Freewriting

What freewriting is

Freewriting is writing for a set length of time without thinking about what you're going to write. The point is to keep producing words apart from judging them. Don't stop to edit, don't go back, and don't filter. Keep going, write whatever comes, and if you get stuck, write "I'm stuck" until something does. The pad above holds you to it: backspace, delete, and the arrow keys don't work, so a mistake stays on the page, as it would in pen.

Where it came from

Most people meet freewriting in the first chapter of Peter Elbow's Writing Without Teachers (1973), and his name is the one tied to it. He didn't invent it, and he said so. He credited Ken Macrorie, who was already using "free writing" with his college students in the 1960s, and Macrorie pointed back to Dorothea Brande, who told writers in Becoming a Writer (1934) to write fast, first thing in the morning, before the inner critic wakes up. Elbow gave the practice rules people remember and explained why it works. My talk on freewriting tells the whole story, slide by slide.

How I use it in class

My students freewrite several times a week. Early on, they read Elbow's chapter on freewriting and we talk about how it works. Then I set a timer for ten minutes, and we all write without stopping and without editing. Afterward we share, out loud and in small groups. Then everyone rereads once to find the strongest moment, what Elbow calls the center of gravity, and that's often where the next draft starts.

The raw act of getting thoughts onto the page without censoring them is the most human part of the course, and I keep it that way. AI can come in afterward, if at all: it can point out a strong moment in a freewrite or suggest where to push, and the writer decides what to do with that.

Send me yours

If you're a teacher, a faculty member, or here from an organization where I've given a talk, you can send me a freewrite to post in the freewrites room, on my page of work from my talks. Press Email it to me on the pad, or Save image and email the picture to helloeshoward@gmail.com. Saving it sends nothing; only an email does, and that's your choice.

• Your freewrite and its prompt go up as you wrote them, typos and all, since that's what freewriting is. They stay up unless you ask me to take them down.
• Your name, your email address, and anything else in the email don't go up. If your freewrite names a person or a school, I'll make that part general.
• I don't post freewrites from college or university students. If you're a student, your freewrite is yours to keep: save it, and please don't send it to be posted.
• Want Desk Copy, my monthly letter? Say so in your email, and I'll add you within a couple of days.

References

Brande, D. (1934). Becoming a writer. Harcourt, Brace.

Elbow, P. (1973). Writing without teachers. Oxford University Press.