Use Your Brain Properly to Become a Better Writer
How to write according to science
I’ve been writing for six months now and have learned a lot of new things along the way. There are tons of tips on writing everywhere, but I didn’t see many science-based ones. Our brains are amazing, with all of our advancements in technology, we still don’t know everything about them. However, we can use already existing studies to make our brains work for us. Here I wanted to share the tips you can use as a writer to maximize your productivity.
The science
Our brain has three thinking networks or modes. Default network, the Executive Control Network, and the Salience Network. Here I will explain how we can take advantage of these modes to boost our writing quality.
First, we have to understand what these networks are responsible for. Default Network is activated when you are not really focused on any task and it is when your mind wanders. Executive Control Network is responsible for maintaining and manipulating information in working memory. And Salience Network determines which sorts of things tend to be noticed, and which tend to fly under the radar.
After completing the Learning How To Learn course by the best-selling author Barbara Oakley, I found out about the importance of using your brain properly to be more productive. In the course, networks are simplified to just two; the Diffuse and Focus modes. It will be easier to understand with just two of them. Diffuse mode is how our brain is functioning when we are not focused on any task (Default Network). And the Focus mode helps us to be focused on one task for long periods of time.
How to use them
Now as we understand our brains’ thinking modes, we can use them to make our lives easier. Let’s see how we can apply this in writing:
When you are not focused on anything, the Diffuse mode is activated. It means that you have access to the entire network of neurons in your brain. Diffuse mode helps us to analyze everything we ever experienced, saw, heard, felt, and so on. We will use it to make our first draft. It should be a terrible mess, and the Diffuse mode will help you achieve that. Sit and write everything that is on your mind on the topic you chose. Don’t edit, reread, or rearrange your writing. Just write everything down. If you know how to type-write, you can turn the brightness on your screen off and focus on your thoughts. Don’t judge them, it’s something like a mind-storm on the topic.
Now as we have a terrible draft on whatever you want to write, we can start an editing process. I usually start editing the next day. While editing, your Focus mode will be activated, and you will be able to use your brain’s analytical ability. When you were in the Diffuse mode, you wrote everything that is on your mind, even the stuff that may barely be related to the topic (it’s not bad). Now, when you are focused on writing, you only have access to the information related to the field. So it will help you cut out everything that is unrelated or not good enough. As you go through your draft, reorganize everything to make it readable and understandable.
After editing, for me it usually takes more than one day, you can start rereading your piece. Now you will go into the Diffuse mode again and look at your article from the reader’s perspective to polish your story. You can do it by asking Siri to narrate it to you, you can read it yourself, or ask someone else to give feedback. This is how you achieve a great writing quality.
Coming up with ideas also requires both modes. Did you ever get a shower thought? Diffuse mode helped you with that. The greatest minds, like Thomas Edison, used this mode to come up with innovative ideas. If a hard task challenged Edison, he would sit in a chair and place his hand holding metal balls above a pan on the floor. Then he would take a nap to enter the Diffuse mode. As he entered a deep stage of sleep, his palm would relax dropping metal balls on the pan and the noise would wake him up. Then he would get back to work with a problem solution that his brain kindly generated for him.
You don’t need metal balls, but going for a walk or a run, meditating, or daydreaming will help you get into the mode and generate new ideas. It’s hard to say how exactly to do this, your brain does all the job for you, don’t force it. The Diffuse mode will give you ideas and then you can apply your analytical Focus mode to evaluate them. Don’t forget to write everything down, treat your brain as an idea generator, not storage for them.
Conclusion
You can juggle these modes and make them work for you. While you are in the Diffuse mode, you can easily come up with new ideas or judge your writing objectively. When you are in the Focused Mode, you can edit analytically and think logically. Using these modes will make you a better writer. I personally wrote this story by firstly coming up with a bad draft, then editing everything, and making a final revision.
Are you familiar with ‘tunnel vision’? I think that this happens when we are deep in the focused mode and we can’t think broadly. Relatively, ‘thinking outside the box’ is when you are in the Diffuse mode and are able to make connections between different fields that you are familiar with. Innovative ideas usually come outside the industry.
A lot of successful writers share similar tips, like writing a bad first draft. It only proves that it’s pretty useful to shift your focus while working on anything, not just writing. I hope that this will help you become a better writer and take a new approach to your productivity.