Free Fall - go to a place in a piece of writing you are working on where you feel somewhat stuck. Let's just say it is page 99 of your current work in progress. Read the page top to bottom without getting anxious and pick out one phrase, thought or sentence that works for you. Now on a separate sheet of paper, document, etc...take that phrase and free fall with it. Use it as you would a starting off point for a stream of consciousness piece. No editing - just write for about ten minutes or so completely going to the bottom of that thought. You should find (will find) that you have something precious when you're finished. And you can keep going - you can take your most compelling thought, phrase, sentence from THAT piece and free fall with that. Do not think for one dang minute you are wasting time or being silly. You are mining for gold in a different way than you might have before. This exercise also works when you're editing for unlike the writing that comes before editing when you don't allow the judgemental editor in - when you are revising or editing or working on draft # 2,3, etc... you are allowed to let the writer in. Got that? The writer is allowed to hang out while editing is going on but not the other way round.
Good luck and let me know what happens, will you.
11 comments:
Perfect timeing! I so need to do this challenge. I'll be working all weekend on editing my novel and have a few threads that need reworking. Will let you know how I get on! Thanks for this, and for the award! Have a good weekend!
This will definitely help me. I've only written two posts so far on my blog and catch myself many times stopping, frustrated at a certain point. Then when i go back to it I find I make the most headway when I start somewhere in the middle of a paragraph or thought instead of rereading the whole thing. There is some correlation to this and you test i believe....love you Mom
tanks u for amability
What a great challenge! I was thinking about you the other day and missing you're blog. Glad I finally found the time to stop by here. I am definitely doing this today. I'll let you know how it goes.
Michele
SouthernCityMysteries
What a marvelous idea, Jan! I've done stream of consciousness writing when I've brainstormed plots and found it very helpful.
Jan, you should bottle this stuff as "Writer's Block Tonic!" Brilliant!
Hi y'all! OK - you're signed up now let's pitter patter fly atter. I got a couple of tough spaces I'm going to work on. this is the time when you can really lose your mind and come to your senses! Hey JDog! Yay!!!!
Great idea, Jan! I love your plan of applying stream of consciousness to a phrase or thought. I'll try it out...thanks!
Cool! I'm in the editing phase right now but I'm going to do this when I get stuck on my next WIP.
This worked really well for me! Taking the part I was stuck on...(how did the bracelet get into the dresser?!) and writing it out on a different document to my draft gave me the freedom to freefall outside the constraints of the novel, to be loose with my ideas, and thankfully come to the simplist solution!
yeehaw! I love it when it works...
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