Freewriting
What is Freewriting about ?
You can use freewriting for various purposes, e.g. for reflection, integration, generating ideas or conflict resolution. Set a clear timeframe (10-20 minutes maximum) and start writing without stopping. If you have the intention to generate ideas, write down every idea you can think of about your topic, no matter how "crazy" it is. You can judge later (and no one else is going to read it). Don’t worry about correct grammar or spelling, that is not important in this exercise.
If you would like to write something, preferably free and full of joy, but the beginning is difficult and every idea seems boring to you.
With freewriting you are able to turn off the censor in you. The internal critic remains silent and you simply write.
The result on paper does not have to remain the final product. Of course, you will have to polish your expression and writing style. But through free writing you always have enough material with which you can work wonderfully.
Besides empowering your writing ambitions you can also use freewriting to clarify yourself, for reflection and integration as well as to find out about deeper & more unconscious issues or to help yourself find out your feelings or intentions that you might hide even from yourself when your inner censor is in operation.
Audience
Audience description for Freewriting
anyone
Requirements
A good place to write (table or blotting pad)
Run Through
- DO write down everything you think of, no matter how "crazy" it is. You can judge later! (no one else is going to see what you are writing)
- DO write in sentence and paragraph form.
- DO KEEP YOUR HANDS MOVING. If you can’t think of anything, just keep repeating your subject like “I’m waiting for ideas to come and they will, I’m waiting for ideas to come and they will,...” over and over until they do come. (They will!)
- DO feel free to use your native language.
- DO keep going for at least 5 minutes, better 15 or 20 minutes or until you feel you have enough.
NOTE: In Peter Elbow's original formulation of freewriting, designed to generate not only ideas but even write about a topic, the writer writes for a few minutes, chooses one idea or word from that freewriting and then freewrites about that new topic for several minutes, and then repeats that process again, successively refining the topic. This process can be a useful one if you are truly starting from scratch and are not even sure what you want to write your paper about.
- DON'T worry about correct grammar or spelling.
Harvest
Have a look at what you have written and continue to work with it, e.g. polish your expression and writing style.
In case you did the Freewriting for reflection or research for deeper issues, you can make a short conclusion of what you have found out.
Material for
Impact
project
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