Ed Catmull's lessons about embedding creativity into a business are proving enjoyable, demonstrating how Pixar ‘protected’ its creatives and let them follow their own paths to writing stories.

This led me to search out more views from Pixar people on storytelling. Here’s what I found:

Within these 22 ‘rules’ are really 22 questions to ask yourself as you write a story. Why must you tell this story? How would you feel? What are the stakes? The main point they make about the process of writing a good story is to challenge yourself and your story as you go along and be prepared to ruthlessly cut parts out to simplify and throw it all away at the end if it’s no good.

The way you evaluate whether it’s good after your first draft is to think about your audience. Making your audience care is the most important aspect to a good story. That idea can be a real challenge for brands. How do you make your consumers care about your brand? What is interesting to your consumer vs. interesting to you? Why must you tell this story, and why should consumers listen?

Jen Collins is junior business development executive at Hill+Knowlton Strategies