What is freewriting?
This is the process of writing a text on a free topic (writing practice), when you do not think about what you will write and do it freely and at maximum typing speed, writing all the words, sentences, thoughts that come to your head.
It can be a set of words, it can be connected words, sentences, dialogues. This is any text that you type very quickly for a certain amount of time.
I do not claim to define this term precisely. I call it that, and this is exactly what will be discussed.
In this article, I will talk about my experience of freewriting for an hour. I wrote without a break for exactly 60 minutes. About feelings, thoughts, result – everything in this article.
Also, I recorded this process and link to it below.
Terms and conditions for testing my free writing
What is this experiment? Everything is very simple. You have to write exactly one hour (60 minutes) without stopping at the maximum speed of your abilities, everything in a row that will come to mind. It is important not to choose a single topic beforehand.
It is desirable that the first words should be somewhat random, unprepared, and then on the go you can of course change the environment, dialogues, and plot.
The main thing is to try writing as quickly as possible, as soon as you can. That is, thought must be ahead of your typing speed, you must invent faster than you write, so that this process is the most effective for the writer.
How did this test come about?
I may have heard somewhere about such a way to train your imagination, typing speed. But I don’t remember exactly what it was and where. I decided to put this into practice when I thought about how I could practice my writing skills.
I won’t say that this is my invention, but I can’t even refer to anyone. I would gladly do it, but I invented this test for myself and put it into practice with my own hands. I called it “writing stream or writing flow“.
One fine day, I wrote down in my notebook that I should do a similar experiment and at the same time record a video about it to show in practice how it is done.
Later it turned out this practice is quite popular in the writing community and is called “freewriting”. Oh, well. Okay. Let there be freewriting, I don’t care. But “my name” (writing flow) is more to my liking.
What does a writer practice during freewriting? What is this test for?
In my opinion, this is primarily the extermination of one’s fear of silence. It is also called writer’s block. That is, when you can’t and don’t want to write anything, then such a test can somewhat stir your imagination and point to those topics that interest or worry you. This writing flow will just fill that void, you will have at least something that you have written.
I will not assert, but I do not rule out this method somehow reflects the psychological state due to what is written. Perhaps there is even a so-called therapy. But from my observations, it was quite a strenuous exercise. I felt that during this hour I did a lot of work and my body, firstly my brain, worked very well and actively.
Printing speed is a side process and here it is not the main one, but also as an additional practice.
Quick formation of thoughts, quick adaptation to changes, impromptu, pumping courage.
I do not have any confirmation of what is being practiced in this writing test. It is better to just go through it and make your own observations.
But there are generally recognized advantages that others tell about. I’ll give some of my comments on this after writing 60 minutes non-stop. Read it below.
Increases confidence
I haven’t really suffered from a lack of confidence, so it’s hard to say does it work here. But for sure, any movement will be a small victory, and it will definitely increase confidence in one’s abilities. Here the question is how well this mechanism of self-approval for achievements works in this or that person.
Forms honesty in writing
So. During freewriting, frankness comes to the fore, because there is no observer, the person just writes and, most likely, will not show it to anyone. In this way, honest thoughts are formed in words, something frank is created. Even if these are made-up stories, words, or even lies, a person at this moment is honest with yourself, because you are writing what you are thinking, what you are worrying about.
Reveals emotional topics in writing
Yes, I already mentioned the therapy, but I can’t say exactly how it works because I don’t know about the mechanisms. The more fluently you write, the better, the more topics this stream of consciousness will touch on.
Promotes the writing process, not the result
This is already clear by default. You are simply writing, knowing that this collection of words and thoughts will most likely not be seen by anyone except the author. You are writing and don’t think about the result, you don’t have a lot of thoughts and doubts about a full-fledged finished work in your head, the body works only on the formation of words that appear in the brain.
Helps overcome writer’s block
I have not encountered such a phenomenon. I haven’t been a writer long enough to openly feel this discomfort of not wanting writing or being inspired. If I don’t want to or can’t write, then I just don’t do it.
As for whether freewriting helps… I think so.
For example, during the hour I was writing, I invented several attractive plots for myself, which I could reveal in a separate story or some larger work in the form of a part. That is, there is a possibility that this chaos will open a window to a secret room and take you to a certain direction where the main characters of your future book live.
