Risk assessment and risk management is more about stories than advanced math – ie brilliant scenario construction.”

“A key – perhaps the key – to leadership is the effective communication of a story” – Howard Gardner, Leading Minds

(Thanks to artolog for the fantastic, suspenseful photo!)

Related links:  Stories bring the future to life, Journalistic Storytelling

A belated happy new year to you. We’ve been back at work since early January, building some systems to make 2008 run smoothly for our clients.

Peter Day’s broadcast on craft in business caught my attention during the break. In an age of automation, efficiency and scalability, writing is a bespoke, hand crafted thing. We can design our processes to produce customised, high quality writing as efficiently as possible, but it is ultimately the quality that counts most.

In some industries, such as publishing and entertainment, this is an established truth (although the recent Hollywood Writers’ strike shows the constant danger of undervalued writing).

In other industries, such as web development, it’s either taken for granted, or an afterthought.

That’s why the strategy we’re pursuing this year is relationships. Writing is often not valued until you see what things look like without it. (Here’s an extreme example.)

On the other side of the coin, good writing can make the difference between good and great communication.
Next week, we’ll talk about the magic of storytelling, and how it makes the difference in anything from a casual conversation to an instruction manual.

(Photo courtesy of cimonoregal)