In an earlier post on the Triune brain, I asserted that we have two brains, which I referred to as the Neo-cortex and the limbic system. These two brains result in two consciences and two interpretations of the world. I am simplifying things a bit as I am not teaching a class in brain science. Rather, I am laying some foundation for storytelling. For our purposes we can think of these two brains giving rise to two minds which I will refer to as the rational mind and the mythical mind. This is not exactly correct for reasons I will eventually explain. But, for now it is good enough. And I didn't just make this up. Jordan Peterson makes an observation very similar to this.
"The 'natural' pre-experimental, or mythical mind is in fact primarily concerned with meaning - which is essentially implication for action - and not with 'objective' nature." [Maps of Meaning pg. 3]
The rational mind is concerned with what is 'out there' and what its properties are. The mythical mind is concerned with what we need to do about it. Our mythical mind has been around a lot longer than our rational mind and has been refined by millions of years of evolution compared with thousands of years for the rational mind.
Consider the following two options for an opening paragraph for a story.
Option 1:
Beth awoke at her usual time, made a cup of coffee, and began tidying up the living room. As she worked, she quietly sung to herself the Paul McCartney song, It’s Just Another Day. And indeed, it was. Just another day.
Option 2:
Beth awoke at her usual time, made a cup of coffee, and began tidying up the living room. As she worked, she quietly sung to herself the Paul McCartney song, It’s Just Another Day. Little did she know that it would be anything like just another day. Nor did she know that by the end of the day she would be wondering if her life would ever make sense again.
Overwhelmingly most people would prefer Option 2 as it suggests and anomaly in the pattern of life and our mythical brains are attuned to anomalies which they pass on to the rational brain to deal with. Or, in simpler terms, anomalies get our attention.
The most famous line in the Wizard of Oz is when Dorothy steps out of the cabin and says, "We're not in Kansas anymore". To emphasize this the earlier part of the film was in black and white. But now it is in brilliant technicolor. OK! You have our attention!
The unexpected gets our attention while the slow (but not too slow) revelation of explanation keeps it. When somebody enjoys a story, it is because you got their attention and then kept it. Both are important. I wrote a post last month about tell don't show. Showing engages the mythical mind as it helps capture the emotions (i.e., the limbic system). But telling engages the rational mind (i.e., the Neo-cortex) by providing rational explanations. If you do too much showing and not enough telling the reader may lose interest in your book and certainly won't want to read it again. I know a lot of people who read a lot and often read a book more than once because they had forgotten that they read it. These are books that focus on emotional engagement but fail to engage the rational mind. They show too much and tell too little. Do you really want your book to be that forgettable?
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