Profile: John Simmons, A Literary Ministry

By Stuart Forbes

He's the author of numerous books, director of creative consultancy The Writer, and an all-round business writing guru. So you might assume John Simmons has been immersed in literature for as long as he can remember. But you'd be wrong.

“I imagine most people who know a little bit about me would think: he's a writer, he's been reading from an early age. But that's really not the case. I was a very slow and reluctant reader.”

It was encountering the children's classic The Wind in the Willows that transformed Simmons's relationship with reading.

“I was absolutely enchanted by it. I'd never read a book at all up to that point, so I told my mum and she bought me a copy for my ninth birthday. It's still my most treasured book.”

This experience set John Simmons on a trajectory that led to a life in the world of books. And it was the thrill of discovering the world of literature that informed his participation in the Ministry of Stories, a new project that aims to spread the joys of reading and writing to a new generation.

Star quality  

The pioneering literacy project is based on novelist Dave Eggers's 826 writing programme in the US. The idea is to give kids space away from curriculums and classrooms and encouraging them simply to express themselves through writing.
 
And with writers like Nick Hornby and Zadie Smith chipping in as volunteers, the project's star quality has made waves in the national press.
 
When Simmons was offered the chance to get involved with the Ministry of Stories, he jumped at the chance. He speaks of the American version with obvious admiration:

“Dave Eggers was keen to give something back having made his money from books. He wanted to pass on his own love of stories to kids,” says Simmons, reflecting, you sense, on that early encounter with Wind in the Willows.

“He saw that in the US education system there was just a lot of wasted talent. So he wanted to create a space after school where kids could just go and write.”
 
Eggers found a place in San Francisco that was right for the project, but the council denied him permission to use the space. “They said it's ‘zoned for retail.’ That's their jargon,” says Simmons with a raised eyebrow. “So he set up a pirate shop.”
 
Cloak-and-dagger

It's a model that's been copied in the UK, with the Ministry's Hoxton Street store selling everything a monster might need – from Fang Floss to Zombie Mints.
 
Simmons speaks about the challenge of coming up with the perfect writing to sell the Ministry of Stories:

“The biggest challenge when it came to writing the website was that there are two things going on here: the very fun part – the front, the monster shop – and the more serious part, which is all about improving literacy amongst young kids.”

“So you're enticed in through the monster shop, but there's also that secretive cloak-and-dagger style language for the Ministry of Stories, which is meant to be modelled on a kind of post-war, spy-era government department.”
 
Escaping the corporate jargon

It was a challenge for which Simmons was well prepared over a career that has seen him combine the work of an author and a creative consultant for business. Simmons has written what some consider the essential trilogy on modern business writing: We, Me, Them & It, The Invisible Grail and Dark Angels.

In the latter book, Simmons writes, “Let us explore our potential through words, words that soar off the page, fly out of the screen, into the imaginations of others. Let us live up to our abilities as dark angels.”

The idea of 'dark angels' has more than a hint of ghoulish intrigue about it. Subtitled How Writing Releases Creativity at Work, the book calls us to rebel against the greyness of corporate speak and the blandness of business jargon. “Every boring piece of writing is a missed opportunity,” Simmons has written: “an opportunity to persuade, to cajole, to touch, to surprise.”
 
Getting personal

Simmons's fascination with stories unites his work for the Ministry and his career as a pioneer of corporate communications over many years.

“One aspect of story I've become increasingly interested in is the foundation story – every business has a foundation story,” he says. “And this tells you a lot about their identity, about their spirit, their personality.”

It's an insight Simmons has put to use by spearheading the trend towards what's called 'authentic voice' in business communications.

Most famously in his work with Innocent Drinks, Simmons was instrumental in moving branding and advertising towards a more intimate, informal style of writing that isn't afraid to use humour to get its message across.

“It's almost a personal relationship that you develop with the business, and it's much better if you can understand that business and relate warmly towards it,” he says. “And stories are important in this – it's stories, after all, that really engage with people.”

Simmons may have influenced the changes in corporate language we've seen over the past 10 or 20 years, but what does he see as the future for communications?

“You can never predict the evolution of language,” he says. “We can't even predict was Facebook or Twitter will look like in 10 years' time.” But one thing's sure, “There's no turning back the movement towards informal communication. The new media is part of that.”

The question of how language will develop over the coming years brings us back to Simmons' work with the Ministry of Stories:

“The challenge is how do you hold onto the quality of communication to get your message across? You will still need people who know how to use language to tell stories.” And perhaps thinking of his encounter with Mole and Mr. Toad all those years ago, he says: “Storytelling is so universal that it won't change. I really believe that. It's a constant.”

John Simmons is Director of the The Writer, a founder of http://www.dark-angels.org.uk/about.htm and a Founding Director of 26. Check out John’s blog at http://www.26fruits.co.uk/blog/.