FREEWRITING
Thought begat thought. (Henry David Thoreau)
Freewriting is a writing activity that helps you develop ideas that you can later shape into a
piece of writing such as a paragraph, essay, or work of fiction. Often called a creating or
invention activity, it has as its main purpose to develop ideas, not shape or organize them.
In his journal entry from 1852, Henry David Thoreau considers his own writing process: “Each
thought that is welcomed and recorded is a nest egg, by the side of which more will be laid.
Thoughts accidentally thrown together become a frame in which more may be developed and
exhibited. . . . Having by chance recorded a few disconnected thoughts and then brought them
into juxtaposition, they suggest a whole new field in which it was possible to labor and think.
Thought begat thought.”
This notion of “thought begat thought” is pursued again by essayist E. B. White in his essay
“Once More to the Lake” when he writes, “It is strange how much you can remember . . . once
you allow your mind to return into the grooves which lead back. You remember one thing, and
that suddenly reminds you of another thing.” White reveals here the power of freewriting:
thought leads to thought.
Freewriting can be used to develop an idea for an essay or to develop ideas for a part of your
essay. You could, for example, freewrite on different experiences that taught you valuable
lessons or left lasting impresssions. Or you could be more focused and freewrite on a specific
experience or yet even more focused by freewriting on the setting or conflict of that experience.
When you freewrite, write or type fast. If thoughts do not develop right away—start typing
random letters on your keyboard until a thought arrives. Do not stop to correct or censor. Keep in
mind you are free from the conventions of grammar and spelling. What if you are burning up the
keyboard with your ideas and you suddenly think: do I need a semi-colon there? Or have I
spelled that word correctly? You will have broken the magic spell! You were on a roll, and now
you have interrupted your idea or even lost it altogether.
You might want to time your freewriting. Consider freewriting for ten, twenty or thirty minutes.