7 Habits of Highly Successful Freewriters

by Bill Henderson @ Write a Better Novel

No matter which variation of freewriting you’re attempting (again, details to come), here are the “rules.” In other words, what you should actually do.

If you wonder why I put “rules” in quotes it’s because, ironically, each of these precepts is too flexible to be thought of as anything other than a guide or customizable template that can be bent to fit any individual writer’s needs.

So then, without any further ado, here are what I call the 7 habits of highly successful freewriters:

1. Don’t prepare

Do find a special place, do have a ready supply of pens and paper (if you freewrite longhand) make sure you start on time, coffee made, etc. That kind of prep is fine. But no thinking ahead, planning what you’re going to write beforehand. Freewriting is thinking. Anticipation will put the chill on it. As they say in Zen, don’t push the water.

2. Use a timer

Any kind will do. I use a big metalic kitchen timer. But use one. It’s important to mark off the time limits within which you’re going to work. Any time period will do. Just decide on it, and stick to it.

3. Don’t stop writing. If you pause, pause only for a few seconds.
You may run out of thoughts. Keep writing. Write that you’ve run dry and what a drag that is, but let’s write about something, anything…like: he has a big nose. And he got it playing football. Nobody knows he played football, he never talks about it… And like that, you’re back in the flow. If you had stopped and stared out the window instead, you’d still be staring out the window.

4. Don’t judge what you’re writing

Even if what’s coming out of you sounds so cheesy, so corny, so half-baked, who cares? Keep going. Write through it. The dreck can serve as a bridge to something brilliant–and you would never have gotten there without it.

5. Allow yourself to be messy

Don’t bother punctuating. Don’t worry about spelling or grammar. Don’t go back. The entire point is go forward, forward, always forward. No one else will ever read it. It’s not for anyone’s eyes but yours, so relax.

6. When you’re finished, put the pages away for at least half-a day

You may want to jump right on them again, but don’t. Let them bake for a little while: they’ll taste much better.

7. Read over what you wrote, pick out the most useful, most generative material, and export it

Let yourself take a few minutes to be amazed.