Articles: Getting Started At Writing

By Garth Roberts

Create: (1) to bring into being; cause to exist; produce. (2) to evolve from one's own thought or imagination.

Creative: (1) having the quality or power of creating.

Dictionaries define create and creative, but they don't define creativity by itself. It's just listed as a noun that is derived from create. In an effective writing course it's more than just a noun. It's also an action word!

You will be creating by unleashing your own creativity.

Do you have a book roaming around in your head? Maybe that report at work is taking way too much time. Or, e-mails and memos are sapping you of the strength you need to make it through a day. Don't despair, you can write your way to success.

We have all written, all of our lives. Some with great flare and enthusiasm, others with modest commitment, and others, shyly and with great trepidation. Yet, we all write - everyday.

None of us put the bulk of our writing on paper and, as a result, don't even realize that we're continually writing. Now, if you're lost with this train of thought, let me state that to me writing is just talking on paper. Since I decided that that's all my writing really is, I've become a much more comfortable writer.

I can also see that I've become a much more efficient communicator as a writer. When I "see" my audience in front of me, I can get the ideas down much better. It doesn't matter whether I'm writing an e-mail, a memo, a report, a film script, or that item I avoid most, a letter, I write more clearly and succinctly when I just talk to my audience and record my talk.

Your early history

Remember school?

"I want a three page report on Henry Hudson. It must cover all his trips to the New World, how he died and why he made the trips. Your introduction should excite me about the topic and your conclusion must be supported with the appropriate historical information."

Substitute Henry Hudson for almost any topic and the rest of the structured information will flow back into your minds. Remember? Now shudder.

Bless our teachers for they were just doing what they had been taught and what they had been assured was good for us. Somewhere I'm sure we all heard the admonition that "we'd thank them some day."

Remember how you tackled the subject. Leave it until the last minute, panic, labour over a draft (that's one draft), put it in 'hand-in' form and cross your fingers.

Well, it took me a long time and several enlightened instructors before I realized that writing needs to be a lot more free flow. Just sit down and write. Find out what's in your head about Henry Hudson, then go do the research to fill in the blanks.

Admittedly, some of the first writings had a lot of blanks to be filled in, but at least the whole writing task wasn't such a drag. Now I am a firm believer in the value of freewriting and just letting the thoughts and words flow.

Oh, somewhere along the line I also came to understand and appreciate the value of editing and the second and third drafts. I no longer look at the rewrite as penance for a miss spent youth. I view the rewrite as the part of my process that makes me appear to know what I'm doing.

My writing process

I don't have a standard start for my process except to do a lot of thinking. Sometimes I can think for days, even weeks, to avoid actually sitting down to write. However, when I do sit down the thoughts I've had tend to be all mixed up. So, my current process, and so far most effective process, is to just start writing.

Turn off the automatic grammar and spell check. They're disastrous when it comes to just getting ideas down on paper.

Write. Don't worry about spelling errors. Don't worry about random wandering of story logic. Just write and see how much I can actually get written on whatever topic. At some point, similar to 100 monkeys at typewriters, something worthwhile will begin to take shape. Once it starts to take shape, follow that shape and see where it leads you.

Now, if you're writing a memo, it may be a short random wandering because you actually know how you want to talk to someone and what you want to say. However, if it's a story, your wandering may last for a long while. Keep at it, solid content will emerge.

This is my freewriting process. The best tool I've found for keeping that creative voice talking.

Freewriting

Freewriting is the practise of putting pen to paper or fingers to your keyboard and writing, without stopping, for a fixed period of time. Freewriting will free the mind and the spirit.

It doesn't matter if you stick to the assignment topic. If you run out of things to say about the topic, then write, "I don't know what to write …" Just keep on writing until it's time to stop.

If you're working on your own, set a time frame - say 10 minutes. You'll be surprised what comes up.


Now, let's practise

Freewriting Exercise - For 10-minutes write on the following topic:



I want to take a writing course because …

When you've finished writing …

Discussion on Freewriting - it's not necessary to share specifics of the
freewriting, but please share what you feel comfortable with sharing.

What did you write?

What did you learn about why you're here?

Did you wander?

Did you discover something about yourself you didn't know before?

Was the exercise a "freeing" exercise?

In dozens of courses and seminars that I've taught freewriting has been the catalyst to get reluctant writers moving. It's amazing how many times people say loud and long that they can't write and then quickly disprove the statements with vivid freewrites. Read over your freewrite without letting your critical voice get in the way. It's pretty good, isn't it?