The two sides of the human brain have distinct abilities unique to either the right side or left side. An individual's strengths and weaknesses are often based on which side of the brain is dominant. It's always been presented to me as left-brained being the logical, methodical, and pragmatic side and right-brained is the creative side. There have been books written on this phenomenon.
At least that's the way I've always understood left vs. right brain.
The first thought is that writers must be right-brained since writing is a creative effort. And many writers are also involved in other creative endeavors such as various forms of art and music. But it seems to me that's only partly true.
As a writer and photographer, I certainly deal with my right brain creative side. But as a writer, I also need my left brain methodical, logical, pragmatic side as part of my creative effort. I would consider doing research as being methodical left-brained. And then there's the switch over from right brain creative to left brain logical when writers go into edit mode, assuming you're writing to have your effort end up as a published novel. And that edit mode is necessary in order to take a creative effort and hone it into a marketable manuscript. And the many facets of self-promotion for our books is certainly methodical and logical.
I recently came across a ten question quiz to test whether someone is a right brain thinker or a left brain thinker. Not sure I agree with all the conclusions, but I found it interesting.
Are you ready?
1) Are you better at math and science than art and literature?
If your answer is YES: People who are left-brained thinkers (logic) are often better at math and science over art and literature.
If your answer is NO: People who are right-brained thinkers (creative) are usually better at art and literature than math and science.
2) Do you love playing sports outdoors over reading indoors?
If your answer is YES: Right-brain thinkers (creative) enjoy the great outdoors and athletics.
If your answer is NO: People who are left-brained (logic) usually prefer staying indoors and reading.
3) Do you prefer verbal communication over physical communication?
If your answer is YES: Left-brain thinkers (logic) love to work things out by talking.
If your answer is NO: Right-brain thinkers (creative) believe actions speak louder than words.
4) Would you rather draw pictures freehand instead of putting together a model airplane?
If your answer is YES: Those who are right-brained (creative) are not fans of tremendous structure and prefer having some creativity at work.
If your answer is NO: Those who are left-brained (logic) are in need of structure and prefer having specific guidelines at work.
5) Do you like being in groups more than being alone? (this goes along with question #2)
If your answer is YES: Group oriented people are usually right-brained (creative).
If your answer is NO: Loners are usually left-brained (logic).
6) When given instructions, are lots of pictures easier to understand than text?
If your answer is YES: Right-brained (creative) people love picture explanations.
If your answer is NO: Left-brained (logic) people much prefer text explanations.
7) Have you noticed that you're better at providing the details and necessary information for a project than coming up with the initial idea?
If your answer is YES: Left-brained (logic) are more into processing information and details than being involved in the creative process.
If your answer is NO: Right-brained (creative) are more interested in the initial creative process rather than the information gathering.
8) Do you need a quiet environment when you are working?
If your answer is YES: Left-brain (logic) people usually need quiet environments.
If your answer is NO: Right-brain (creative) people don't mind a bustling background as they work.
9) Would you enjoy helping someone solve a relationship problem more than a math problem?
If your answer is YES: Solving relationship problems is a natural for right-brain thinkers (creative).
If your answer is NO: Solving math and technical problems is right up the alley of the left-brained (logic).
10) If you were a writer, would you prefer to write non-fiction books instead of fiction?
If your answer is YES: The left-brained (logic) are obsessed with details and truth.
If your answer is NO: The right-brained (creative) are more imaginative.
I have a writer friend who claims that she's totally and completely right-brained creative. What she says might be true in that she has a terrible time getting into a self-editing mode and most of her writing projects are unfinished. She will have a first draft but can't seem to get it into a final mode where she can submit it to a publisher.
2 comments:
I write fantasy romance and I'm a pantser who loves brainstorming, but I answered most of those questions as a left-brain logic lover. Having done some of these personality quizzes for my teaching career, I've found I straddle the lines with a bent toward intuition. And that's why I agree with your introduction to the quiz: that writers (and other artists), especially those who write and publish fiction, are essentially cross-brainers, meaning we have more effective connections between our brain hemispheres that allow us to utilize whichever part of our brain (or both) we need for the task at hand. We are--and must be--problem solvers.
Helen: Well stated. I like the term "cross-brainers."
Thanks for your comment.
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