Left Brain / Write Brain

There is a theory that the two hemispheres of the human brain perform different functions. The left side is credited for the more analytical, logical, and rational modes of thinking, whereas the right side is responsible for the creative, random, intuitive thinking.


Note I said this is just a theory, because scientists still aren't quite sure what makes the brain tick. There is evidence that when areas of one side of the brain are damaged, the other side of the brain helps out to fill the void. Sort of like Dad cooking dinner the one night Mom is not feeling well. It may not be as good, but it gets the job done.

I am, at most, an amateur artist. Hardly anything I do in my right brain is of professional quality. I mean, come on: just look at how lame this blog is! So to compensate, my left brain tries to take over: "Put a comma there. No, not there. THERE. Remove the smiley emoticon; it's childish" and so on. If it wasn't for that corpus collosum standing in the middle, the two halves would be at constant war with one another.


The trick is to figure out how to take these two halves and make them work together as a team.

There is a term called "organic writing" which, as defined, should be called "free-range writing". What this is is the uninhibited writing from the heart. Or in other words, rambling.


Don't get me wrong, I think organic writing is important to write colorful and intimate prose and to experiment with style, but I don't think you can construct something as complicated as a novel without some structure. Well, you could construct it, but will anyone want to read it?


This is what I mean by getting left brain and right brain to work together. They both have their strengths and their weaknesses.


Think of the left brain as the ex-military guy who gets up before the sun and has your day already planned out, in 15-minute increments, and if you deviate from the plan you gotta run laps or hit the deck for 50 push-ups. Left brain couldn't write a book on his own. Even technical manuals would be so boring and bland that no one can get through three pages without glazing over and collapsing under extreme boredom.


The right brain is the hippie fellow who is stoned most of the time or asleep, but he can churn out the most beautiful sentences. But right brain couldn't write a book on his own either because the story would wander all over without any rhyme or reason to it.


But the two working together can make this book thing happen. The left brain needs the right brain for the artistic touches necessary, and the right brain needs the supervision and direction of the left brain. It is a symbiotic relationship.