There is such an excellent book about freewriting - “Genius to order. An easy way to find non-standard solutions" by Mark Levy, it describes all the technical details, how and what. How to freewrite better. That’s exactly what I read and started working using this method. It is not much different from keeping a diary, although there are important nuances.

There is also such an interesting person - Armen Petrosyan. A big maniac (in the good sense of the word) for self-development. It was from him that I found a lot of useful things that I use - 100-days (I can’t live without them for about two years now), I’m only now starting to implement GTD, and other little things. And I’ve been eyeing freewriting for a long time. He has it.

I felt that I was missing out on something very useful and important, and I should have started a long time ago. And so it turned out. Now my opinion is that the sooner you start with freewriting, the further you will be in a few years. For me, freewriting has become an integral part of daily life and helps very well to find solutions, delve into myself, structure everything that happens and maintain a positive, stable state of mind throughout the day. I started doing it and continue to do it as part of my hundred days.

Freewriting can be used in different ways - as your soul and brain asks.

You can unload your brain- just write and write everything that torments you, transfer all the chaos and structure it on paper. What problems are there, is there a feeling of guilt or irritation, what do you have to do and don’t want to do, and all that. What plans, what paths, opportunities, where would you like to go after some time. Ask yourself guiding questions as Levi teaches in the book, etc.

Or you can (well, probably best, when all this flow has come out and the body has been slightly unloaded), write on given topics and come up with new solutions altogether. It's like essays in school.

I prescribe everything.. This way and that way.

For example, I’m currently reading the book “The Law of Attraction” by Hicks. There is good task about goals.



You need to write 3 goals. And for each goal, write one page - why you want it (to be sure that it is yours and desired), and the second page - why you believe that you will achieve it.

Because when desire and faith are combined + you have positive emotions, then the chances of achieving this goal are much higher. I recently did this with three immediate goals.

You can write using the tips given in Levi's book. It is highly recommended to give yourself a specific time - for example, 10 minutes. Again, as they teach in the book.
For example, “what makes me happy” or “if I didn’t have to do what I’m doing, what would I do” or something else.

In general, it helps perfectly to find the path to a happier and calmer life)

You can write on paper or on a computer.

On the computer, I usually write a 100-day diary or just a diary (of successes, etc.), copy quotes from books, highlight, think about it in writing, mark daily movements towards my goals for a given period, etc.

The computer has many pros and many cons. It works differently in terms of releasing the flow of the subconscious and there are other differences. It often happens that you can’t relax on a computer – the Internet, social networks and all that are open.

But, for example, on a computer you can forever store this data in a structured form, select it, copy pieces from books, erase it, add it, and much more useful things. Plus, I have a password in my diary, and therefore I write there 100% with myself sincerely, and this is much more effective than writing for someone or knowing that there is at least the slightest chance that someone will see it (Levi about this also says).

And in a large notebook, I sit quietly in those moments when I know that I will not be disturbed, and write, write, what comes out of me.
My handwriting is terrible now, so there is little point in storing all this, I just generate ideas, better understand what I want and what I need to do now to get where I need to be, I think about everything with the help of paper, some diagrams and transfer The most important things are already on the computer.

In general, I am delighted with this process, my plans have already changed a lot in a short period and suddenly a carriage appeared. I don’t write a lot every day, only when I feel a strong desire. Little by little - every day. Many people, like Armen Petrosyan, make such a conscious unloading of the brain a daily morning habit. And rightly so.

Here is a good piece from other people’s thoughts on the topic “Why is freewriting needed?”

1. The opportunity to understand yourself. Many feelings, emotions, thoughts, memories are stored in the hidden corners of our soul. And sometimes it’s not easy to get them out of there. They only emerge at the most unexpected moments, crushing the decisive “never again”, “this is the last time”, “tomorrow I start life with a new leaf”. For them, such attitudes are not an obstacle.

But every day, while writing quickly, they show up more and more, and you already see what is stored in you. It's easier to be aware of everything you live with. See and understand your beliefs. And if they don’t bring any positive results or pleasure, you simply, now, easily say goodbye to them.

2. Liberation from mental garbage. Closely related to point #1. By writing down on paper everything that torments you every day, it gradually dissolves into oblivion. And you notice how easy it becomes for you.

