What is freewriting? Freewriting - the subconscious will write to us Freewriting is a modern technique for finding creative solutions to read.

What is freewriting?

Freewriting is:

A stream of consciousness splashed out without restrictions on a clean slate;
forced creativity, in which you do not have time to edit, but manage to fix your thoughts;
a fun way to find solutions.

The brain - a lazy thing - gives rise to banal thoughts, sluggishly flowing in the usual way. Every time you type or write by hand, you carefully write out only what your brain allows you to take from dictation. And he does not want to be in a funny situation because of random mistakes and other nonsense, so he connects the internal censor.

Freewriting is a technique that drives the brain into a corner, and thereby makes it come up with original solutions. As you practice freewriting, you will realize that scribbling is fun! Since you write only for yourself, and do not show your notes to anyone, then you can fantasize as you like. As a result, the process that caused you boredom and tension becomes exciting - you yourself do not know where your own thought will take you, you just let it appear on paper. Rereading what you have written, you will be surprised how easily and accurately you formulate your thoughts, transfer knowledge and solve complex issues.

Why do you need freewriting?

Freewriting is for you if you:

Looking for a fresh idea;
want to see the other side of the issue;
find non-standard solutions, including those that could only come from you;
want to learn how to think without patterns;
To make it clear;
clearly formulate the idea;
push yourself to be creative and imaginative;
want to write sincerely and captivatingly;
increase your typing speed 🙂

13 Freewriting Techniques to Unlock Your Mind

1. Where to start?

Start the freewriting session itself by stating your problem or describing your task. For example, you need to come up with a solution or come up with a new idea. What if there is no obvious and serious problem, and you just want to dream up? Then start with this phrase: "I have no problems, I want to dream up ..."

You can also use hints. These are short phrases without an ending. For example, “After the rain…”, “Here are two things that will make my life happy…”, “I’m afraid…”, “This is crazy, but this one will increase my efficiency by 50 times….” etc.

By writing whatever comes to your mind, by letting your imagination run wild, you are laying the groundwork for a really good idea to come up in the future. After all, only a few can come up with something sensible out of thin air.

2. Give 90%

Understand that no one expects revelations and brilliant ideas from you, so you don’t need to strain yourself during free racing - just write down your thoughts on paper or in Word and that’s it. Start with a calming reminder phrase that you don’t need to squeeze creativity out of yourself, that you don’t give all your best at 100%, that you will have strength left in case of force majeure.

3. Write fast

To free yourself from the "editor" in your head, you need to write as fast as you can. Imagine you are late for a meeting and on the go scribble a note on a piece of paper. You obviously don't have time for soft or vague language. Your letters are sweeping, there are a lot of typos and extra spaces in Word.

If you print every letter, your brain slows down absolutely everything so that your hand has time to write down everything that it generates. Moreover, the brain is also distracted by nonsense, evaluates the idea, and you get lost, forgetting what you wanted to write down.

You are entering a new level of thinking, where the brain does not guide you, where there are no censors who label the idea as “unsuccessful” - only if you write at the speed of thought.

4. Write continuously

If you write for 5-20 minutes without stopping (and, accordingly, editing the text), then your internal editor “understands” that it is time for him to rest. He will not interfere in the process of creating texts, crossing out slang words, incorrect wording, incorrect thoughts that you would hardly have voiced at a meeting or among friends. As a result, you manage to write down a thousand bad ideas, a dozen incredible ones, and one unique thought. Yes, it is not exact yet, but already fixed! And later you can easily develop a good idea in the direction you need.

You will notice the disappearance of the editor - this is a moment of insight, a click in your head, freeing your thinking, leaving the tension in your hands.

5. You need a timer

Writing continuously and quickly is difficult enough. To "dump" all your thoughts without long preparations, set yourself a strict time frame. You will need a timer that silently counts down the time and reminds you of the finish line with a loud signal. Knowing that the bell will ring at the right time will help you focus, work faster, and articulate your thoughts more clearly. One free-teaming session can last from 5 to 20 minutes, depending on your desire. The longer the session, the faster you "train" the brain to be creative and break patterns. Mark Levy in his master classes makes you write for an hour.

6. Houston, we have a problem!

If you are at a dead end, you don’t know what to write about next, just babble, repeat words and letters, write down the meaningless phrases that come to your mind. While you work your hand, keeping writing fast and continuous, your brain is looking for options, shoveling through the mass of layers of your memory, raising a good idea to the surface.

