Pebblepup's Writing Den

One of the best exercises for stretching your writing muscles is free writing. I like to call this babbling on paper. You sit down for a set amount of time. And that’s your choice. Half hour, 15 minutes, 10 minutes, whatever you have time for, and write what comes into your head. It doesn’t have to make sense. Sometimes when I do it I have. A result that’s completely incoherent. That’s OK, you don’t have to be coherent. The point is you sit down and write words. And that’s all you need to worry about. Get the words out. Either you’ll get something out of it, or you won’t.

Nine times out of 10, you will get something out of it. It might only be a single sentence that can spark you into something else. But it’s there. The trick is not to edit what you write. Yes, spit it out on the page and let it go. The words will float into your mind and then go down your hand to the page and there you are. You have a word. OK, you’ll have a lot of words. Not all of them will be helpful. There will be some that you can use though, and that’s the beauty of free writing. All you have to do is keep going until the timer goes off. That’s right, I said Timer. You don’t want to focus on the time, you want to focus on the words that come to your mind. So get your writing materials, the ones you pledged to work with. Sit down. Set a timer. And start writing. That’s all free writing is.

How long you spend writing is up to you, as I said before. Usually I set the timer for 15 minutes. But you can set it for a shorter period of time or longer if that suits you. This exercise is simple, you can do it anywhere. And for any amount of time. You are in control of it. You might not get anything coherent. But read the words with care at the end of the time. You might find some gems in there. A sentence here, a phrase there, something you can use. Something that will spark you to write more.

There is a reason free writing is the best writing exercise you can do. That reason is simplicity. It’s a simple exercise. It’s an exercise. It’s also a form of brainstorming. If all you want is to write some words and get your brain working to create words, it’ll do that. If you’re looking for ideas, it’ll do that too. It’s versatile.

Sometimes you’re not even looking for ideas. The words will flow and something will come out that you can use later. That’s the best case scenario. The worst case scenario is that you’ll get a bunch of words. That’s OK too. If you try a timed writing exercise on a topic, you might get something you can edit into something else. That’s another option. When you do that, you can practice revision. That’s another benefit of free writing. So the next time you’re stuck, give free writing a try. It might get you unstuck.