The PR BlogCreativityStorytelling & WritingWilliam Faulkner on Writing From the Heart

William Faulkner on Writing From the Heart

Writing advice from one of our greatest authors.

Cover photo: @jerrysilfwer

William Faulkner was one of the greatest writers of all time.

Read what the geni­us nov­el writer William Faulkner said in his 1950 accept­ance speech for the Nobel Prize in Literature:

[…] the young man or woman writ­ing today has for­got­ten the prob­lems of the human heart in con­flict with itself which alone can make good writ­ing because only that is worth writ­ing about, worth the agony and the sweat. He must learn them again. He must teach him­self that the basest of all things is to be afraid: and, teach­ing him­self that, for­get it forever, leav­ing no room in his work­shop for any­thing but the old ver­it­ies and truths of the heart, the uni­ver­sal truths lack­ing which any story is eph­em­er­al and doomed – love and hon­or and pity and pride and com­pas­sion and sac­ri­fice.

Until he does so, he labors under a curse. He writes not of love but of lust, of defeats in which nobody loses any­thing of value, and vic­tor­ies without hope and worst of all, without pity or com­pas­sion. His griefs grieve on no uni­ver­sal bones, leav­ing no scars.

He writes not of the heart but of the glands.”

All stra­tegic PR mes­saging should begin with this simple yet power­ful ques­tion; is this a mat­ter of the heart? Is this a real story about love, hon­our, pity, pride, com­pas­sion, or sacrifice? 

Read also: How Nick Cave Turned Down MTV With Some Classy Writing

Communication is not primar­ily about speak­ing your mind but find­ing the right words in your heart. How do you make people care about your PR message?

We care about con­flicts.
We care about stakes.

Sometimes, I find inspir­a­tion just from look­ing at the illus­tra­tion below as a remind­er to high­light the emo­tion­al aspect of being alive:

William Faulkner on Writing From the Heart
Various emo­tions in writ­ing. Creator: Unknown.

Please sup­port my blog by shar­ing it with oth­er PR- and com­mu­nic­a­tion pro­fes­sion­als. For ques­tions or PR sup­port, con­tact me via jerry@​spinfactory.​com.

PR Resource: Checklist for Leadership Clarity

Checklist for Communicative Leadership

Always make sure that every­one in an organ­isa­tion is 100% clear about the following:

  • This is what we are doing. Is this clear? Do you have any ques­tions? Can you repeat it back to me?
  • This is why we are doing it. Is this clear? Do you have any ques­tions? Can you repeat it back to me?
  • This is who will be doing it. Is this clear? Do you have any ques­tions? Can you repeat it back to me?
  • This is how we are doing it. Is this clear? Do you have any ques­tions? Can you repeat it back to me?
  • This is when we are doing it. Is this clear? Do you have any ques­tions? Can you repeat it back to me?
  • This is where we are doing it. Is this clear? Do you have any ques­tions? Can you repeat it back to me?
  • This is for whom we are doing it. Is this clear? Do you have any ques­tions? Can you repeat it back to me?

Read more: How To Recognise Poor Communicative Leadership in Organisations

Jerry Silfwer
Jerry Silfwerhttps://doctorspin.net/
Jerry Silfwer, alias Doctor Spin, is an awarded senior adviser specialising in public relations and digital strategy. Currently CEO at KIX Index and Spin Factory. Before that, he worked at Kaufmann, Whispr Group, Springtime PR, and Spotlight PR. Based in Stockholm, Sweden.

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