8 fiction-writing techniques to energize corporate prose

As a reporter who cranks out fiction on the side, I find that creative writing has taught me useful lessons that apply to my day job.

But what about corporate communications? Can writers drafting white papers or summarizing benefit plans learn anything from the techniques of fiction?

I asked novelists who are also communicators, and most say fiction informs the writing they do in a corporate office. The lessons go the other way, too.

“One of the things that you’re doing as a writer, whether it’s corporate communications or fiction writing, is that you’re trying to tell a story,” says Jillian Medoff, a novelist and communications consultant at The Segal Co.

However, Gil Schwartz, who is executive vice president and chief communications officer for CBS, is skeptical. Schwartz has had two novels published and writes columns for Fortune under the pseudonym Stanley Bing.