Free writing
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'''Free writing''' - term applied to a [[technique]] used by mainly [[prose]] writers or teachers of writing. It refers to a method by which a writer can overcome blocks of
apathy and self-criticism to produce a raw but often usable material.
==Definition==
Based on the presumption that everybody has something to say and the ability to
say it, however the mental wellspring may be blocked by
apathy, self-criticism, resentment, anxiety about
deadlines, fear of failure or censure, or other
forms of resistance. The accepted rules of free-writing
enable a writer to build up enough momentum to
blast past any blocks into uninhibited flow, the concept outlined by teachers in writing such as [[Louise Dunlap]], [[Peter Elbow]], [[Natalie Goldberg]].<ref name=Cole2001>{{cite journal
| author = Cole, A.L.
| year = 2001
| title = The Thesis Journey: Travelling with Charley
| journal = Brock Education
| volume = 13
| issue = 1
| pages = 1–13
| url = http://www3.ed.brocku.ca/ojs/index.php/brocked/article/view/169/216
| accessdate = 2008-04-26
}}</ref>
Free-writing is all about loosening and limbering the
thought process, not about a product or a
performance for a student or a writer.<ref name=Robinson1967>{{cite journal
| author = Robinson, L.
| year = 1967
| title = Guided writing and free writing
}}</ref><ref name=Ross1967>{{cite journal
| author = Ross, J.
| year = 1967
| title = Guided Writing and Free Writing: A Textbook in Composition for English as a Second Language
| journal = TESOL Quarterly
| volume = 1
| issue = 2
| pages = 58–60
| url = http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0039-8322(196706)1%3A2%3C58%3AGWAFWA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-X
| accessdate = 2008-04-26
| doi = 10.2307/3585756
}}</ref>
==Use in education==
Often Free-writing workshops focuses on the self expression and sometimes even used in teaching to elementary school children, there is no common consensus on the acceptance of this technique.<ref name=Klingman1985>{{cite journal
| author = Klingman, A.
| year = 1985
| title = Free Writing: Evaluation of a Preventive Program with Elementary School Children
| journal = Journal of School Psychology
| volume = 23
| issue = 2
| pages = 167–75
| url = http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/recordDetail?accno=EJ323302
| accessdate = 2008-04-26
| doi = 10.1016/0022-4405(85)90007-X
}}</ref>
==Rules==
Here are the essential rules that are often formulated for the beginners or students, often a paraphrase of Natalie Goldberg’s “Rules for Free Writing,” <ref name=Goldberg1986>{{cite journal
| author = Goldberg, N.
| year = 1986
| title = Writing down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within
| url = http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/recordDetail?accno=ED410590
| accessdate = 2008-04-26
}}</ref><ref name=Goldberg1990>{{cite book
| author = Goldberg, N.
| year = 1990
| title = Wild Mind: Living the Writer's Life
| publisher = Bantam Dell Pub Group
| isbn =
}}</ref> often referred to as ''Natalie Goldberg’s first four rules of writing'':<ref> Actual wording pf ''Writing down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within'' is as follows, some do not recommend last two rules:
: 1. Keep your hand moving. (Don't pause to reread the line you have just written. That's stalling and trying to get control of what you're saying.)
: 2. Don't cross out. (That's editing as you write. Even if you write something you didn't mean to write, leave it.)
: 3. Don't worry about spelling, punctuation, grammar. (Don't even care about staying within the margins and lines on the page.)
: 4. Lose control.
: 5. Don't think. Don't get logical.
: 6. Go for the jugular. (If something comes up in your writing that is scary or naked, dive right into it. It probably has lots of energy.)<font>'''</ref>'''</font><ref name=Miller>{{cite conference
| author = Miller, M.M.
| year =
| title = The Spice of Writing: Extracurricular Projects for Technical Writers
| conference =
| booktitle = IPCC 92 Santa Fe. Crossing Frontiers. Conference Record
| pages = 384-390
| publisher =
| url = http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpls/abs_all.jsp?arnumber=673061
| conferenceurl =
}}</ref><ref name=Upitis1998>{{cite journal
| author = Upitis, R.
| coauthors = Smithrim, K.
| year = 1998
| title = Teacher development and elementary arts education
| journal = B. Roberts
| url = http://educ.queensu.ca/~arts/Ns_Arts_final_word_4.doc
| accessdate = 2008-04-26
}}</ref>
*Give yourself a time limit. Write for one or ten or twenty minutes, and then stop.
*Keep your hand moving until the time is up. Do not pause to stare into space or to read what you’ve written. Write quickly but not in a hurry.
*Pay no attention to grammar, spelling, punctuation, neatness, or style. Nobody else needs to read what you produce here. The correctness and quality of what you write do not matter; the act of writing does.
*If you get off the topic or run out of ideas, keep writing anyway. If necessary, write nonsense or whatever comes into your head, or simply scribble: anything to keep the hand moving.
*If you feel bored or uncomfortable as you’re writing, ask yourself what’s bothering you—and write about that. Sometimes your creative energy is like water in a kinked hose, and before thoughts can flow on the topic at hand, you have to straighten the hose by attending to whatever is preoccupying you.
*When the time is up, look over what you’ve written, and mark passages that contain ideas or phrases that might be worth keeping or elaborating on in a subsequent free-writing session.
==Disambiguation==
It is sometimes called guided free-writing, but it can not be considered same or a specific form of [[automatic writing]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
==Further reading==
{{cite journal
| author = Goldberg, Natali
| year = 1986
| title = Writing down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within
| url = http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/recordDetail?accno=ED410590
}}
==See also==
[[Natalie Goldberg]]
==Links==
{{cite web
|url=http://www.nataliegoldberg.com/
|title=NATALIE GOLDBERG
|publisher=www.nataliegoldberg.com
|accessdate=2008-04-26
|last=
|first=
}}
{{cite web
|url=http://www.doyletics.com/art/writingd.htm
|title=Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg, An On Writing Reader's Treasury Review by Bobby Matherne
|publisher=www.doyletics.com
|accessdate=2008-04-26
|last=
|first=
}}
[[Category:Writing systems]]
[[Category:Books about writing]]
[[Category:Literature in English]]
[[Category:Writing instruments]]
[[Category:Methods of writing]]
[[Category:Literary genres]]