Freewriting
Freewriting is a method of creative writing in which the stream of consciousness of the writer is put on paper without reflecting on it, evaluating it or looking for suitable formulations. This creates sentences, sentence fragments and individual words. The method is often used in writing courses to reduce writer's block and get into the flow of writing. Freewriting was introduced under this name in the 1960s by Ken Macrorie.
method
The person writing sits in front of a blank sheet of paper and begins to write as quickly as possible and without interruption . The pen is not put down. The length of time can be set beforehand (usually around 5 to 20 minutes ). Every idea is noted. Uninterrupted writing is intended to prevent reflections during the writing phase from blocking the writing flow. If there are no new ideas, the last words are repeated or the pen is waved across the paper until a new idea arises.
variants
- Ken Macrorie and Peter Elbow particularly promote aimless and topicless writing. With them, the method is used to get to a writing topic in the first place. With the further development, however, thematic aspects such as writing about special experiences have also been added.
- Roberta Allen describes a thematically oriented procedure. The writer then does not sit in front of a blank sheet of paper, but instead has a keyword, a sentence or a picture on the sheet. The results of the writing process are then revised and can ultimately lead to a story or even a novel .
- Gabriele Ricos method of clustering also uses the method of freewriting. The cluster serves to develop a write pulse. If this impulse occurs, the writer immediately begins to write it down. There is no time limit.
- A variant that was used by the representatives of automatic writing is writing with the hand , which is not the writing hand .