Translating Creative to Content

By Claire Winter. 

Writers with a creative, storytelling background may struggle to transition into marketable and functional writing work. However, so many of the skills gained through learning to write stories and fiction are transferable and can be used as essential tools when writing content for business. Here are some suggestions to get you on your way to utilising your storytelling tactics for coherent commercial content:

Passion is Paramount

Genuinely caring about the subjects you write about is vital. When we write stories, we tend to choose settings, characters, and circumstances that we have a connection to in order to create compelling narrative worlds. Authentic, emotional investment to your topic will be your through-line directly to your audience, no matter whether the work is narrative or informative. Treating each topic you write about for clients with the same regard and passion that you would treat a story that is personally important to you might point your project in the right direction. Of course, genuine passion can not be forced out of thin air, but trying to approach every new subject with an ardent, positive perspective can be integral to starting on the right foot.

Know your audience, but don't feel beholden to them

Being aware of your target demographic is key in the early stages of composing any writing, from storytelling to textbooks. Your voice on the page needs to speak to the people the work is intended for, whether that be a wide range or a small niche of an audience. Awareness of your audience can inform the writing process from start to finish, guiding your vocabulary, tone, and subject matter according to your intended readers. Just bear in mind that your audience is not always the primary concern for your writing in the grand scheme, and it is just as crucial for the writing to speak for itself. Even though the demographic is not the be-all and end-all of any piece of writing, it can still be a useful aid in composing your work.

More isn't always better

Poetic, intricate use of language is undoubtedly an earned talent and has many legitimate uses in all sorts of writing. However, it is not always an ideal method for every medium. Often, stories can become bogged down by the constant flourishing of language. It can be many writers' instinct to insert a complex and lengthy chapter of description where a concise description would not only suffice but would be more succinct and poignant. The same applies to commercial writing. If you are faced with a desire to flesh out and extend a section of your writing to get your point across, it may be worth being more conservative with your words and getting straight to the point. Clients, readers, and your own time will thank you for it.

Structure your writing

In the same way that well established narrative structures can make an excellent format for a story, there are formulas and guidelines in content creation that can aid in forming a solid foundation for your writing. Written content comes in all shapes and sizes, all of which have been tried and tested. In the same way an author might shape their story based on genre conventions and a known act structure, your commercial writing can be planned ahead of time, based on accepted and palatable formulas. Keep up to date with similar writing in your field to get inspiration for conventional article structures, formats and layouts that you can reliably use for clients.

Break down the walls

As helpful as established writing structures can be, they can feel restrictive on occasion. Fortunately, you can bend (or even break) these structures here and there to open up your content possibilities. Just as a fiction writer might twist the general formula of the Hero's Journey to throw a spanner in the works, a content creator can use the same ideology and switch up tried and tested formats. This can lead to fresh content for clients and businesses, albeit with a unique selling point and a creative twist that will set you apart.

Trust your instincts - Don't overthink it

Our chaotic brains can often foil our attempts to be creative or productive. When this happens, get yourself out for a walk, which boosts your creative output by as much as 60%. Overthinking is a content killer that can come out of nowhere and derail our progress. In storytelling, a lot of talent can be attributed to instinct. When faced with a haze of directions to take a story and its characters, it is often the best solution to take a breath and trust your instinct. That instinct has formed from experience and understanding of writing and the world around you, and you can certainly use it for business-focused writing just as easily as if you were writing a story. If you are struggling with your writing work, try to let your intuition take the lead for a bit, and you might wind up back on track.

Writing for business is simpler when you put your storytelling hat on. Tapping into your passion and knowledge that you already use for your stories means you can get a head start on achieving great content for your business.

Claire Winter is the host of the Cracking Content podcast and a Copy and Content trainer and coach. She is passionate about helping coaches and creative entrepreneurs to amplify their expertise through storytelling, content, and PR so that they can get more sales and make a bigger impact through 1:1 coaching, her digital courses and membership.

Claire currently writes for all 41 Families magazines that cover the UK, which reach 9 million parents a year. She has have been a content creator for 20 years and helped thousands of business owners get more sales with their content marketing. She is a trained NCTJ journalist and started her career at ITN in radio and television. She also runs a free Facebook community called Cracking Content where she shares writing, content, and PR tips.