This is a freelance contribution by Sally Keys. You may remember her from her guest post, Creating The Time And Space You Need To Write Your Best Work. Sally is a professional freelance writer with many years experience across many different areas. She made the move to freelancing from a stressful corporate job and loves the work-life balance it offers her. When not at work, she enjoys reading, hiking, spending time with her family, and traveling as much as possible.
How Creative Writing Can Boost Your Intelligence
Globally, the average IQ has increased by 20 points over the last 100 years. Many reasons are given for this and all, no doubt, play a part. The fact is that we live in a very different world to the one of 100 years ago. By examining these differences and comparing them to research into intelligence, we can determine ways to boost our own IQs. Creative writing can play a major part in this but only if you are pushing your writing standards to the limit.
What Is Different About Today?
Globalisation has led to multiculturalism becoming the norm. Diet has improved dramatically and, along with basic medication, we have all but eradicated many of the illnesses that struck us down in childhood. Film, television, and mass production of books have all played a part in increasing our exposure to new ideas. Computers for communication, leisure, and research all provide a range of inputs that simply did not exist in the past. New stimuli are known to stimulate the prefrontal cortex (an area of the brain linked to intelligence) and our increased globalization and technological development make novelty a regular occurrence (despite how counterintuitive that may sound). Diet and healthcare help our brains develop further (especially at an early age) and free us from having to fight infections or deal with malnourishment.
What Has This To Do With Writing?
There is some evidence that 5 simple steps can help to boost your intelligence. Each of these can be achieved through creative writing if you approach it properly.
The first, seeking novelty, has been mentioned already. By writing about unfamiliar topics, doing research into another country, trying new foods and so on you are pushing yourself to experience the new.
You are also achieving step 2, which is to challenge yourself. Increase your challenge (and introduce more novelty) by stepping out of your comfort zone. Write a chapter in iambic pentameter or in verse, try a different voice for narration, or find any of a million different ways to push yourself. You could challenge yourself further by taking IQ tests. By taking tests before actively pushing yourself when writing, you could experiment and take the tests again at the end to see if you’ve improved.
The next step is the one most obviously linked to writing – think creatively. The simple act of writing fiction is sufficient stimulus to cognitively challenge your brain, but if you want to boost it, you need to think outside of the box. Take your creativity to the next level by remembering to seek novelty and by challenging yourself. Whilst our novelty-rich modern world has boosted our intelligence as a species, there is something to be said for doing things the hard way. Old-fashioned methods often bring their own cognitive challenges, especially as modern methods become more familiar.
Which leads us to the fourth tip; to do things the hard way. Write your first drafts long-hand. Turn off the grammar and spell checkers when you write it up and edit manually. Do some of your research from books instead of the internet. Taking the longer, slower route brings with it new challenges that cause new stimulation.
The final tip takes us back to one of the ways in which the modern world is different to the old, but it also turns it on its head. We live in multicultural societies and interact with people from across the globe, but do we really know people as well as we used to? The concept of communities seems to have gotten lost along the way. As a writer, the final stage of your work is to share it. If you aren’t taking this step then you are missing out on the 5th tip, to network. Sharing ideas with others who have faced similar challenges and getting to know them both in person and through their work, will help you increase your intelligence – and improve your writing.
Does It Matter?
This is up to you. Not everyone is fussed about intelligence and few understand what it is. Intelligence is not about the acquisition of knowledge but about the ability to use knowledge, apply it in unfamiliar contexts and use it to generate new ideas. Intelligence is about problem solving and idea creation. These are skills that writers need in spades. If the act of writing, in the right way, can help boost intelligence, then it only seems rational to try it.
Charles Yallowitz said:
Reblogged this on Legends of Windemere and commented:
We authors are smart because we write the words that make people go ‘ooooh’. 😛
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The Owl Lady said:
Reblogged this on Viv Drewa – The Owl Lady.
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marymichaelschmidt said:
Reblogged this on When Angels Fly.
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The Story Reading Ape said:
Reblogged this on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog.
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rijanjks said:
A most interesting theory. I’m getting smarter every day. 🙂
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Lol-absolutely 😀
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OIKOS™-Redaktion said:
Reblogged this on Die Erste Eslarner Zeitung – Aus und über Eslarn, sowie die bayerisch-tschechische Region!.
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kimwrtr said:
Reblogged this on Kim's Author Support Blog.
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Anna Dobritt said:
Reblogged this on Anna Dobritt — Author.
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Don Massenzio said:
Reblogged this on DSM Publications and commented:
Check out this post from Nicholas Rossis’ blog on how Creative Writing can boost your intelligence.
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tunglevs said:
Thank you for sharing! Happy weekend to you! 🙂
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
To you too 🙂
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claire plaisted said:
Reblogged this on Plaisted Publishing House and commented:
Boost your Intelligence with Creative Writing
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thestubbornaustralian said:
I agree with this post to a certain extent, I don’t think society is getting smarter I think we have lost a lot of intelligence in the past ten – twenty years. With graph drawings I believe if James Veicht was to see this graph he could do another skit with it, and state that the moon has also seen a rise in IQ levels. I am not saying that certain groups in this world are not gaining intellect on the rest of us but, with the rise of technology we are shown that too much false information is being spread as truth and many believe it, we are shown countless videos of people showing that the IQ level wasn’t that high to begin with and the numbers are rising. With multiculturalism we have developed more of an understanding of other cultures and how they lived but does that really mean we are smarter than those who lived in a time where cultural differences were blocked by language, travel or communication barriers? With medication we have seen many of the past dangerous viruses eradicated but at the same time the advancements in the medical field have created a whole new world of diseases and issues. As for diet we have come from a generation where the nut and seafood allergies were the known issue, fast forward to now where we have gluten, meat etc something that didn’t effect people up until that of 15 yrs ago. A lot of these issues are not the food themselves but the genetic makeup involved in keeping/growing and creating these foods. So is it really that we are smarter now because of – time, technology or multiculturalism or are we waking up to the fact that we have been lied to on many occasions by corporations and governments. This is just my view on that, I may be wrong.
But in all I love the 5 steps that have been provided. The best part for me though within this post would have to be the final paragraph Does It Matter? I have read that section at least 8 times now I love it!!! I feel like it should be used on a motivational poster.
Thanks for sharing 🙂 and listening
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Thanks for the interesting comment! If we want to get technical, there are over a dozen different types of intelligence (such as spatial intelligence, emotional one etc). It could be that reporting or analysis are responsible for at least part of said rise. But, as you point out, it doesn’t really matter, does it? 🙂
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thestubbornaustralian said:
👍😀
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robbiesinspiration said:
I believe that creativity is the key to intelligence. The ability to see something differently and make a connective leap that paves the way to greater things.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Couldn’t agree more 🙂
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Michelle Morrison said:
Good post; she makes some good points. I think creative writing, or using your imagination in general for that matter has a lot of benefits. I also think reading as many wonderful books as possible helps with intelligence. 🙂
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
You may want to check out http://nicholasrossis.me/2016/12/14/15-reasons-why-reading-a-book-is-a-life-changing-experience/ 🙂
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angeliqueaddo said:
This is a super interesting post! I like to think that people who read to write are much more intelligent than their counterparts who decide not to, and its nice to be validated in that respect. I do think that forcing yourself to think creatively, and challenge yourself when it comes to writing is super rewarding, both mentally and emotionally. Writing a book was one of the hardest things that I have ever done in my life, but I’m super glad that I decided to do it
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Couldn’t agree more, Angelique! Thank you 🙂
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angeliqueaddo said:
You’re totally welcome. It was my pleasure
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