I especially notice this in the morning. Having written out all the mental rubbish, lightness and freshness arise. Sometimes it's like an elusive breeze during a heat wave.

3. The opportunity to safely express emotions. And this point goes hand in hand with the points above.

We explode from accumulated emotions, which make adjustments to our mood, and in every possible way encourage unconscious actions and statements in the most acute situations.

By uprooting all these thickets of weeds, you become like a plowed open field, on which, it is advisable, you can immediately sow the seeds you need. They will already bear their sweet and desired fruits.

4. The emergence of new ideas. There are many ideas around us. But we don’t see them because our vessel is filled to the top. How to pour in clean, fresh water if it is not freed from stagnant water?

By writing out all your thoughts every day, you let in freshness and a stream of clean air. You begin to notice interesting things around you. Sometimes it's so surprising. It seems like there’s an interesting idea right in front of your nose, but it didn’t appear before and went unnoticed.

By the way, during freewriting, entire scenarios are born - comics, dramas, even real action films. 🙂 But it’s better not to re-read them, so that the internal censor does not turn on. You write for yourself, for your own liberation, rather than for the public.

Here's a little from Armen Petrosyan

“Paper and pen are like a spindle, turning thoughts and sensations into thread. Fabric is woven from stitch threads. Circumstances turn into opportunities. Then we can and should act.”


“In the morning I didn’t have time to warm up my mind as usual with half an hour of putting my thoughts on paper. Left home early for meetings. He threw a notepad into his backpack. I wrote my “morning” page after lunch, in the office.

The point of this exercise during the day is to bring yourself into a familiar position. Put your current thoughts and experiences on paper in front of you in order to discard the unnecessary and disturbing, once again becoming open and relaxed.

No special questions or tasks. I started writing from the first thought that came into my head. By the middle of the page I came across a question that turned out to be important today. Despite the confusing first half, the day acquired integrity and a sense of calm.”


“4 days until the end of winter. Want to experience the benefits of freewriting? Set a timer for 15 minutes, maybe 30, and write down what changes in your life you would like to achieve by April 1st.

The beauty of freely writing down your thoughts on paper is that it is not planning with strict deadlines and obligations. Give free rein to your imagination. Write whatever comes to your mind. Do not limit yourself to calculating the reality of what you have dreamed and assessing it from others.

It’s more interesting to fantasize and create. Interest will then spread to planning, making your plans rich in emotions, and therefore more attractive.

Who is stopping you from believing that March will be a good month for you?”

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So, freewriting is immersion in a free, uncontrolled flow of words put down on paper. The goal is to free yourself from internal barriers, to get rid of the “internal censor.”

Freewriting can be used for different purposes:

  1. to write an article on a complex topic;
  2. to get rid of unnecessary obsessive thoughts that interfere with work;
  3. to remove the internal censor who constantly evaluates our activities;
  4. to search for new original ones.

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

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

How to force yourself to write the first thing that comes to mind? It's not as simple as it seems at first glance. Since school, we have become accustomed to the fact that if we write something, it must be perfectly “polished” in terms of grammar, style and logic of presentation. It is important to stop controlling yourself and write down every thought that comes to your mind.

Depending on the goals of freewriting, further work with written texts is built. If you wrote a text with the goal of finding new ideas or developing old ones, then it makes sense to return to it, thoughtfully re-read it, correct mistakes and arrange everything in a logical sequence. If the text was written with the goal of simply “venting your soul,” then there is no point in further working with the test. Unless you suffer from some form of self-flagellation and like to fall back into negative internal states.

A fashionable word nowadays and also an interesting technique have interested me for a long time. So I decided to find out what’s what, and at the same time experience the magic of free writing.

So, freewriting- writing technique and methodology 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

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

But there is an opinion that exercises of this kind would be more correctly classified as automatic writing rather than freewriting. They are even used in psychotherapy (especially by Freudians) as a method of psychoanalysis and self-analysis.

How to freewrite?

Classic freewriting is extremely simple:

  • All you need is a sheet of paper/notebook, a pen and a comfortable work place.
  • A timer is set (choose a time convenient for yourself, depending on the goal: 10 - 30 minutes)
  • Write before the alarm goes off. Don’t think about what, how and how beautifully you write. Try not to stop.
  • If it was working on an idea, then read out loud (for yourself) what you wrote. Select the most useful, noteworthy points. Think about how they can be applied.