Increases typing speed
This is already my point. In my 60-minute freewriting session, I tried to write at maximum speed, and it was noticeable because I made a video recording of this experiment. Next to the document, I opened a program that shows current dialing speed. I tried to keep up with my thoughts. This may not work well for everyone, because not everyone types quickly. And if the goal is to increase typing speed (to write your works accordingly and faster), then freewriting is a good way to do it with maximum benefit.
Fantasy Development
Definitely. If you don’t stop and don’t limit yourself, then fantasy can break through the ceiling and run wild. This happened to me several times during this hour, I just followed the path of my fantasy and did not limit myself to anything. It’s good that everything went more or less adequately, and I’m not ashamed to show this video and text.
I will make some intermediate conclusion. This type of creativity will in any case bring diversity to every writer’s life. This method is practiced in various fields. I see it as the most effective for authors, because they are the ones who write, it is their destiny, it is their craft, and they should be better at it.
No matter how this session goes, no matter how long it lasts, you have already taken at least one step in developing your abilities or in achieving your goal
Even trying to pass this test is already an achievement and should be good news even for the biggest slackers who haven’t written a single word in the last ten years.
20 Fresh Freewriting Prompts
Do you want to start now and don’t want to think where to?
I will give you several prompts, choose any and start right now!
The main thing is not thinking about content, write quickly, give free rein to your thoughts and fingers:
- Write about a time when you overcame a fear.
- Describe a place you have never been but would like to visit.
- Imagine a world where animals can talk, what kind of conversation would you have with your pet?
- Write about a day in the life of your favorite fictional character.
- Describe a person who has had a significant impact on your life.
- Write a letter to your future self 10 years from now.
- Imagine a world without electricity, how would people live their lives? Describe it using freewriting.
- Write about a moment that changed the course of your life.
- Describe a dream you had last night.
- Write about a time when you had to make a difficult decision.
- Write a short story about a person who discovers they have superpowers.
- Imagine a city in the future, describe the technology and changes from today’s cities.
- Write about a day in the life of someone living in a different culture.
- Describe a place you have been that has a special meaning to you.
- Write a letter to a historical figure, what would you say to them?
- Imagine a world without money, how would people live and work?
- Write about a person who inspires you and why.
- Describe a journey you have taken, either physically or emotionally. Use freewriting.
- Write a short story about a person who can see into the future.
- Imagine a world without internet, how would people communicate and access information?
You can just take a topic and write at a comfortable pace, it is not necessary to free style and a high typing speed.
For a writer, the main thing is to write. And if you write even two words – it will be better than nothing!
In addition, the very search for information about freewriting is already a step towards successful works. Today you are searching, and tomorrow (or even today) you are already writing your wonderful lines.
My own freewriting experiment. 1 hour of fast nonstop writing
Let me go directly to the act of writing that I recorded on video (find a link below). I want to share what I felt during the process, what happened afterward, how everything went.
Unexpectedness
It happened very unexpectedly.
I caught myself off guard, even for myself.
I was just sitting and wanting to do something on the computer, and then a few seconds later I was rustling away at the keyboard, starting the stopwatch on my phone.
The lack of topic is the main thing in this writing test. There is no need to invent anything, all these thoughts should come already in the process. I did so. I knew I could write non-stop about anything. I feel very good in such a test, but also in live communication. I can also talk about something without a break. Therefore, what difference does it make whether it is a spoken word or a written one. But all the same, I have never done this, especially for so long – for a whole hour I will write the first thing that comes to my mind.
If you do this exercise purposefully, then it is best to start with small intervals of time. For example, 10 minutes, 20, then 30, and so on at will.
I knew for sure that I could write for an hour or more without a break, so I just sat down and started typing.
Tension
It turns out that this is an incredible job.
I don’t know what exactly works in this mode, but I felt with every cell how my body works, foremost, of course, my head. The fingers were doing their job properly, they were used to it, but the brain was just boiling at that time. I felt approximately this tension in the most difficult moments of my life. Maybe I was a bit overexcited, but the first half was quite difficult to write, I was struggling not to stop to keep going.
The flow of time
I looked at my watch for the first time about four minutes later.
It felt like at least 20 had already passed.
I realized I was in real trouble, but I continued.
The tension and the typing speed made time passage several times longer.
