Keep Your Brain Out Of Your Writing.

Becoming A Writer

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Keep Your Brain Out Of Your Writing.

Episode 19 of Becoming A Writer podcast.

Jun 14, 2024

Transcript

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Hello, my writer friends! Rubina here. For our nineteenth conversation, we are going to talk about keeping our brain out of our writing.

One of the things that most definitely came between me and my writing in the early days of my writing journey was my brain.

It's not that you don't need your brain to write. The problem arises with the brain's limiting or outdated beliefs that makes writing cumbersome.

The moment I'd try to write, my brain would give me a million reasons why not to. And it all boiled down to my brain saying, "You are not good enough." As you would have guessed, this thought wasn't helpful. While my brain was keeping me occupied with these preconceived notions of what a novel should look like, I realised that a novel, or any form of creative writing, is about the feeling.

So far in life, I have been trained to use my head to solve problems. But now I realise that the heart is more useful in that task. And in the act of writing my novel, I must let my heart lead the way, not my head.

Surprisingly, my brain knows that, too, so why was it insisting on being so heartless? Who or what in my brain was acting as a hindrance to my writing? I found three culprits.

The first one was Logic. It made me believe that I must follow an outline. I must follow the three-act structure. Or the typical introduction-explanation-conclusion structure for my non-fiction work. It made me believe I can't write a word unless I know how the story or essay will end. Logic made me worry about the market and the readers. Logic made me obsess over word count. Logic made me compare my work to others and follow the template that was going viral. Logic made me repeat the same success formula over and over again with diminishing returns.

In short, Logic is a brainy friend who is too in their own head and is boring. Therefore making you anxious and your writing dull.

Second came Ego. Its job is to either inflate me or deflate me beyond reason. If I had one win (reached my daily count or a post went viral), it would make me believe either I am the best or I will never be able to do it again. Ego made me compare myself to others - either to look down on someone or self-sabotage my hard work. Ego made me worry about why everyone wasn't talking about my work or why anyone would even consider reading my work. Whether it inflates or deflates me, Ego has one goal - not to make me realise my own potential and self-worth.

In short, Ego is a toxic friend with a toxic nature. Therefore deviating you from who you actually are and hurting your writing.

Finally, it was Rationality. Rationality made me lower my standards and compromise. It told me I could do it but shouldn't aim so high. Rationality told me I could write the first draft but shouldn't think it would be good. Rationality made me dumb down my writing to reach a bigger audience. Rationality told me it's okay to dream about being a writer, but that's what it is: a dream, so I can't imagine making it big. And when I post that essay or publish that book, and it doesn't become a success instantly, Rationality will say, "I told you."

In short, Rationality is a toxic friend with a helpful nature. Therefore influencing you to make yourself and your dreams small and question everything you do in your writing.

Then how do I keep Logic, Ego and Rationality out of my act of writing? The answer is quite simple but a hard one to digest for many.

It's not about you.

Whatever writing project you take up, it is not about you. It is not about how it'll be received. It is not about if it'll bring you an audience. It is not about if you are a fantastic writer or not. It is not about whether it'll make money or not.

These are all worries of our human mind, something our creative mind is not interested in.

It is about the writing itself.

Our creative mind, our creative spirit, just wants to write. It wants to tell the story that's brewing inside it. And it is using us humans to bring itself into a physical form.

Yes, I'd need my brain to make sense of my writing, to make sure it is comprehensible, but that comes after I have done my writing.

When writing, I need to let go of all the lessons, advice, and notions I have of writing. I must let my creative mind free like a dog in an open field. Later, I can use my brain to give it shape.

That's when I realise that my creative mind already knew the shape before I did, and I was trying to force it the other way.

Well, that's it for today. Next time we meet, we'll talk about how baking cakes made me a better writer.

Until then, keep writing, my friend.