I do
believe my writing has changed me in many ways, starting with how it has
expanded my mind no matter what genre I'm writing. I think having to make up
characters and their behaviors helps develop empathy, especially the characters
with bad intentions because I have to think about what made them behave the way
they do. It also has expanded my ingenuity since I have to think about
different situations and how I can make them relatable, compelling, and
sometimes unique.
Writing a
fiction story requires imagination, but every story also needs a basis in
reality. After all, writing a story means creating believable characters and
how they interact with other characters. It requires the writer to ask
themselves questions about what will happen in the story. How will the
characters react? What will result from their actions? How will they overcome
their adversities? For this, authors must develop empathy for both their good
and bad characters to make them understandable to the reader.
Writing often requires research, even for fiction. I've had to
research Michigan police from city to county to state levels in requirements
and practices. I've investigated quantum physics and how to bioform a planet,
along with how would a spaceship work. I've also researched history for Constantine's
Legacy. So I learn by writing, too. Interestingly, writing also helps
memory.
Even writing a creative non-fiction narrative or an academic essay
requires digging through one's memory and doing research. So writing exercises
the brain and helps it stay healthy.
Mental growth is probably inevitable for writers. Studies of the
brain have shown both reading and writing involve different regions of the mind
working together, so, at the very least, writing is a good brain
exercise.
Neuroscientists have also studied the effects of writing and reading on the brain. The online article "Creative Writing and Your Brain: The mind works in mysterious ways when it is creating a fiction story, by Jenni Ogden, PhD., in Psychology Today (2013), one line caught my attention. It said: "Creative writing is one of the best exercises we can do for our brains." Interesting as it kind of supports my comments. This is after explaining that the brain does not construct the mind but cooperates with the body to 'create' our mind and help us build memories.
Writing has also changed my physical world, allowing me to become
an adjunct professor teaching academic writing. Yes, I had a degree in business
communications, but the fact I was already an author had an effect in my hiring,
too. So reading and writing always achieve something!
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