Braaten is best known for his popular plays and novels depicting the lives of factory workers alongside Akerselva in Oslo.
Braaten was able to provide vivid and richly nuanced images of working-class life on the east side of Oslo during a historical period of industrialization.
[2] He served as an advisor and theater manager at the Det Norske Teatret in Oslo from its start in 1915 until his death.
Braaten was the chairman of the Norwegian Authors' Union (Den norske forfatterforening) at the end of 1921/22 and again in 1933.
In 1921, the family moved to Ullevål Hageby, a residential area in the Nordre Aker borough of Oslo.