How to Start Freewriting

This post contains affiliate links for The Story Course from the Sarah Selecky Writing School.

Unlock your writing potential with this freewriting guide. Overcome your anxieties around The Blank Page and harness the brilliance of spontaneous writing.

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A few years ago I bought the online writing course, Story is a State of Mind from the Sarah Selecky Writing School.

I can't remember how I stumbled across it but the lessons contained changed my writing. More than that it changed what I thought about writing. 

I've always enjoyed writing. But what I wanted to do was write creatively. I wanted to write fiction but I was unsure how to go about this. I thought I needed a grand idea, a board full of post-it notes and a dark room where fueled on quantities of coffee and quantities of chocolate biscuits, I would write my novels on an old-fashioned typewriter.

Thankfully I found a way of learning to write creatively that pulled me out of that predictable and gloomy scenario. The course I found originally bought became The Story Course.

A Lesson on Freewriting

The lesson that significantly changed my creative writing process was the first on freewriting. And it's back here I find myself as I ponder starting The Story Course again. When you buy the course you have lifetime access. I have returned again and again to the lessons depending on what I need help with. This time though I want to start right from the beginning. The course has had an update and I have an idea for a story I'd like to write. I’m going to take my time going through the lessons rather than rushing through.

So for this week, let's go back to the beginning. Let's try some freewriting. You can read my guidelines but I will also lay them out here as The Story Course defines them.

Freewriting: The Guidelines

Before you start, let’s warm-up: 

1. Set a timer

2. For five minutes make a list of all the words you can think of beginning with the letter O. Or B, C, D...you get the idea.

   Now let’s practice:

   1. Set a timer. The time is up to you.

   2. Using the photograph above, freewrite for ten, fifteen or twenty minutes.

   Things to remember:

   1. Use a pen, not a keyboard.

   2. Write without crossing out words or sentences. No editing. But...write with intention.

   3. How? Focus on sensory details. Things that you can touch, hear, see, taste and smell. Focus on the physical sensations rather than abstract thoughts.

   4. Write the scene itself not what you think the scene is.

   5. Don't worry about spelling or punctuation or grammar. This is not writing that anyone will ever read.

   6. Pay attention to the images and words that come into your mind. You might see or hear or feel them. It might not make sense. That's okay. Just write it all down.

Final Thoughts

Freewriting can work in many different ways for you. The technique can help get you warmed up before you get going on a more structured piece of work or it can liberate your brain, and give it some space to think more imaginatively. One thing to note is that it is rarely a means to an end. The process won’t provide you with a perfect story. That takes further work. But it might make way for a different path, a way forward in your work you hadn’t thought of before.

Until next time.