There’s a theory that storytellers hypnotize their readers by the power of suggestion. I’ve never studied hypnosis, but I see the similarities and have put it on my list of topics to research further. In this post, we are going over the five levels of brain waves and one way a writer can take a reader’s level of brain activity to one perfect for dreaming and imagination.
Brain Wave Levels
There are five levels of brain waves (or levels of brain activity). I’m going to list them from highest level of function to lowest level.
Gamma State
Gamma waves occur when the brain is at a heightened level of activity. There’s increased perception, problem-solving skills, and learning capability. This happens when someone’s brain goes on alert.
Beta State
Beta waves is the normal level of the conscious mind. This is where most people stay during their waking hours. The level of alertness is only average. The mind is capable of thinking and processing, though not at high levels like gamma.
Alpha State
Alpha waves happen when a person is relaxed both mentally and physically. These people are drowsy and sluggish in their reactions. This is the typical level of people’s brains when they read.
Theta State
Theta waves occur when a person is in a reduced consciousness. This can happen in deep meditation and light sleep. There is a heightened level of dreaming and inner insight. If writers are very good, they can bring a reader down into this level of brain activity. This results in the reader missing anything happening in the world outside the book, including time passing.
Delta State
Delta waves take place during sleep or any state of unconsciousness. This is when someone is in a deep dreamless sleep and has no bodily awareness.
KAV Cycle
The KAV cycle was introduced to me by David Farland. It’s the idea that you start a scene with kinesthetic details, then move to audio details, and finish with visual details. Once the cycle is complete, you repeat it over and over. These three senses are the most prevalent primary senses for people. You should add other senses as well to the end of the KAV cycle, but you must have action, sound, and sight at all times to keep the majority of readers pulled into the story.
Kinesthetic
Kinesthetic details are simply descriptions of motion and emotion. Write about what the character is doing and be specific. Don’t just say the man moved across the room. The word move is too vague. Did he dash? Stalk? Creep? Then also mention his feelings. Did he dash toward someone to save him from danger? Stalk in anger? Creep in fear of being caught?
Approximately 17% of people take in information by motion. They learn by doing, and when they can imagine a scene in motion it will draw them into the story better than any other sense.
Audio
Audio details are any sound or dialogue in the book. Adding these details will activate another lobe of the brain and draw the reader even farther into the story. You have to be careful to not only use dialogue as your sound details though. Dialogue itself isn’t sound. You must describe the voice and how the words are said. There should also be environment sounds like running water or car motors.
About 20% of readers learn through auditory means. By including sounds continuously in your book, you’ll hook this side of the population into your story.
Visual
Visual details are anything that help the reader see the setting and characters. It should orient the readers in the setting and allow them to visualize the characters. It’s mentally jarring to read about a character you think is twenty-something only to discover pages later that the person is actually a grandmother.
There is approximately 40% of the population who learn through visual cues. While the majority of these people will likely watch a movie over read a book, sight is one of the most potent senses people rely on daily.
KAV Example
Below is a quick example of how to use the KAV Cycle.
Deborah submerged her hands into the steaming water and grabbed a dish in the sink. She began scrubbing in a circular motion, letting the tension of the day wash off her like the food off the plate. A loud crash came from the living room. The plate plunked into the water, and she raced into the next room. Her son stood, mouth agape, as he stared at the floor. Their new flat screen TV rested at his feet with specks of white dust all around. Deborah glanced at the wall where a chunk of drywall was missing. She took a deep breath to calm herself but only succeeded in gagging on the fine powder still hanging in the air. The taste was stale and sour, much like her mood.
Notice that it doesn’t have to be one sentence kinesthetic, one audio, and one visual. You can do three paragraphs kinesthetic, one sentence audio, and then one paragraph visual. The important thing is that each one is represented in the correct order. Note also that taste was added on the end. Don’t interrupt the KAV cycle with other senses, but tag them on the end.
Final Thoughts
As I stated above, you can add other senses into the KAV cycle to increase the number of brain lobes active in following the story. (In case some of you are mathematicians, the missing 3% are people whose primary sense is smell.) The more you demand of your readers’ attention, the more they are forced to focus on the story and fall into a level of hypnosis. If you can pull them from the alpha state into the theta state, readers will soon be describing your book as one they couldn’t put down.
Thanks for reading!
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