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Do we really write from the
right brain and edit from the left? If that's true, how can we cause
the shift that will release that creativity?
Right Brain
Writers
Right brain, left brain, is there anything to this stuff? Does the
right brain really control artistic endeavors, creativity and
imagination? Is it true that the left brain is analytical and verbal,
the accountant in us all? If these are true, what does it mean for the
serious writer?
Actually we could get into quite an argument on whether it was true or
not, and could call up credible sources to quote substantiating both
positions. I'm no scientist and don't intend to get into that argument.
I will say I've come to believe it myself because of the things I'm
about to talk about, but I'm on no mission to prove or disprove it to
anyone else.
If it is true, what it means is we write from the right side of our
brain and do the editing, formatting and support functions from the
left. The first time I heard that it made sense to me as soon as I
thought about it. Previously I would often find myself writing 'in the
flow,' only to stop and deal with some sort of grammatical error or
structure problem. After I had dealt with it, I found I wasn't able to
get the story flow going well again. I began to entertain the idea that
I had made the shift to left brain by stopping to edit.
A friend said the other day that "the right brained writer and left
brained editor were such different people that they should live in
separate houses." I began to try to isolate the two. I resolved to
never edit while I wrote, and discovered the story flowed longer and
better if I just wrote the story straight through without worrying
about grammar, formatting or fleshing out story details. Once I had an
entire storyline in place in a first draft, I could then let the editor
out to do the detail work the left brain is so well suited to. This
made the editing go better as I was not trying to switch back and forth
all the time, but let the editor do his job in peace.
What happens if we are in the wrong side of our brain for what we want
to do? That sounds silly, but I believe it can and does happen. I sat
down to write but couldn't get anything going. Writer's block? Once I
started approaching it in this context I discovered it usually meant
the editor was sitting there dealing with something that had to be
resolved so I could write. Maybe it was something really mundane like
putting a couple of things on my to do list so I wouldn't forget them,
or maybe going ahead and paying a couple of bills so I could quit
worrying about forgetting to do them. Whatever it was, it had the
circuits blocked. Released of that obligation, I could then make the
switch and get going.
I also found that I could 'prime the pump.' If I sat down to write and
ideas were not flowing forth, I could undertake an exercise designed to
force the switch to the right brain. However, being a person who
doesn't like to waste words I quickly abandoned any regimented
exercises and would take a character or setting and undertake to
describe it in great detail, a sure right brain activity. Or maybe I
would take a previous written scene and try to intentionally add one of
the five senses to it.
These activities generally produced more detail than could be used in
the story, but it did allow me to understand my characters and my
setting better and gave me a nice little base of details to draw on at
different points in the story. As soon as I felt the switch had
occurred, I immediately shifted over to pick up where I had left off in
my writing.
There was another aspect to this, brought out in a very old book
entitled "Psychocybernetics," by Maxwell Maltz. It was a very minor
theme in the book, but Maltz pointed out the fact that the computer was
modeled after the human brain, and did it's
work in the same manner. This means we can learn more about how we
think by better understanding how computers work. A computer cannot
input and output at the same time, not can it do more than one function
at a time. Big modern computers are so very fast that they appear to be
doing multiple tasks all at once, but they aren't. They are just
incredibly sophisticated jugglers.
Ever have someone walk toward you and you start thinking, "What is
their name?" over and over as you tried to come up with it? The answer
doesn't come until we quit inputting that question over and over, does
it? We can't input and output at the same time. Like a computer we can
also do only one task at a time though we are pretty talented jugglers
ourselves so it often appears we are doing more.
If this is true it means while we are doing something that occupies one
side of our brain the other side may be completing an assignment and
waiting for a chance to 'print out' the results, maybe at three o'clock
in the morning or while we are driving or doing something that requires
no major thought process. We have to be careful with this, because like
a computer, once the brain completes and delivers this assignment, it
is through and may never give us that report again. After a number of
instances of realizing I had lost a really good idea by not capturing
it I rarely let that happen any more.
Is the right brain-left brain phenomenon for real? Can we really
improve our writing by better understanding what's going on upstairs?
Like I say, I'll leave that battle up to the scholars and scientists.
All I know is treating it in that manner very much enhances my ability
to get myself in a writing mode when I'm not, and allows me to sustain
writing activity longer. Yet when I go over to the house where the
editor lives that seems to go better as well. I'll let you decide for
yourself.
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