August 16, 2018
Keeping a journal
Keeping a journal, although not quite as unstructured as freewriting or wander-writing, is still an important form of undirected writing. Here you get to write down your thoughts, feelings, and ideas in any order you wish, and as often or seldom as you want.
Presumably you mean to write somewhat coherently so that later you can refer to an entry and make sense of it. Freewriting and wander-writing require much less structure, if any. Therefore, journal-writing may not benefit you in precisely the same way as freer types of writing, and should not replace them.
This is because when we try to govern what we’re writing, even on the minimal level of a journal entry, we lose a degree of freedom and momentum. We experience these two elements only when we’ve removed all rules and expectations.
If we want to progress, freedom and momentum are the most important in our total writing experience, because they will find their way into all our writing efforts. Then we will discover their entire value.
August 2, 2018
Wander-writing
Wander-writing, unlike freewriting, begins with a topic or idea, but there the structure stops. In wander-writing we start approximately where we do in a first draft, but instead of trying to produce a coherent piece, we let our subject take us wherever it goes.
I also do this frequently with any project I’ve already begun, but feel is going off the rails, even slightly. It’s an easy, relaxing way to explore my ideas and to tackle problems of organization or approach. After enough wander-writing for this purpose, I usually discover that my difficulties have resolved themselves, and I can easily complete whatever I was working on.
The supreme virtue of wander-writing is our liberation from any requirement to impose order on what we’re writing, to improve it, to stay on topic, or to revise. The rule is to let the subject lead us to what we are really thinking, or what we most want to write about it. This sweeps aside mental clutter and also deepens our writing—important benefits of letting our creative selves go.
July 18, 2018
Freewriting
Freewriting is probably the “purest” form of undirected writing. In freewriting, you have no goal except to write. Whatever comes into your head, you write down. Even if it’s vapid, banal, repetitious, dull, or meaningless, you just keep transcribing your thoughts. This may feel like an empty exercise, but it isn’t.
In freewriting you’re writing continuously, gaining momentum as you go. How often do we get this flow of language during our consciously directed writing, whether it’s a draft of an article, essay, short story, or novel chapter? Not often enough make it a habit.
The regular experience of effortless flow is practically guaranteed to make all your writing easier. Therefore, the more consistently you do your freewriting, the likelier it is that the rest of your work will improve.
July 5, 2018
Why you should do undirected writing
The virtue of undirected writing is that it removes pressure. If you have neither plan nor destination, you don’t have a standard either, and this is relaxing.
Our minds behave differently when we’re not focusing on anything in particular. This is probably one of the best ways to induce good ideas: Your unconscious may be stewing over a problem in one of your writing projects, or maybe you just need a new direction in your work. Solutions and insights are much more likely to pop out when you’re not trying to get at them.
The other major advantage to all kinds of undirected writing is that you are writing, no matter what. For writers, it’s as important to write as it is to produce finished work.
Suppose you’re struggling with a chapter of your novel or memoir and it just won’t behave. Aside from the frustration this causes, it often slows your output. Although we don’t have to write publishable material at maximum speed all the time, it’s still good to feel that we’re progressing.
If undirected writing is part of your routine, you’ll always be writing, no matter what’s happening with the rest of your work. This helps keep you in shape, creates momentum, and may even shorten the inevitable slumps and periods of discouragement that plague us all.
June 27, 2018
The magic between performer and audience: what we can and can’t control
It would be wonderful if we could always induce a live connection between ourselves and our readers, but the most exciting episodes appear to spring out of nowhere. This apparently random phenomenon suggests that we have no control over reader or audience response. But this isn’t quite true; we can at least create optimal conditions, so that when the time is ripe for an exciting episode, we’ve done our part.
Paradoxically, our efforts need to be what they always are. This makes our approach to a magical moment one of the most prosaic operations we perform: work hard, be alert for good ideas, trust your work habits and creative process, polish your already polished writing, and keep going.
It’s strange that such a predictable set of procedures can position us to receive a wave of excitement from readers. But it works. That’s what we did in the Eugene Opera company, leading up to that peak performance of Don Giovanni, which I still remember vividly from almost forty years ago.
