Anne Janzer explores the mental aspects of the writing process
If writing was a strictly logical exercise of setting down one grammatical sentence after another, we might find it easy. Or even fun.
But, if you’re like a lot of writers, there can be a complicated stew of beliefs and emotions that come into play when you sit down to write.
In case the “Inner Game” idea is not familiar to you, it was popularized in a book called The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance by W. Timothy Gallwey. In a nutshell, Gallwey argues that focusing on the mental aspects of the game of tennis is at least as important as the physical preparation (such as hitting ground strokes).
So, it’s interesting to see how Anne Janzer applies the Inner Game concept to writing in her book, The Writer’s Process: Getting Your Brain in Gear. In her words, “The mental processes that make writing fun and rewarding can sabotage us if we don’t know how to manage them.” In her exploration, she focuses on six areas:
Attention
Creativity
Flow
Mindset
Procrastination
Self-discipline.
Janzer draws on the work of leading researchers including Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Carol Dweck, Daniel Goleman, Daniel Kahneman and Daniel Levitin.
What follows is a condensed version of Janzer’s analysis of where cognitive science crosses paths with creativity and writing.
Attention
In her discussion of attention, Janzer draws on work by Daniel Goleman. Attention is the connection between our inner selves and the outer world. And focus is the act of directing our attention.
In his book Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence, Goleman describes two primary systems regulating focus within our brains. According to Goleman, the top-down mind is effortful, intentional, and the seat of self-control. It exercises focused attention.
In contrast, the bottom-up mind is automatic, intuitive, and impulsive…this system helps us navigate complex environments while preserving our energies and sanity. The bottom-up mind operates through mind-wandering, open attention. When we write, we draw on both kinds of attention, albeit at different stages of the writing process.
Everyone understands the concept of focused attention, because we work to achieve it. In contrast, open attention happens when we daydream, or when our minds aren’t focused on any particular task.
When you take a walk, go for a run, or pursue everyday activities that don’t require effortful focus, your mind can enter a state of open attention. During these periods, other parts of the brain can be heard. Ideas often appear out of nowhere.
In Goleman’s words, “Open awareness creates a mental platform for creative breakthroughs and unexpected insights.”
By making time for open attention, you enable your brain to play with ideas or topics even when you’re not actively drafting or making notes.
Creativity
Is there a formula for summoning new ideas? Research indicates that creators in different fields follow the same basic steps. A model of the creative process, based on research by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, follows:
Preparation – immersing oneself in the field and its issues
Incubation – time in which ideas churn “below the threshold of consciousness”
Insight – the “aha” moment when inspiration strikes
Evaluation – the process of determining whether the insight is worth pursuing
Elaboration – working with the insight.
Inspiration typically occurs after periods of research and incubation. So, when you’re working on a writing project, leave space in the schedule for just looking out the window.
As this model indicates, insights often arrive, “…when creators are not actively working, giving other cognitive processes the chance to take over and make connections. Then creators do the work to turn inspiration into advances in literature or science. The evaluation and elaboration stages often last for years.
Flow
If you’re lucky, you’ll experience flow at some point during the writing process.
Csikszentmihalyi has studied what he calls “optimal experience” or the state in which people are most engrossed in their actions. This brought him to define the concept of flow as a state of effortless attention, ‘in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter.’
Psychologists have studied what happens in the brain when a person is in a state of flow (a.k.a. being “in the zone”). Daniel Levitin reports, “During flow, two key regions of the brain deactivate: the portion of the prefrontal cortex responsible for self-criticism and the amygdala, the brain’s fear center.”
Your odds of entering a state of flow increase if you invest time in planning and research before you sit down to write a first draft.
Mindset
The term mindset refers to a set of assumptions and attitudes that affect a person’s behavior. More broadly, a mindset is a filter through which we view the world. On this subject, Janzer draws on research by Carol Dweck, a Stanford University professor.
Simply put, people with a fixed mindset tend to consider their talents or abilities as set, inherent parts of their being. In contrast, those with a growth mindset believe that they can develop abilities through learning and work.
Janzer adds, “A fixed mindset is particularly dangerous when writing, as it inhibits your ability to learn from constructive feedback.”
Authors with a growth mindset start researching and outlining without planning everything in advance. They learn as they proceed. They take risks and are resilient when their efforts don’t pan out. Nonfiction authors consider the act of writing an opportunity to learn, deepening their understanding of a subject rather than simply reporting what they already know.
Procrastination and Self-discipline
According to Janzer, research on procrastination and self-discipline reveals three realities about the writing life:
1. Nearly everyone procrastinates.
2. Waiting until the last moment degrades the quality of the work.
3. Deadlines are an effective defense against procrastination.
Based on the human tendency to put things off, Janzer urges writers to, “…make firm commitments to counteract the dangers of procrastination, and schedule time to produce high-quality work.”
In summary, the mind is engaged during every stage of the writing process. However, there’s plenty of mental activity that can interfere when you’re trying to get thoughts down on paper. It’s worth recognizing the cognitive habits that can enhance—or derail—your writing efforts.
In tennis, your racquet and your sneakers are just a part of the equation. The same holds true when it comes to writing. As Janzer notes, there are steps you can take to improve your Inner Game before you ever pick up a pen.
Source: Janzer, Anne. The Writer’s Process: Getting Your Brain in Gear