Rob Parnell's Writing Academy Blog

This week, I was interested to read about brain waves and how they work, and apply what I could glean to writing. Here's the basic info: Beta Waves In our normal waking lives our brain waves pulse quickly, at between 14 to 100 Hz. These are called Beta waves and are good at keeping us awake and attentive enough for our daily tasks - working, playing, eating, socializing and watching TV and movies. Curiously Beta waves aren't that conducive to prolonged study or activities like factory or office work because at the Beta level, the brain is looking for more stimulation. It's as attentive as a butterfly, constantly vigilant for more stimuli and easily bored by monotony. Gamma Waves Gamma waves pulse at a higher rate - from 24 to around 70000 Hz and are normally associated with a 'higher state of consciousness' in that they seem to give us an increased sense of meaning and connectedness to the world around us. Commonly, during times of inspiration and joy, or playing sp

Let's face it, the evidence is all around us. If you pitch your writing at a fourteen year old, you'll be monstrously successful. And I don't necessarily mean that you need to write about fourteen year olds, I mean you should write for that intellectual level. Hollywood has known this since Jaws and Star Wars, when Spielberg and Lucas proved that nobody really wants adult movies. People want escapism. And they want to feel young again. Look what's current and coming up. Star Trek, Wolverine, another Harry Potter, Angels and Demons - and yes I believe Dan Brown (deliberately or not) aims his stories at an intellectual age of fourteen. I mean he's not exactly challenging to read, is he? James Patterson too has finally come out of the closet to write YA novels - which, to me, read just like his other novels but without the blood and violence. The big market is pubescent. The late great Michael Chrichton also understood this principle. Look at the body of his work: Jura