Monday 26 March 2018

Left Brain/Right Brain: The Critic and the Muse

by Enisa Haines

Image courtesy of giphy


I'm a hospital scientist by day, working in an Anatomical Pathology laboratory, and a writer by night. Two very different activities, one calling for logic, detail and factual analysis and the other creativity, spontaneity and access to emotions as I bring to life in words the stories I imagine.


Image courtesy of giphy


That I can be both logical and creative can be explained by the Left Brain/Right Brain split-brain theory. Early research showed the brain having two parts. The Left Brain is logical, in charge of reason, calculation, analysis, detail and language. The Right Brain, the creative side, deals with emotions, imagination, creativity, intuition and spontaneity.


Image courtesy of: www.pixabay.com (and enhanced by E. Haines)


So the scientist in me makes use of the Left Brain and the writer grabs hold of the imagination in the Right Brain. That makes sense. To a point.

If the writer side of me used only the Right Brain I would come up with ideas and build imaginary worlds where the characters I create come alive. But I'd have no words to write (the Left Brain controls language) and the stories would remain only imagination.

The early researchers were wrong. Later research revealed our brains are far more complex. Logic and creativity are not simply Left Brain/Right Brain. They are under the control of each side of the brain working together as a whole.

Therein lies a problem common to all writers. In the Left Brain the critic resides. That little voice that pushes you to edit what you write as you write. In the Right Brain lives the muse. The source of inspiration and imagination and high word output. And the two do not get on!

Yes, we need good grammar and punctuation and attention-catching prose but editing as you write slows the writing and your muse, so eager to create at first and now frustrated, retreats. And your writing stalls. A situation no writer wants.

Silence the critic, was advice I'd read. Easy for some, not so easy for me. My critic, so happily in tune with the scientist side of me, was the cause of many instances of creative frustration. But, passionate about writing, I now intentionally ignore my critic, and my writing flows!


Do you struggle with your critic? Or do your words fly on the page?



Love to love: time spent with family is always precious.

Love to laugh: rush-hour radio comedians make my commute to and from work such fun drives.

Love to learn: more about the brain. There's so much we don't know and don't use.


11 comments:

  1. Hi Enisa. I must have a secret scientific bent as I'm constantly struggling with turning that damned internal editor off! When I'm able to do it, the words just pour out. If only I could make it happen more often. :(

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  2. Hi Marilyn. That internal critic sure gives writers a hard time. There are ways to switch it off. But that's a post for another time...

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  3. Absolutely fascinating Enisa. There is so much of our brain power unexplored. Turning off the internal critic is so very hard to do. I wish it were easier that is for sure.

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  4. Hi Cassandra. We'd all be happier if it were easier!

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  5. Hi Enisa, my internal editor always seeme to be at work, slowing my writing down. Do you have any strategies to shut it down for a while so my creative muse can flow?

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    1. Hi Sharon. Yes, there are strategies. Too many to discuss here, content for another post.

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  6. alyssa j montgomery26 March 2018 at 22:10

    Really enjoyed this blog Enisa. It was interesting to see how you "operate" as a writer!!

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    1. Hi Alyssa. Everyone works differently but if yourey more scientific, the Critic pounces!

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  7. Thank you Enisa - this was really interesting. I edit a lot as I write - but I think of it as 'thinking as I edit.' It seems I just can't move on often unless I've spent an hour on a paragraph. Even though that paragraph sometimes gets deleted, it has shown me it shouldn't have been there in the first place (so it was lucky I didn't write a whole chapter before discovering this!). Not sure this makes sense - and maybe explains why I am quite a slow writer!

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  8. Hi Penelope. I understand totally. I write the same and it's that pesky inner critic watching over my shoulder. And as you say, the writing slows. Am starting a new story and decided to just write without stopping and thinking. They say that's how the words flow. Am hoping theyret right!

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  9. Utterly fascinating, Enisa! The brain is so complex and yet here we are, thinking, writing, enjoying life, analysing life! I did one of those online Facebook tests once and it told me I have more right brain activity than left brain...then I did another and got the opposite result. So, who knows? But I do know that when the muse is unleashed for creative people, wonderful things ensue. Keep writing!

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