As if the same leap into a black hole had happened to Matthew McConaughey from ‘Interstellar’, the seconds stretched like rubber for long kilometers.
The first time I wanted to stop this experiment was around the 10th minute.
I looked at the stopwatch a second time. I wanted to see half an hour, but no…
I don’t know what pushed me to keep writing freely. I could feel every cell of my brain working to invent these pictures, characters, dialogues. As if nothing is complicated, but when it is done quickly and for a long time – it is real torture.
Around the 20th minute, I started to calm myself down and “made a deal” with myself to just write more slowly and choose a calm topic.
It seemed to work, because already at the 30th minute I was resting with the thought of how I will finish this video and the experiment will really last an hour.
These 60 minutes were one of the longest in my life. The number of words, thoughts, movements of fingers, brain was so dense in a unit of time that at the end I felt as if I had been writing all day. This is an interesting state and touch on the temporal layer. I wish every writer to experience it.
Focus on the following words and sentences
I noticed very well in this exercise how my mind works forming sentences. When you say something and this speech is not short, then you build sentence by sentence, you roughly understand what will be discussed next. It is much easier to speak the next sentence while typing, but for this you need to confidently master fast typing.
When you type quickly, when you are not distracted by the search for the right letter and concentrate on forming the next words, then the fingers do their work, and at this time the head works on its front.
All 60 freewriting minutes, I felt my brain moving and stressing over the structure of content and connections between words and even sentences.
Thought at this moment is a separate independent body, it seems to be sitting in your head and in the role of a secretary tells you what to write.
Planning ahead
What exactly will I write, not in the next sentence, but after this sentence?
I spend little resources on this solution, because there are practically none, all of them go to processing the nearest tasks. But still, it only takes me a fraction of a second to come up with the next theme, location, dialogue or something else.
When everything goes smoothly, the transition from topic to topic also happens more calmly and logically. When I don’t have a “logical continuation” of a thought or plot, then chaos begins and words pile on top of each other, I was writing everything in a row, and it really was looking like something incomprehensible, a set of letters and words. I was felting like a real hero because I managed, because I did what I planned, because I wasn’t stopping when it was difficult.
Typing speed
Perhaps this indicator somehow affects the writer’s result, but it seems to me certain skills will also be practiced with slow typing. Writing more slowly frees up some brain resources, which can be directed to the formation of a more mature plot, so text does not look like a set of words, but something understandable and even interesting.
For this 60-minute freewriting exercise, I used Desktop APM, I recommend for every writer. Here is a picture of my Free Typing Hour:
Freewriting 60 minutes video on my YouTube Channel
I made this video to spice things up for myself. The thought I was writing “in public” brought a little tension, and I liked it. I can write simply (for myself) that way. And this was content for my site to also show others there is such a writing exercise, and it looks something like this:
Writers are ordinary people. But they have special exercises to improve their skills and ability to write. This 60-minute freewriting exercise can do wonders and provide unexpected results, especially who have never tested themselves in this way.
I will definitely do this exercise regularly. Maybe someday I will make another video, like a 3 hour or 5 freewriting…
The result of an hour’s writing flow
Next, I will show the text itself, which I wrote in 1 hour. I didn’t hold back and only stopped for a few seconds in the middle (after 30 minutes to rest and stretch, as I usually do when working on the computer).
As you can see in the video, I wrote in Ukrainian. I provide a translation in order to understand at least remotely (for an English-speaking audience) what I wrote about:
“When they started talking about the family, I felt embarrassed, because this conversation could go very far. These topics did not appear often in our environment, and I quickly changed the direction and started talking about dogs. I have seen many of them in my life and each of them was unique. One of the first is Bars, a large bull terrier that I took everyone out for a walk, even though he was the neighbor’s. I stole it from my neighbors, and we went for a walk. One day I didn’t bring him home, he just ran away from me. But the next day, this dog returned home and said: I don’t want to eat. I even brought you food because you don’t feed me properly, so I got a job as a security guard and earned more in that day than you give me in a week. The dog was smart, but his days were running out, so I pay him a visit every day. We played cards and drank a little. He grimaced and mumbled, although he did not deny that these meetings were important to him. We became friends with him that I even wanted to become a dog myself. One day, I did become her, when we had some moonshine on the last day. I will remember that evening forever, because the dog took pictures of us on a camera and somehow managed to put it all in a magazine. The whole world found out about us, we became popular, and then we woke up in our own vomit. This experience gave me a chance not to interfere in the dog’s business and speak as it is. Building a road is expensive, but we will do it anyway. Let’s be honest – I don’t like dogs as much as I like cats. But I love bergamot tea more than all of them combined.
