The Free-writing Game
rationale | rules | follow up ideas
[updated 08/24/2004]
“Poetry happens when those inhibitions dissolve...”
–Galway Kinnell
Why play this free-writing game?
You need to be able to write in a voice that is truly your self in your spontaneous
natural form. You might think this would come naturally to everyone, but when
people start writing poetry they often think they have to “be a poet”
and they start sounding artificial or “nineteenth century.”
Free-writing is a way to practice getting inspiration. That may sound like a
paradox, but inspiration comes in many forms. You don’t have to feel like
“lightning struck.” In fact, this is very rare, and most writers
work very hard on revision.
There really is something that is called inspiration, but it may just feel
like excitement, or it could be a sense of urgency or pressure. Or it
could feel
like an ecstatic moment. But no matter how it works for you, it will work better
if you get ready for it. The more often you can get your mind into that
space
where you feel creative and free, the more powerful your experience will be.
The more often that you write, the more likely it is that you will get
to that
deeper freedom where you can say what you really need to say. If you are a
performer like an actor/actress, you could think of it this way: the practice
writing is like a rehearsal from which you can learn to do what the part requires.
This isn’t about you as much
as it is about being able to do in words what the writing needs you to
do. If you are a musician in a genre where improvisation is important,
you could think of free-writing as a kind of improvisation in front of
an audience. Every time will be different, if you are brave, and each time
will get better if you notice what you are doing that works well.
For some people, the idea of self-expression is a little intimidating. Writing
may be frightening when people expect that your writing will entertain
or enlighten
them. It is normal to have some apprehension about writing in public, as
it were. In fact, it is actually good to have some respect for your audience. Importantly,
you don’t need to think of your writing as self-expression, strictly
speaking. Writers can draw upon sources other than their own experiences
(memory) and fantasies, desires, impulses, fears etc. (imagination). Writers
can draw upon great literature that they love, intuitive knowledge about
literary language itself, and what they know about others’ experiences
etc. Don’t rule anything out!
To help you get over any apprehension, the free-writing
game gives you a chance to have some fun with practicing writing in an uninhibited
way. You need to practice feeling free when you write for other people. You
need to believe in your audience as a powerful co-creator. Your audience
can
give you the confidence to try new things. You need to learn to trust your
audience’s
sense to learn what they can and cannot understand and appreciate. When a writer
feels understood and appreciated, a writer can get much stronger very quickly!
1. You need at least two people, and three or four is an ideal
group size. You can also run many small groups of three-to-four people all at
once.
2. Each person writes down on a small scrap of paper an idea
with some specific image or detail that he or she really wants to write about.
For example, “the moment when you knew that the date you were currently
on was going to end badly," or "the date with that unhappy blonde
whose father was a drunk and who ended up in your bed but only when you were
on the floor.” No one word nouns like “love,” “peace,”
“dope” etc. Important: think hard about what you
REALLY want to write about!!! Take this as an opportunity to explore something
that perhaps has eluded you before. This could be your breakthrough.
3. Writers fold up their scraps and throw them in a hat and
pick one out at random. Then someone picks out one idea and everyone must write
about that one idea as quickly as possible without letting the pen leave the
paper and without letting the pen stop moving. Even if you have to resort to
writing “blah blah blah” you have to keep writing for fifteen minutes.
4. When time is up, a time-keeper in your group calls time and
everyone in your small group must read whatever she or he has just written no
matter how good or bad it is. Important: criticism is not allowed
in this game.
5. Repeat this process until your group runs out of ideas or you can’t write anymore.
Save everything you write in these sessions until the end of the term (at least) because you may not realize when and/or where you wrote something really good until someone else points it out to you or until you realize it yourself. (Old writings in general can be great surprises this way.) Re-read your free writing within a day and then again several days later. This is helpful because you become aware of your voice and your own preoccupations, concerns, ways of thinking. Think of this material as raw material that you can cull from, recycle, reinvent.
Most writers draw spontaneously upon memories and imagination when they write. A successful work usually has elements of both.