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Freewriting
& Listing
There's a good chance that you were introduced to the strategy of freewriting in high school or in a previous college writing course. If so, do you remember the rules? Have you made it an INTEGRAL habit when you write? If not, or you've never heard of freewriting, there are various types of freewriting, including open, directed, and listing.
In open freewriting, you can start anywhere you like and take your writing anywhere you desire. You start with any word or idea that you wish and just keep weaving together any phrases, names, or ideas which HAPPEN into your mind. An open freewrite can take as long as you wish.
In a directed freewrite, you are trying to take your writing in a PREDETERMINED direction. In directed freewriting it's okay to take side trips and go off on TANGENTS as long as you try to work your way back to the subject matter, question or focus you set out to explore. Open freewriting is great for warming up your writing brain or setting loose your imagination. Directed freewriting is a great TECHNIQUE for developing a single topic or supporting a specific idea with examples.
The directed freewriting technique comes in very handy during in-class essay tests where time can be a problem. The next time you take an in-class exam, try to freewrite your response to a question on a separate piece of paper, edit it, and then enter the revision into the blue book or onto the test. Believe it or not, students find that this is much more productive than sweating over each sentence of an answer and running the ugly risk of not fully responding to the question. If you have 40 minutes to answer ten essay questions, give yourself four minutes to answer each question. Spend the first two minutes freewriting and the second two minutes editing and entering the response onto the exam form.
With listing, you are simply writing similar ideas and examples on separate sheets of paper, to be blended together later in an outline and draft (see below for examples of this technique).
With any kind of freewriting the key is to keep moving. To help you along through your freewrite, it is important that you never worry about spelling or punctuation. There is no need to worry if what you are writing is grammatically correct or showing up in complete sentences. Just keep moving. It may be strange at first to overlook spelling and grammar concerns when you freewrite, but it quickly becomes LIBERATING to leave these worries in the dust. If you've written stuff in your freewrite that you want to keep or use in your essay, you can always sort through the clutter later and worry then about punctuation and forming complete sentences. And there will be clutter. Not everything you come up with in a freewrite is going to be WORTHY of a place in your essay, letter or short story. But it will give you an outlet to get your ideas out where you can see them and generate a good amount of text in a short time.
Freewriting is also great for difficult writing tasks like writing a letter of resignation or complaint. Often, the time you take to put your thoughts on paper will help you think through your position. After you do this, you can adjust your tone, include clear examples and facts, and craft your communication so that it is received with understanding, respect, and the appropriate action.
Here's a short "brainstorm list " by a student attempting to discover how she'd spend her LEISURE time if she had any:
And here is another brainstorming list by a writer who is preparing to be a college student:
It is important to remember that these are not outlines but rather lists of ideas and possible focuses for essays. After you have the rough list of possibilities, you can study the items on your list and decide on their SEQUENCE in your essay.
Note that both students above have used a numbering system for ordering their brainstorming lists. If your list is messy, you might have to convert it into a clean outline on another sheet of paper before you begin writing your essay. Like a freewrite, not item on these lists going to make it into the essays. Don't be afraid to add and subtract things as you study your lists and determine the order of development.
TRY ANOTHER PREWRITING METHOD...
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