Put a cup of tea, a cat and a dog next to me, and I will take money and run to buy more tea, because tea is power, and power is in the tip. No matter how hard it is, words have a certain power that I cannot adequately describe. But dogs and cats do not speak a word, although I am sure that they have their own language, which we do not understand, but still some kind of communication takes place between them. For example, we have Morse code, a language for dumb people, we can invent some ways so that the classical use of words is not like that, somehow we get away with it. In fact, dogs, cats and other animals, they also got out, as if they once fell silent and stopped speaking our language, and now they have their own story. But they can think the same about us. We cannot deny the fact that the world that takes place in the animal’s head is a mystery to us. Let’s not mention the cards, because this is the fate of the dog, which lost to me both the house and its fur and all its bones seven years before. We would rather tell you about how meat is made and whether it should be consumed at all.
Some people do not want to eat meat and assure that if they do it on a regular basis, it will not be bad, but everything will not be ok, so it is better to look into vegetarian cuisine, or start eating air. How many people lost themselves with these restrictions? Are there any statistics? Is it humane, for example, to conduct a study that will determine precisely and very clearly whether it is possible to say bad words to a person without a break and how it will affect him. And if you say bad words and at the same time give a hundred dollars for each bad word, will her mood worsen or, on the contrary, improve, or maybe nothing will change, because these hundred bucks mean nothing to her?
The conversation goes to the channel where the cat is given the floor.
Wazzup?
Nothing.
Say It
Meow
– Today I was fed only three times, and I managed to starve already as many as five! Karl, five! Let me eat, because I will gnaw and pee anywhere.
– Don’t beat yourself up, Maslo. They won’t let you eat, because when you eat a lot, you become completely stupid and also shit three times more. It is better for you to give exactly as much as the doctor prescribed.
– I am not sick to listen to that doctor.
– Listen, because they will be kicked out again.
– I do not know. I am tired of this room apartment life. On the street you feel somehow alive, but here you sit, sleep, eat. Some boredom. Can I go from the second floor myself, and the shop was looking for me for another two months?
You will be forgotten the next day, what you were talking about. Who are you, anyway, that someone is looking for you? They will find another cat who does not think as much and does not talk as much as you.
– Listen to me, Bold, you are pushing a lot of questionable thoughts about something today. What is wrong with you, did that bitch from the neighboring yard never give you yesterday?
– None of your business, cat.
– Not mine, I agree. But what you say makes me a little nervous and it may happen that you end up on the street, because I love my landlord very much, and he strokes me every day
– He does it because he is paid for it.
– Is this a job or something? I hear it for the first time.
– Yes, this is a new job. And that’s why he sits with you all day meowing, because his whole business is based on this.
– Listen, it turns out that I am important to him. Then he will definitely not throw me out on the street, as I am so important to him.
– He will throw it away, because there will be another cat instead of you. Do you think you are so special? No, you’re just a cat. The most ordinary, simple cat from the street, there are hundreds, thousands of such.
– Well I do not know. We seem to have some connection with the owner. I am his and he is mine.
– Don’t make it up. Everyone said that to you. All one hundred and nineteen.
– How many?
The road led to a village that I had seen in a dream. I saw these small houses, these neat beds and fences, doors, painted roofs, windows and smiling old faces. This is my native village, which I have not seen for more than forty years, but I passed it further, because my jeep gives out four hundred horses, so I did not stop here. I threw dust at everyone who glared at my wheelbarrow and smiled back at them, although apart from them I didn’t see anyone who wanted to ride with me. In the city, they greeted me a little more calmly and did not hug me, because some new virus has settled here and does not want to go home. And at home, dumplings with cabbage and some sauces that I can’t remember their name. But tasty. That’s what they said and say in all the news. I have a feeling tomorrow will be a little better. So be it, because improvement is exactly what we need today.
