How Freewriting Can Help You Be A Stronger Writer

I still remember my 10th grade English teacher. He stood in front of the class with his button-up, green-grey checkered shirt, with the bow tie perfectly tied at his neck. He spoke very properly to the point that you’d swear he was British, except without the accent. On the first day of his class, he instructed us all to bring out a notebook, and I instantly became excited.

Yes! We already get a writing assignment! I’d thought because I was a proud writing nerd.

“Alright students," he began with excitement in his glasses-covered eyes, "I’m going to read you a little story, and then you will have a chance to free write…. And for those looking at me with great confusion, don’t worry, I will better explain what freewriting is after the story.” He finished and pulled out his book.

My brows were furrowed, particularly curious about the new term he was throwing around, but I decided not to fret. Maybe it just meant writing whatever you wanted? Well… I was quite wrong. Once he’d finished the little short story, he informed us of what our next task really meant. Free-writing, in case you’ve never heard of it, is when you write for a set amount of time (10-minutes, in our case) and you do not stop, even if you run out of thoughts, and you can't go back to fix anything. You just keep writing.

Everyone else in the class chuckled about the idea, or did the usual groan they did anytime we had to write, but for me… I genuinely got nervous. I loved to write, but something about the constraints, about not being able to stop, and about not being able to correct my mistakes... it bothered me. Usually, when I sat down to write something, I could write several pages—I even had written short stories that were between 50-100 pages—but that first day of freewriting? I barely wrote two paragraphs… and they were very short paragraphs. I was horrified, mortified… and then I realized no one else was looking at what I’d written, so it shouldn’t matter. But I decided that next time I would try even harder, and I would get better.

The first two weeks, I still could barely fill a notebook page, which irritated me to new ends, but I kept trying. Then one day, something happened… it was as if a key had just unlocked my unconscious mind, allowing things to flow so much more smoothly than they ever had. I went from writing barely one page in a 10–15-minute period of time, to writing two pages, and then I was writing three pages. By the end of the semester, I sometimes could write 6 pages during the freewriting session, even though my hand was aching by that time.

After that, it became easier for me to write articles, papers, stories, and books, as quickly as the thoughts came to my mind. It also had an unexpected benefit of opening that unconscious part of my brain so that even my dreams started experiencing new stories that led to some of my best book ideas. Now, I write books constantly, even having written an entire 175-page book in two days a few years back.

So, how can freewriting help you to improve your writing?

My honest advice is to just start now.

1) Take time at least 3 days a week to free-write

2) Find a nice, quiet place to focus and get inspired

3) Set a timer for 10 minutes

4) Put pen to paper and start writing

a. You can write about anything! It can be like a journal, or it can be an idea for a story you’ve already had, or you can end a book or movie differently—giving it the ending you think it should’ve had.

b. If you work better with a writing prompt, try looking up ‘free-writing prompts’

5) Do not stop at any point in the 10 minutes: not to correct anything, not if you run out of thoughts. NO STOPPING! If you run out of ideas, just keeping writing ‘……’ or say ‘I don’t know what to write’ or just change subjects.

The whole idea of freewriting is to create something called ‘free-flow thought writing’ which allows you to write as quickly as you think. So, if you follow these suggestions, and you genuinely try taking time at least 3 days a week, you should see an improvement. If you have the ability to write every day, then do it!

Anytime I am asked how I write so fast, or how I can write so much in a short amount of time, I always guide people back to Freewriting. It might be hard at first, but as with most great things in life, it takes time, practice, and patience. I can’t wait to hear what amazing things you find you can create with freewriting!