But Vitaly Kolesnik gives such practical advice:

  • When starting to master freewriting, do not immediately strive to extract the “useful remainder” from what you have written: the main thing at the first stage is the very practice of liberating 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 a warm-up or unloading of the mind from garbage. When the skill is developed and self-censorship stops, you can try “useful” freewriting.
  • If you cannot find the right word, write the one that came to your mind at this moment - later you can easily replace it with a more accurate one.
  • If at any moment you feel like there is nothing to write about, write about it. You will be surprised how many interesting continuations there are for the phrase “I don’t know what to write about.”
  • If you can't start freewriting, start describing any nearby object - for example, the nearest red object or your own hands.
  • If you feel uncomfortable or bored, ask yourself what is bothering you and write about it.

My experience:

I often use freewriting as a written version of brainstorming. 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 a strict timetable for myself, I just sit down and write until I’m exhausted in terms of ideas.

I tested “Morning Pages” on myself, but somehow I wasn’t hooked and quickly gave up. I plan to try again soon.

I really like to literally unload my brain by writing down all my existing thoughts on paper. Especially when I’m tired or have a headache, I sit down and just write all sorts of nonsense, without particularly worrying about its poetry and beauty. I often find the reasons for my fatigue in it.

Verdict: try it for yourself! It's safe and interesting!

  • Mark Levy "Freewriting. Modern technology for finding creative solutions"
  • Peter Elbow "Strong Writing"
  • Julia Cameron "The Artist's Way"

By the way, for those who want to turn freewriting into an exciting activity, there is even a special resource: http://750words.com

Do you have experience in freewriting? Have you tried “morning pages” on yourself? Share your impressions in the comments! Thank you for your time!

Freewriting... A white sheet of paper drives the most brilliant writers into a stupor. Starting is always difficult. The “internal censor” curls his mouth and grins at any attempt to start. “Is that all you can do?” - he seems to say.

People in creative professions face this problem regularly. Yes, almost every day. Also N.V. Gogol, in letters to F. Sologub, recommended starting work with words “Something doesn’t write to me today”. This technique helped him overcome the “fear of a blank page.” French poet Andre Breton used "automatic writing" to create works that even today “blow the mind” with their freedom and creative courage.

American writer Kenneth Macrory was the first to introduce the concept of “freewriting,” which translated from English means “free writing.” In Russia, people started talking about this technique after reading Mark Levy’s bestseller “Freewriting. Modern technology for finding creative solutions."

Freewriting - what is it and how to use it

Freewriting is a technique for freely writing text with a time or volume limitation. During the writing process it is prohibited:

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

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

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

  • get rid of the “internal censor”, blocks, fears, perfectionism;
  • overcome creative crisis;
  • become freer in expressing your thoughts;
  • find a new point of view, techniques, ideas;
  • deal with the “cockroaches” in your head;
  • take a broader look at your capabilities.

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

Basic Freewriting Methods

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

Secret techniques from the book by Mark Levy

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

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

Technique “What I see, I sing about”

Begin, like Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol, your new text with the phrase “I don’t know what to write about.” Let your brain relax and stop looking for those “magic words” that should start your article or sales letter. Write about the cacti on your window, about the neighbors who keep you from concentrating. Make a list of groceries that you need to buy in the evening. Write rubbish, nonsense, a bunch 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 blindside your customer.

The advantage of this technique is that by fooling around, you overcome your fear of getting started. The uncertainty in front of the white sheet will disappear, because the sheet is no longer white, it is in your notes, notes, sketches, ideas. And if the beginning has been made, then the end is not far off.

Altered State Method

There are legends about writers who wrote their “imperishable works” while drunk. You shouldn’t get carried away with strong drinks, because there are other original ways to approach your text.

Dip your feet into cold water, like the German poet Friedrich Schiller once did. Turn on music that will relax you and make you forget about deadlines or a picky customer. Stand on your head - they say it helps the blood flow to your head better. Start writing 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. It is necessary to regularly shake yourself up, set new tasks in conditions 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 a task: not to eat breakfast until you describe all the advantages of this model. Write without thinking, without analyzing, without paying attention to mistakes. This way you will definitely get off the ground and discover new facets of your writing.