Cats and dogs have taken over the square and don’t want to go home. It was in the news yesterday, and today they were joined by parrots, snakes and some girls. They are all squealing, talking about the mansions they decorated last week. There is such a roar on the square that you can’t hear Marichka singing about her strawberries and dancing in the middle of the crowd. Everyone knows her, but they don’t want to approach her, because she smeared herself when she ate borscht and that’s why she doesn’t smell very well, because it was two months ago. They were building a new house, and there Stepan drew himself, figuring out how to grease the stove so that it would hold the whole house and it would not fall apart and be warm. This Stepan is a master of all trades, and his skills should not be underestimated, because he can come up with something not only in construction, but also in other life situations. Let’s better find Stepan a girlfriend, or at least a dog, or a snake, just in case. So that he would not be sad, so that he would mean all these words and smile a little more.
It was getting darker outside and it was warm like spring. Although today is only January and winter does not want to be born with cold and snow. She is so good with these plus seventeen, as if we are not in Ukraine, but somewhere in Italy. We walk in light clothes and dream of victory. But Stepan manages to win over dirt every day. First, for him, cleaning begins with the head and mouth. He wakes up and thinks about something bright. All dark thoughts and clutter are blown away by the morning wind and the head becomes very free and airy. Then his path reaches the bathroom, where he is met by a toothbrush and active movements in the oral cavity. His teeth shine like the suit he will wear today on his first date with Kateryna. They have already kissed several times and today Stepan will make them an offer to get a cat, or at least a snake. But Kateryna is also not smeared with oil, she has this Volyn character, so she reaches out to Stepan as a father, whom she lost in childhood. She behaves politely with him and listens to his every wish. He listens to all his words, although he is often very silent.
But being silent and talking are different things, although Stepan is a master of all things. Yesterday, for example, he did such a thing, which the cat and Baida and Kateryna and everyone who reads this work will remember forever, because it cannot be forgotten, it will be etched in memory forever, like the union of Stepan and a shovel. Stepan digs well and quickly. His hands are skillful and he bridges such roads that even after a century this path will lead from West to East and there is no need to trample these paths, Stepen and his confident walk for water will do all the work for you.
– Drink
– Do not want. I got drunk.
– I say drink, it’s hot and you have to drink
– You should drink water, not vodka, you fool.
– It’s not vodka, it’s water.
– Stepan, you’re sloppy again and you can’t tell the difference
– Drink, I say, don’t talk to me here
– Okay, but this is the last straw.
Kateryna pretended to drink, but quietly turned away and poured the drink on the ground in such a way that all the grass withered and as if it wanted to burn. The green stalks have turned yellow, this piece of field is on fire.
And Stepan gulped down glass after glass, so that after half an hour only a faint memory of the person remained. It was spread out in a clean field so that you can come and take what you want and how you want. That’s how Mykola came and took Kateryna to him, although he liked Stepan no less. But Mykola wanted to put Kateryna behind the machine to wash new carpets. Kateryna didn’t mind, because Mykola was a better kisser than Stepan and his broom was a little bigger, Mykola swept skillfully, he kept the house clean, and he was a prominent boy in the whole village. Such that even in the city there were rumors about him and girls sometimes drove by involuntarily just so that he would pay attention to them.
Kateryna was tall, but not thin. Big as a cow, but no one was going to call her that. She was just a large woman. Mykola, on the other hand, loved less, so he began to look for someone more suitable for himself, and this is how the path led to Stepan. He was still lying in the field and whining about his life, although his life was very good, too good, one could say so.
– Stepan, will you be my chosen one? Will you marry me?
– Who are you? Mykola, is it you, or who is that humming in the grass?
– Yes, it’s me, marry me I say.
– what are you I’m not the same, I’m with Kateryna, and you’re just like a brother to me. What are you talking about?
– Stepan, you are drunk and do not see obvious things. Our life is so fleeting that it is necessary to catch every moment and not lose this momentum, it is necessary to grab opportunities, so I am waiting for you at my home.
– And what will we do with Kateryna?
– Let’s come up with something today. She will touch my carpets and then you two will decide where, who goes.
– I don’t understand why Kateryna and your carpets are here.
– She is with me and you will be with me. Soon everyone will work for me, because I am the master of the village, and you, a rascal, a servant, will serve me and cook food, but I love you, so marry me.