Attention switch questions will help you get out of a mental impasse:

How can I express this idea differently?
Why am I stuck at this point?
How can I confirm my correctness or refute it?
What similar problems have I encountered before?
What is the most optimistic solution?
Why am I doing this project?
What are the weaknesses of the project?
What information am I missing to make a brilliant decision?
How would I describe my problem to the first person I meet, a father, a friend?

7. Develop the situation

Imagine you are improvising with a friend, and your task is to maintain a dialogue for a certain time. This means that your partner must pick up any of your phrases and / or questions. You can’t drive the “scene” into a dead end, that is, use phrases after which there is nothing to say. It is much more important to agree with what you said (even if it does not look very logical), and then with a new proposal to expand on the previous one, giving rise to space for further conversation.

When practicing freewriting, take one particular thought and develop it in several directions. For example, you are a marketer, sales manager and buyer of a product, and you are puzzled by the question: “Why is product A better than product B?”. If you are sure that as a marketer you have said everything you could, develop an internal dialogue in the second and third directions. You will find a good solution and the argument you need.

You can also imagine that you are talking with a guru. Here the difficulty is to feel the virtual interlocutor. It is useless to chat with Lincoln or Kiyosaki if you cannot imagine his appearance, habits, turns of speech.

Talking on paper will help you justify why, for example, you need a raise, buy a car instead of a refrigerator, find answers to all sorts of objections.

8. Fact is all you need

The fact is hard to distort. Therefore, in search of a cool idea, do not immediately try to come up with something incredible and terribly useful to humanity. To begin with, collect in one text all the obvious facts that relate to the essence of the freewriting session - one topic/question/task.

Knowing what problem you need to solve, write down all the facts that lie right in front of you. Sketch out a text where a fact clings to another fact, giving rise to a third fact. Reflect in the language of facts, what is your idea, what is already there for its implementation, what is missing, what hinders it, what is in abundance, where to find resources for it, etc. In itself, the presentation of facts does not scare you with expectations, on the contrary, it calms you - and in the end you find a solution! Unobvious and correct.

9. Substitution of concepts

If you were asked to come up with an algorithm for some computer program, you would go crazy, because you do not know the topic and are far from mathematics and programming. But if I ask you to come up with a trick with cards? You can easily suggest a sequence of actions with all the "if yes, then ..." and "if no, then ...". And experts will easily write a program according to your algorithm. Instead of being disappointed in yourself, you replaced one complex concept with another one that was more understandable to you, and solved the problem.

To use the concept substitution method, look for answers in other areas, ask yourself questions (without specifics, numbers): what problem do I want to solve? Who has had to solve a similar problem? how was this issue resolved? How can someone else's solution be used in my situation?. By the way, this technique works well not only in freewriting, but also in brainstorms.

10. Lie!

If you don't know what to do in a particular situation, lie. Just imagine how you would solve this question if one hour of your time was worth $1,000 (in fact $50). What would change in your approach to work, in quality, in relations with partners and clients, if you set such a bar? Funny and entertaining fictional scenarios clear the way for fresh thought where reality used to be blocked. Therefore, change the shape and type of the item, the expiration date, the appearance of the person, distort the priorities and see how a small distortion of the truth can change your attitude to the situation.

11. Be specific

To teach the brain to think in an unusual way for him, you need to train it regularly. Constantly flesh out what you wrote by asking clarifying questions: how exactly did I get into a dead end? how exactly can i do this? what exactly do I mean? how can i speed up the process? who and what to connect?

12. Choose who to talk to

Imagine that you have a surgeon friend, a librarian, a hippie, and a janitor. Each of them will understand you only if you describe the problem from their point of view. The watchman will not understand complex medical terms, and the hippie will stretch out “Well, you are stressful!” After hearing tedious lectures on the topic of the law. Look for approaches to each, trying to clarify your problem or idea. Explaining something to another person, some things become clear to ourselves.

13. I see red!

If I promise you $10 for every red item you see in your room, you'll find ten in no time! And an hour ago, when you were not focused on the topic, you would not have named a couple. What you focus on is what you notice. The freewriting process helps you with this. Try, for example, to describe all the disadvantages of your product, hobby, situation from the point of view of children, or look for associative links with the shape of an apple in objects in your room. The main thing is to figure out on what basis you combine the elements or from what point of view you look at the problem. You'll be surprised how much you didn't notice before!

