Hello everyone
Ahead of the Brexit referendum in 2016, Boris Johnson—an ambitious Member of Parliament who would later become British prime minister—wrote two newspaper articles about the UK leaving the European Union. One article was in favor and one against. He reputedly wrote these articles to catalyze and crystallize his thinking.
A Decision Made
Having written the two articles, he assessed which side had the stronger arguments, and made his decision as to support the Leave campaign.
At least, that’s how the story goes (and you know what I feel about preferring stories over the truth). Skeptics claim that the actual assessment that Johnson undertook was which side would bring him to power. But I digress—and I apologize for bringing up Brexit. However, somewhere in this story is the root of cynicism about writing to think.
I can’t comment on what was in Boris Johnson’s heart when he decided which approach to take, but I can be fairly certain that his approach—setting out both sides in writing—is perhaps the best way to make a decision or to consider a complex issue.
Catalyze and Crystalize
Writing isn’t the only way to think. Obviously, you can just think. However, writing down an issue provides a significant advantage.
An idea in one’s head is very different to an idea made tangible. In the brain, an idea is a nebulous notion which connects with many other amorphous flights of fancy. With a racing brain, it’s hard to differentiate between an idea and the noise around it.
But when that idea is committed to paper—when that idea is made tangible—it becomes real. With an idea on paper, you can then:
- marshal your thoughts
- bring structure and a logical flow
- highlight key elements, and
- find gaps in your thinking
writing forces clarity of thought
But there’s a secondary reason to think by writing: communication.
To be of any use, an idea cannot live within one’s head. For the novelist, there is no novel unless the idea is committed to paper. For the scientist, no idea can improve humanity unless it can be tested in a laboratory and made into a product. For the lawyer, no idea can help their client unless it can be put in front of a judge in court.
For an idea to have a practical application, it must be communicated to other human beings. One of the most straightforward and effective means we have for communicating is the written word.
For the Novelist
You may remember the June edition of Simon Says where I talked about asking questions to get to know characters for a novel idea I was playing with (I’m still playing, by the way). The notion of writing-to-think is something of a variant on this approach—writing down is my way of thinking about characters and situations.
Is Writing the Only Way to Think?
Writing isn’t the only way to think. But it might be the best! And, of course, yes, I write to think about what I’m going to say in Simon Says.
I’ll leave you to keep thinking until I’m back in November.
Until then.
All the best
Simon