Stepan finally decided that he had drunk too much and without answering anything to this monologue and statements, he sat back and never woke up again, because the alcohol had taken its toll, life is so short. Mykola told him this very aptly. He didn’t have time to say goodbye or drink the last glass. So he left and remained lying in the steppe. Mykola did not see this and went home, where Kateryna was waiting for him and some milk and bread baked by the neighboring women.
Cat Roman was sitting and wasn’t a little drunk. He waited for the birds, looking through the binoculars that his grandmother had given him for his last birthday. Cat Roman was cunning and a little black with white spots on his paws. Black, because he didn’t know how to wash, but he was completely white. The cat was chased all over the yard, but he was cunning and always found a way out of difficult situations. And today he was in a special mood, which is marked by a greeting on TV. HIS speech will be broadcast to the whole country, although the country is only in his imagination and there is no TV in reality. The chickens ran out and wanted to eat, so Roman the cat got up from his sofa and returned to his male body.
Yes, Roman was an ordinary person and sometimes imagined himself as a cat. This was his secret, which he did not share with anyone, so he led a very closed life. His visits to the hospital were always full of mystery. He constantly lied to his doctors. When he was in pain, he said that everything was fine, and vice versa, when he felt great, he called an ambulance and almost died, it was as if he was sick, everyone in the neighborhood knew that Roman was going to the hospital again, his life was like cut without anesthesia.
Roman liked to lie and did it very elegantly. His lies could become the treasure of the age books. She was such that even Roman himself sometimes believed in himself, although he came up with something and invented these things on the fly. One day he did so – he told himself that he was a bitch. And by the evening he was already leading a full-fledged cat life. At night he got into a fight with a neighbor’s cat, in the morning he climbed on top of a cat and imitated the act of reuniting for the sake of the continuation of the feline family, but he was pulled away with difficulty when the neighbors saw him. He told them that the cat, even for greater persuasiveness, began to meow and snort at everyone who approached within an outstretched arm.
He scratched several people and that day became the hero of the daytime news program on the central channel. The whole city and even the capital knew about him. His lies seemed gratuitous, but he still felt a little guilty for such fantasies. He was well paid to lie professionally. That’s how he lived, getting a job on a news channel, telling about the latest events so that he would be believed. And he frankly loved his work, he didn’t have to strain himself enough to talk about things that don’t exist and don’t even exist in nature. To distort the facts, twist everything in such a way that even the most distant person from these news began to believe his every word.
For this reason, almost everyone in Roman’s country stopped watching TV. It became a country of lies, a country where only one cat watched TV and you all know his name.
The road led to the next series, which I watched all night. In it, a young woman bought books and tore out the pages she liked, cut out certain words and letters, and then put them all together to make other words. So she destroyed about a thousand books and wrote her own book. But in such a way that it was not necessary to quote anyone, she just slowly made her own book. And there was that book about how to write a book not with your own thoughts and words, but with the help of others. She didn’t do anything, just skillfully used scissors and a little imagination. No one bought this book, so she asked her neighbors to do it. But there were no neighbors either, because she lived alone in the forest, a dark forest, which today is illuminated by the moon, and this night will most likely be the hundredth drop of despair for her. She spent a lot of time and for what? So that no one reads this masterpiece? No one! And she went and bought herself this book and sat down to read. She read and sobbed, sobbed and belched, belched and belched, belched and stayed awake until dawn. And when the sun rolled over the horizon, she was flooded with tears and belched and said one word:
– Thanks for all.
And the sand froze for a moment. Her hand reached out to the sky, and there the morning birds were singing. They had no idea what this woman was doing, but the smell of ragweed distracted them and they flew away. The sky became clear, the woman breathed a sigh of relief, wiped her dress, dusted herself off a little, once again looked at the sun, which ran across the sky to the top, and went home to make coffee. The threshold was slippery, so this time it was not possible to avoid a fatal fall and the abyss of infinity. Life was cut short, the book remained lying there like that, come and read… It is waiting for you…”
Bonus
For those who found themselves at this point in the article, I wish success either in studying writing features and exercises, or in improving their abilities directly in practice.
And for those who like different challenges, I suggest trying another way to improve your discipline and writing skills, by taking part in a writing marathon. Mine lasted 29 days, and you can choose a convenient date for yourself and write, write, write.