Train, write, develop the skill of non-standard solutions. Any complex problem can be easily solved. Write about it yourself!

This book tells you how to get your lazy brain to come up with new ideas. The author shows how trying to solve a complex problem or find an interesting idea, we often experience serious difficulties. The brain inhibits creativity, and it is not easy to overcome such difficulties in the usual way. This happens because in each of us there is a kind of “internal editor” or “censor”, which polishes our thoughts until they become correct and appropriate in the eyes of other people.

Mark Levy, founder of Levi Innovation, a consulting firm specializing in marketing strategies, introduces us to his author's technique, which he calls "freewriting" (English freewriting - free writing), which helps to extract something valuable and hidden from the subconscious. It could be a new business project, a marketing campaign, a novel idea, or a movie script.

Mark Levy's method is pretty simple: start writing as quickly and for as long as you can about a subject that you care about at the moment, ignoring the standard rules of grammar and spelling. It is necessary to write every day for at least 15 minutes without slowing down and stopping, first limiting the time, and then expanding the boundaries. It is necessary to write everything that comes into your head, freely, without thinking and without criticizing your thoughts. You need to write as you think, the main thing is to write without stopping. And then your “internal editor” will simply not be able to cope with such a flow of creativity, and as a result you will get breakthrough ideas and extraordinary solutions that you would never have come to otherwise.

The author claims that using his methodology, the reader will immediately begin to think differently than those around him, and will feel a powerful impetus to free creativity. Mark Levy studied writing at Rutgers University and then worked for the New York Times. In this book, he refers to the recommendations of other writers - Ray Bradbury (Zen and the Art of Writing), Chuck Polanik (13 Writing Tips), Ken McRury, Ron Carlson and others.

To be honest, the author did not convince me. And the book is rather watery, all its productive ideas could be presented on a dozen pages. (By the way, these Levi's recommendations are retold very briefly.) One must have a completely insecure consciousness, tortured by limitations, in order to resort to such strange methods of freeing it. A significant part of the book is occupied by the author's self-promotion. Much of the book seemed to me banal, gleaned from popular writing courses, although something was curious. But the author is trying to adapt these creative writing techniques to business. I would like to see someone who actually did it!

Mark Levy. Freewriting. Modern technique for finding creative solutions (Accidental Genius: Using Writing to Generate Your Best Ideas, Insight, and Content). / Translator O. Matsak. — M.: Eksmo, 2011. — 244 p. – Circulation 3000 copies. — (Series: Negotiations and presentations: best practices).

So, freewriting is an immersion in a free, uncontrolled flow of words on paper. The goal is to get rid of internal barriers, to get rid of the "internal censor".

Freewriting can be used for different purposes:

to write an article on a complex topic;
to get rid of unnecessary obsessive thoughts that interfere with work;
to remove the internal censor who constantly evaluates our activities;
to find new original .

The main "trick" of freewriting is that the text that we write cannot be moderated, changed or controlled until it is completed. All this concerns not only words, the logic of presentation or the use of certain (perhaps even obscene) expressions, but also punctuation marks, spelling errors, etc.

Since the goals of free ratting can be different, then it can be applied in different ways. Someone buys special notebooks for freewriting and writes all their thoughts there every convenient second. Someone keeps a diary, and every evening he writes down all his innermost experiences there. For example, I am just beginning to realize all the delights of freewriting. I've used it a few times in my life (although I didn't know I was a freewriter at the time, I just had to talk it out, and paper, as you know, will endure everything). In my case, freewriting always took on a form of confession, when I, tormented by emotional experiences, poured out my whole soul on the word "a sheet and I instantly felt better.

How do you force yourself to write the first thing that comes to mind? It's not as easy as it seems at first glance. From school we got used to the fact that if we write something, it should be perfectly “licked” in terms of grammar, style and logic of presentation. It is important to stop controlling yourself and write down every thought that comes to mind.

Depending on the goals of freewriting, further work with written texts is built. If you wrote a text in order to find new ideas or develop old ones, then it makes sense to return to it, reread it thoughtfully, correct errors and arrange everything in a logical sequence. If the text was written with the aim of simply “pour out the soul”, then there is no point in further work with the test. Unless you're suffering from some form of self-flagellation and don't like to relapse into negative inner states.

