The Ultimate Writer’s Playground: The Sexy Brain on Storytelling

A writer’s playground is vast, but the ultimate and last frontier is the sexy brain on storytelling. When I say playground, I want you to think “amusement park” for writers, set up in the brain. What is unique about the brain that these three areas dissect? Sex, storytelling, and play all have brain chemicals in common. The more you know and understand, the more you can tap into this new world to move readers on the connection trail to your characters and story to help them feel the entire process along the way. They each are a journey. You, as the writer, are also on a journey.

The Storytelling Journey as the Writer’s Playground

We hear stories and tell stories every day. It is the way we organize the world around us. We want people to follow along and we add in surprises even if we are talking about our trip to the grocery store. We need tension and we need empathy in our stories because they produce chemicals, cortisol, dopamine and oxytocin and they give us a body response. When you know which thing creates what, then you have that crafted into your story.

In her book Wired for Story, Lisa Cron, provides detailed explanations on how to use this in writing.

Create a Play Practice in Sex and Writing

When you play and enter different states of play, the same chemicals addressed in storytelling occur in playtime and through sex. Play begins as we are born and it can to teach us new things. We even give off signals about when we have entered play mode, just like you can tell when a dog is ready for play. It’s the surrounding cues. Play also helps our complex brain processes. So, play and keep your brain healthy.

Now take this idea and in writing, how can you make the perspective of play attached to sex? How would your readers stay engaged if you do this knowing which chemicals are produced? Different types of play can be applied, and I outline all of them in The Fiction Writer’s Sexuality Guide.

And just like the elements of play, you have elements of sex. When you know how the body responds physically during sexual arousal and then specific sexual activities, your writing will provide all the connections a reader’s brain will need to attach them to your story and your characters.

The Sexual Journey as the Writer’s Playground

When you work the scenes-with-sex system, I refer to in my work, sexual activity is a story component that begins at the start of the story and weaves all the way through. It is rich, complex, multifaceted and not an insert sex here in the story component. The sexual arc has a beginning, middle, and end and we can use sexuality elements throughout the story.

By taking into account the ways storytelling can be embellished, adding play, and recognizing sex as a holistic component of human nature, you have a brain chemistry cocktail ready for you to use in your storytelling.

My book, coming out on May 28, 2024, details all of this information. Continue following the #FWSG Blog Posts for more introductions to my method.