A writer’s brain
A good friend just shared a very interesting article with me about a study where scientists observed a writer’s brain while working on a work of fiction. (You can see it here.)
The results did not surprise me.
While, as expected the areas of the brain that control memory are active (as we draw on our own experiences to create plots, characters, environments) so were the areas of the brain that control speech.
Only they weren’t talking.
What was happening is probably the not uncommon phenomenon that many people liken to writer’s schizophrenia, they were hearing voices.
I say it all the time, my characters are talking to me. Its a real thing. I think most non-writers don’t understand and it really does sound quite crazy. But yes, I hear the characters narrating their stories in my head. With some books (Losing Logan, for example) that inner voice is so loud and clear, that I feel like little more than a secretary, typing the words as they are told to me.
Sometimes the voice is soft and we have to coax it out or tap into it to be able to really hear it. We call this ‘courting the muse’ or ‘looking for inspiration’. But the result is the same either way.
There is also another method of ‘inner narration’ and the study mentions it is more common in those with less experience writing, where the writer sees the story in his head like a movie. This happens to most of us in the outline or plotting stages of writing, but new writers tend to use this method throughout the process, as opposed to the more auditory process of more experienced writers. Why? I think when you are starting out you lean toward what you know, and for many of us the primary way we absorb stories is through visual media, movies, TV, even reading books. It is often only with time and experience that we can tune into our inner narrator in other ways.
That said, I’m curious how it works of other writers. How to you find and hone in on your stories? Are you audio or visual or is there something totally different that happens for you?
