Screenwriting : Right Brain vs Left Brain by Susan Cotter

Susan Cotter

Right Brain vs Left Brain

I thought I saw a post in here about how writing novels is different from screenwriting but I didn't have time to read it and now I can't find it again. Can anyone direct me to it, or if I'm imagining things, maybe people would care to comment? I primarily write novels, but wrote a screenplay as an exercise. I got hooked because I found it ducks behind laptop so easy compared to writing a novel. Now, I was copying a story over from something I had already written, so of course that helped a lot. But I find the structure of a screenplay to be almost relaxing. All those beats to hit, it makes my life so much easier. Anyone else feel this way?

Susan Cotter

Wouldn't it be nice if there was novel-writing software? All you'd have to do is type in a single letter, and the computer would have all sorts of suggestions about what should come next.

Gregory Kauffman

Of course, the big difference between the two (and I have written both) is that, in a screenplay, you can only write what you can see or hear.

Dina Arsenault

For me when writing my screenplays I find I use both my left and my right side of my brain. I use the right for the creativity and the left for form and structure. I have never written a novel so I can't compare the two.

Cherie Grant

I don't believe people use different parts of the brain to write different things. That's completely silly and made up.

Cherie Grant

Yeah I thought I had read somewhere recently that it had been proven false. I just couldn't remember the details so didn't post about it.

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