Freewriting ... A blank sheet of paper drives the most brilliant writers into a stupor. Getting started is always difficult. The "inner censor" twists his mouth and chuckles at any attempt to start. "Is that all you can do?" he seems to be saying.

People in creative professions face this problem on a regular basis. Yes, almost every day. More N.V. Gogol in his letters to F. Sologub recommended starting work with the words “Something is not written to me today”. This technique helped him overcome the "fear of a white sheet." The French poet André Breton used "automatic writing" in order to create works that, even today, "blow up the brain" with their freedom and creative courage.

The American writer Kenneth Makrory was the first to introduce the concept of "freewriting", which in English means "free writing". In Russia, they started talking about this technique after reading the bestseller by Mark Levy “Freewriting. Modern technology for finding creative solutions.

Freewriting - what is it and how to use it

Freewriting is a technique of free writing text with a time or volume limit. During the writing process, it is prohibited:

analyze;
criticize;
watch for errors;
correct mistakes;
doubt;
stop;
think;
hurry.

You must throw out on paper your entire stream of consciousness on a topic that excites you, or just like that, without a specific task. Let the text turn out to be stupid, funny or scary. Nobody will read it. No one will take apart what you wrote, poke a finger at punctuation marks, laugh at unsuccessful turns.

The realization that the resulting text you can throw away, burn, erase or even eat will help you:

get rid of the "internal censor", blocks, fears, perfectionism;
overcome the creative crisis;
become more free to express your thoughts;
find a new point of view, techniques, ideas;
deal with the "cockroaches" in your head;
Take a broader look at your options.

Freewriting gives you the courage to express your thoughts. It opens up new opportunities not only for writers or journalists, but also for copywriters who have to write about reinforced concrete structures every day and are in dire need of fresh ideas.

Basic Freewriting Techniques

If you decide to use the "free writing" technique, allow yourself the most important thing - do not try to create a brilliant or even just a good text. Allow yourself to be a "loser" who knows nothing about spelling and punctuation. Rediscover the language.

Secret techniques from Mark Levy's book

You will need paper and a pen (or laptop) and a timer. Mark 15-20 minutes and write everything that comes to mind on a topic that excites you.

Mark Levy's tricks will help your brain quickly get to work, find fresh ideas in a short period of time, and stop putting off what you started.

Reception "What I see, I sing about"

Start, like Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol, your new text with the phrase “I don’t know what to write about.” Let your brain relax and not look for those "magic words" with which your article or sales letter should begin. Write about cacti on your window, about neighbors that keep you from focusing. Make a list of groceries you need to buy tonight. Write rubbish, nonsense, a set of words.

Another secret of experienced copywriters is to start your article with the words “Well, damn it, in short, it was like this ...”. Just be sure to remove them from the final version of your text so as not to stun your customer.

The advantage of this technique is that, by fooling around, you overcome the fear of starting work. Uncertainty in front of a white sheet will disappear, because the sheet is no longer white, it is in your notes, notes, sketches, ideas. And if the beginning is laid, then the end is not far off.

Changed state method

There are legends about the writers who created their "imperishable" podshofe. Do not get carried away with strong drinks, because there are other original ways to approach your text.

Dip your feet in cold water like the German poet Friedrich Schiller once did. Turn on music that will relax you, make you forget about deadlines or a picky customer. Stand on your head - they say, so the blood rushes to the head better. Start writing the text while balancing on one leg. In a hungry state. In a state close to falling asleep, balancing hungry on one leg.

Routine kills creativity. Getting used to solving the same problems every day, the brain relaxes and stops producing fresh ideas. You need to regularly shake yourself up, set new tasks in conditions that are unusual for your thinking.

For example.You need to describe the Kamaz 5490 model for the fifteenth time. Write the text in an extreme mode for yourself. Wake yourself up at 4 am. Take a contrast shower. Turn on the music you hate and set yourself the task of not having breakfast until you describe all the advantages of this model. Write without thinking, without analyzing, without paying attention to mistakes. So you will definitely get off the ground and discover new facets of your writing skills.

Change of angle of view

We get used to writing about products, services, companies from the bell tower of our experience and the format we are used to. Sometimes a change in the angle of view, genre, style of narration helps to overcome a creative crisis.

For example.You need to write about reinforced concrete structures. Imagine that reinforced concrete structures are you. What do you feel? How would you describe yourself? How are you better than reinforced concrete structures of competitors? What would you like to say on behalf of reinforced concrete structures to your customers?

