Socialisation and Writing

Do you write better while in a group? Probably not. Do you write better on your own? Probably yes.

So why would socialising be a good thing for a writer?

Socialising has many benefits, some applicable only to writers and some applicable to the general population.

Let's start with

General Population

Socialising has many benefits for humans and their wellbeing. Having at least one close friend can do some magical things including increasing your pain tolerance, increasing motivation and ability to learn and having friends also helps you to stick to healthy habits. Interesting ha?

To help with our overall wellbeing, spending time with people that we like and who make us laugh increases the dopamine in our brains. Dopamine is a chemical in our brain that spikes when we are happy. When someone is happy and laughs a lot, they probably have a lot of dopamine kicking around in their upstairs. When someone is depressed it is likely there is not enough dopamine partying in their brain. Kick starting your dopamine is a great way to feel happy and that happiness can come from socialisation and spending your time with people who make you laugh.

Serotonin is another chemical in your brain that makes you happy. Not overjoyed happy in the same way dopamine works. Serotonin is more the, I'm content kind of happy. So next time you feel content, you can think to yourself, this is my serotonin working.

Oxytocin is another beautiful chemical in our brain. Oxytocin makes us feel warm and fuzzy, Oxytocin is also known as an anti-anxiety drug. You want to know how to make this spike in your brain all natural?

I'll tell you.

Touch.

A hug, a handshake, a pat on the arm, a snuggle. Human to human contact releases Oxytocin. The warm-fuzzies chemical in our brain.

If you're still not convinced socialising is in anyway helpful, let's take a look at:

Character Development

Do you base your characters off real life people? I should hope so.

The way to get to know your character, deeply, in a very real human way, is to get to know other humans. As humans we want to read about ourselves, we want to read about characters we connect to and relate to.

The only way for writer's to understand humans, is to hang out with humans.

The way I think stories become impactful is through emotions.

I don't focus on whether I write character or plot driven stories because I write stories driven by emotion.

The way I understand emotion is by spending a lot of time with a lot of other people (safely, and not during a lockdown). When I spend time with them I observe. I observe what they do and how they do it. I observe what they say and how they say it. And how do people react. For example, two people could say the exact same thing and two completely different reactions. Why?

That is an important question. Why is most powerful tool in your toolbox. If you know how to ask why, you will be set for life.

By spending time with those around you and seeing how people react to different - or the same pressures can be really interesting and help you develop well-rounded characters that jump off the page.