PIC SNIPE/Shutterstock Writing business books as narrative nonfiction engages with the reader's five senses. Accelerate the narrative pace, like thriller fiction. Business books do not need to be slow and dry. Humans seem hardwired to consume and enjoy stories. Fictional stories shape the way we think, affect how we act and influence our choices. One study revealed that "good storytelling" increased cooperation within a Filipino hunter-gatherer population. And Alexander the Great slept with a copy of Homer's Iliad next to him every night, a fictional story he used as a blueprint for his conquests. That story drove his choices and changed history.