Freewriting by Peter Elbow

Peter Elbow’s “Freewriting: Approaching a Writing Assignment”

Freewriting is writing down everything one is thinking. It does what its name states directly by writing without restrictions. Freewriting is the easiest way to use a unit of language with other words to form a sentence on paper; it’s one of the best techniques to improve writing skills. Writing without stopping for at least ten minutes by eliminating all the grammar, punctuation and spelling mistakes may lead to further ideas and development. Forming an unbroken record of free flowing thoughts on paper and writing without thinking about the topics may help to remove the mental block in processing the main ideas. The goal of freewriting is to produce consistently better writing.

What is writing and how do I start writing a big paper? I write as quickly as I can. I write down anything and everything that comes to mind, even if it is useless. Once I start, I don’t stop until my ten minutes are up. Freewriting sets me free to write without worrying about any mistakes or errors. “Regular freewriting,” Peter Elbow said, “helps to make the writing process transparent”: he identified it simply as “writing without thinking” (14). Too often I get nervous and awkward about my writing and I want everything to be perfect the first time. When I do not feel like writing this technique removes thinking and lets me form ideas into words. I forget about grammar, spelling mistakes, sentence structure until I get ideas down on paper. At this stage it is quantity over quality. As Peter Elbow truly believes, “the goal of freewriting is in the process, not the product”; the idea is to get as much down on paper as possible (12).

When the time is up, I read over what I’ve written. Looping ideas from one into another is a helpful trick that gets me unstuck from a mental block. I make a list of relevant ideas and cross out the rest; I analyze my thoughts on paper. I read carefully to see if I can find key words or phrases...