Write a romantic letter about reinforced concrete structures. A story in the style of Stephen King. A note on the fridge to your first grader. Experiment, look for new approaches to the most common topics.

Method "View from the future"

This method is recommended by psychologists for finding solutions in difficult situations. When you face a problem and don't know how to get out of it properly, ask yourself, "If I knew what to do, what would I do?"

Also with text. If you knew what to write about, what would you write? If the article had already been written, what would it be about? What would be its structure, headings, conclusions? Imagine that an article (a book that sells text) is already ready, you have just read it. What is it about?

This technique will allow you to write as if from the future, starting from the final result, and not from that blank sheet that teases you with its emptiness. You immerse yourself in a situation of success, the end result. The text is already there, ready and interesting, it remains to put it on paper. Open your laptop and start writing, as if remembering. Don't let your inner critic interfere. Let him talk when the text is ready.

Conclusion

The most important thing in freewriting is to stop judging yourself, give freedom to your wings and look beyond the horizon of your possibilities, and they are limitless. And even if it seems to you that you have written yourself out and are no longer capable of anything, this is not so. Allow yourself to make mistakes, experiment, write platitudes, stupidity, nonsense in drafts. After all, brilliant ideas sometimes overtake us in the most unexpected circumstances.

The now fashionable word and part-time interesting technique has interested me for a long time. So I decided to find out what's what, and at the same time experience the magic of arbitrary writing.

So, freewriting- a technique and method of writing that helps to find extraordinary solutions and ideas. Roughly speaking, you write on a piece of paper everything that comes to your mind regarding a given topic.

Options

Freewriting applied if the creative, workflow has stalled. Then you set yourself a task (question) and for some time (for example, 15 minutes) you write all possible options for solving it. From the most seemingly stupid to the more realistic. All. Kind of like brainstorming. Often, among all the ideas you can find really cool and effective ones.
Also, freewriting helps in literary works when you need to write, but there is no inspiration / ideas / mood. Again, sit down and write.
Often, the exercise “Morning Pages” (+ similar anti-stress, unloading techniques) is also referred to as freewriting. Its essence is that after waking up, you need to sit down and write down literally all the thoughts that come to mind without setting a topic. The “morning pages” do not indicate the exact time (how much to write), but the proposed volume is 3 pages of text by hand (!).

But, there is an opinion that exercises of such a plan would be more correctly attributed to automatic writing, and not to freewriting. They are even used in psychotherapy (especially by Freudians) as a method of psycho and introspection.

How to freeride?

Classic freewriting is extremely simple:

You need a sheet of paper / notebook, a pen and a comfortable workplace
A timer is set (choose the time that is convenient for you, depending on the goal: 10 - 30 minutes)
Write before the alarm goes off. Do not think about what, how and how beautifully you write. Try not to stop.
If it was work on an idea, then read aloud (for yourself) what you wrote. Choose the most useful, noteworthy moments. Think about how they can be applied.

But such practical advice is given by Vitaly Kolesnik:

Starting to master freewriting, do not immediately seek to extract a “useful balance” from what you have written: the main thing at the first stage is the very practice of freeing yourself from self-control when writing. It is better for the first time to consciously refuse any useful result of freewriting and perceive it simply as warming up or unloading consciousness from garbage. When the skill is developed and self-censorship stops, you can try “useful” freewriting.
If you can't find the right word, write the one that came to your mind at that moment - later you can easily replace it with a more accurate one.
If at some point it seems to you that there is nothing to write about, write about it. You will be surprised how many interesting extensions there are to the phrase “I don’t know what to write about.”
If you can't start freewriting, start describing any nearby object - like a nearby red object or your own hands.
If you feel uncomfortable or bored, ask yourself what is bothering you and write about it.

My experience:

Freewriting, as a written version of brainstorming, I use often. Especially when I plan holidays, entertainment (for example, how to organize an interesting and unusual birthday?) or write large articles / books. I don’t set myself a clear timing, I just sit down and write until I’m exhausted in terms of ideas.

I tested Morning Pages on myself, but somehow I didn’t get involved, I quickly abandoned it. I plan to try again soon.

I really like to literally unload my brain, writing out all the available thoughts on paper. Especially when I'm tired or have a headache, I sit down and just write all sorts of nonsense, not particularly bothering about its poetry and beauty. Often in it I find the reasons for my fatigue.

Verdict: Try it for yourself! It's safe and fun!