It’s certainly a myth that only ‘serious’ writing, using lots of abstract nouns and dry objectivity, gives you authority. In fact, the opposite is true because such writing leads to pomposity on your part and incomprehension on your reader’s part – and those effects undermine any authority you might have been striving for.
Perhaps the opposite writing to this kind of business-speak is mythology itself. I’ve always loved the Greek and Roman myths in particular. I’ve been researching the myths of Apollo for a book of stories I’m writing. I came across the story of Apollo using a white crow – in those days all crows were white – to keep watch on his lover Coronis. The crow observed Coronis’s infidelity but did nothing to stop it and nothing to revenge it. Enraged, Apollo turned the crow, and all crows, forever black.
What’s the relevance of that to business writing? Well, I guarantee that you will now remember the story the next time you see a crow. And that’s a powerful effect to achieve with a piece of writing. When was the last time you read a paragraph of business writing that had the same effect?
But what I really love about mythology is that those stories were invented to explain a complex, often baffling world. They deal in fundamental emotions and ideas, personified in the characters of gods and people. They give us insights into universal human hopes, fears and motivations. They are very clear about purpose and theme. All these qualities are essential – but too often missing – in business communication.
That’s why I included this as one of the constraints in 26 ways of looking at a blackberry. In the eleventh chapter of the book I rewrote the base text as a Greek myth, the invented story of Telethe. In doing that a previously hidden theme emerged, almost from my subconscious, the theme of the need for knowledge.
This week I’m off with fellow Dark Angels, Stuart Delves and Jamie Jauncey, to run workshops at a conference on storytelling organised by the Welsh Assembly. To Llandudno, north Wales, the land of legends? We’ll see – I’ll be getting people to write myths and I’ll report back here next week.
Superb piece John,
those Greek & Roman stories were some of the first I ever read and held me entranced ever since.
Later found that Jung with his archetypes & the subconscious were part of the same.
Had never heard of the white crows, and how clever of you to say that it is instantly memorable. Your summary of how they explain a ‘complex & baffling world’ is masterly.
While ‘the need for knowledge’ is THE great universal truth that makes anything on this mortal coil worthwhile.
If on the way to or from Wales, you pass junction 13 on the M4, we are 10 minutes away, so if you need a coffee, rest or bed, come by.
yours aye
Peter
I have always liked the fact that the messenger wasn’t killed, but was turned black, as punishment for observing and not intervening. I remember seeing crows after I read the myth for the first time, and they had acquired a majesty they lacked. It is a fabulous idea to get people to tap back into this rich source of ideas/culture. Let me know what happens!