The Importance of Writing by Hand

Two weeks ago, disaster struck. I broke the little finger of my left hand. An inconvenience yes, but a disaster…? Seems a little overblown. But this is my writing hand and I’ve been cooped up in a tiny flat, impotent and frustrated ever since. Released from the hand cast I am at least now able to type once again but, unable yet to hold a pen, I am painfully reminded of just how important the sensation of touch is in my writing routine.

We all have a routine, us writers. The trips out to coffee houses, the brisk walk, the quick shower – all an attempt to encourage ideas to flow, to coax inspiration. But how often do we consider the role these physical actions play in our work? The movements that lure the thoughts out of our brain, down through our body and out into the fingertips, ideas sparking on the keyboard or page. Crafting by hand.

For me, handwriting is everything. The simple tactility of handling the pen, cracking the spine of my notebook and smoothing the paper with my fingers. Tracing the lines with my fingernails and carefully controlling the flow of ink to page with precise movements of my hand. The inevitable cramp after a successful session, stretching my fingers as if exercising an over-worked muscle in my brain. This is all a pure joy. Denied the pen, I’m finding it much harder to organise my thoughts, to tease ideas out from their hiding place in my head.

Handwriting aside for one moment, the wider physicality of the writing act should too be celebrated – fingers dancing on the keyboard, the pads hitting smooth keys in neat little clicks. A journey into the outside world, perhaps, to give your brain a break. Maybe you voice your ideas aloud into an empty room, lips moving frantically.

These movements of course satisfy that human need for sensation and touch, but they are also an important and rather satisfying outlet for the not-yet-real thoughts in our head, making them a reality on the page or screen. Such physical rituals are not merely an instinct we feel as writers – science has proven that movement plays a key role in how the brain generates ideas. As writers, what are we without ideas?

Scientists found* that three areas of our brain come into play when we are being creative. The Attentional Control Network is activated when we need to concentrate on a particular task. The Imagination Network (great name) helps us to imagine future scenarios and remember things that happened in the past. Finally, the Attentional Flexibility Network monitors what’s going on around us and switches between the Imagination Network and Attentional Control accordingly. To facilitate creativity, the brain reduces activation of the Attentional Control Network – in doing so allowing new ideas to form – and increases the activation of the Imagination and Attentional Flexibility Networks.

So, in layman’s terms, that routine of splurging out random, almost nonsensical thoughts in your notebook or at your computer, and then going for a shower or a walk is actually exactly what your brain needs during the writing process. As your conscious mind is engaged with your body in other tasks such as showering or walking, your subconscious quietly collects all the thoughts you’ve had so far and organises them.

This physical movement not only serves as the distraction your brain needs to disengage from, say, an ineffective solution; activity such as exercise releases dopamine – and the more of it released, the more creative we are. To boot, getting yourself relaxed – perhaps whipping up something tasty in the kitchen – is the final piece of the jigsaw, allowing ideas to be planted into your conscious mind.

But there’s more. In findings** published in the journal Advances in Haptics – a term referring to the process of touching and how we relate to our surroundings, both passively and when we move and act – researchers found that putting pen to paper better imprints knowledge in the brain compared with using a keyboard and computer screen.

A number of senses are employed during reading and writing – when writing by hand, the brain receives feedback from the muscles and finger tips that is stronger than those received when touching and typing on a keyboard. Handwriting, therefore, strengthens the learning mechanism and, because it requires more mental effort and time, is also thought to help imprint memories. Wow.

I find it curious that writing is widely regarded as a purely intellectual act, when writing clearly needs physicality – the two go hand in hand. That guilty trip through the gift shop, purchasing yet another needless item of stationary, is not as superficial a desire as it may seem. You and your hands are locked in a dance, whether it be the gentle waltz of a fountain pen on paper or the joyful leaping of fingers across a keyboard.

Whatever your tool, let your body move and your mind wander.

Sources:

*Neural Correlates of Lyrical Improvisation: An fMRI Study of Freestyle Rap

Siyuan Liu, Ho Ming Chow, Yisheng Xu, Michael G. Erkkinen, Katherine E. Swett, Michael W. Eagle, Daniel A. Rizik-Baer & Allen R. Braun

Published October 2012

**Better Learning Through Handwriting

Jean-Luc Velay, Neurophysiologist at the University of Marseille & Anne Mangen, Associate Professor at the University of Stavanger

Published in the Advances in Haptics periodical January 2011

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