Changing the angle of view

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

For example.You need to write about reinforced concrete structures. Imagine that reinforced concrete structures are you. How do you feel? How would you describe yourself? How are you better than competitors' reinforced concrete structures? 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 refrigerator for 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 are faced with a problem and don't know how to get out of it, ask yourself: “If I knew what to do, what would I do?”

Same 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 structure, headings, conclusions would it have? Imagine that the article (book, selling text) is already ready, you just read it. What is it about?

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

Conclusion

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

Vitaly Kolesnik. The other day I bought the book “Freewriting: a modern technique for finding creative solutions” by Mark Levy. There was a reason to summarize the author’s own experience and recommendations.

The meaning of freewriting for me is to condense and record on paper my own scattered thoughts. In a special notebook I write two or three pages. Or, depending on my mood, I write using a computer. I indicate a certain point of concentration, which is not always expressed as a question or problem. Sometimes it's just a word that gets me started writing.

It is important to start and write, trying not to stop. Then the sentences seem to pull ideas out of the subconscious one after another. This method helps me “voice on paper” the voice of intuition, find solutions that are not on the surface, revive curiosity and the desire to work when the blues attack.

Levi gives 6 secrets of freewriting.

1. Don't try too hard.

For me, this expresses the absence of any specific purpose for writing. I am only confident from experience that this activity will be useful for me. It is helpful for me.

I limit myself either by time or volume. In the Write or die application I set the indicators to 700 words in 20 minutes. When I write in a notebook, I try to finish the pages. If I can’t write, I limit myself to one or two.

The process is important, not the result, so it’s easy to relax and reduce the importance of activities.

2. Write quickly and continuously.

This is a really interesting feature of freewriting. We must try not to stop. When I don’t know how to continue the previous sentence, I start writing what I feel at the moment. “It’s snowing again and it seems to be getting colder.” “Neighbor across the wall, knock yourself on the head with this hammer.” “Why the hell am I writing all this” - these are just some of the thoughts that flashed through my head now when I decided to look for examples :)

3. Work within strict time frames.

I have already mentioned the Write or die application. Sometimes I do super-hard freewriting, setting a goal of writing 1000 words in 20 minutes.

This recommendation may seem to contradict the first. This is wrong. The time limit allows you to start the process of “clinging” one sentence to another. If you take your time and take long pauses to think, the inertia that pushes ideas out of your subconscious disappears.

4. Write as you think.

Freewriting is not pure writing; it is a way of tracking your thought process.

The advice is easy to follow. To do this, it’s enough for me not to think about whether anyone will read my text.

5. Develop your thought.

Again, just cling to the previous thought. I often use the 5 Why method.

6. Refocus your attention.

Attention shifters are simple questions you ask yourself (in writing) to refocus your mind on unexamined elements of a situation.

I use this technique when I analyze an event or the day as a whole. After reading Mark's book, Levy began to compile his own list of such questions. From those given in the book I took the following:
- how can you make it exciting?
— how to increase value?
- what am I missing here?
— where did I go wrong here?
— What other problems similar to this have I encountered?
- what solutions to previous problems can be applied to this one?
- if I wanted to make a serious mistake here, what would I do?
— what necessary data do I not have here?
- How can I best use the information I already have?

Effective techniques.

I present only those that I use myself.

Use a piece of paper to consider unconventional points of view and bring together ideas that don't seem to go together.

Give some hints to your thinking.

You start the session not with whatever comes to mind, but with a specific phrase (this is called a tip), which determines the direction of the letter.

It's easier to have a hundred ideas than one

Very reminiscent of the quota of ideas from the books of Michael Mikalko and the lists of 100. We write possible solutions and ideas without criticizing or assessing their feasibility.

Have the conversation on paper

This exercise is used in coaching when the client is asked to imagine a conversation with an imaginary interlocutor. It’s the same here, you’re just taking shorthand of the conversation.

To effectively have a conversation on paper, a fictional conversation with someone in which you find out what the imaginary interlocutor thinks about your situation, you need to do two things: 1) build up "meat" on the character (visualize him clearly) and 2) make so that the interlocutor encourages you to speak (answer his short and open questions).

These phrases should be short and logically open. “Two things I could do today to make my life more interesting...”

Using assumptions to get unstuck

Provide written answers to the following 4 questions.

1. What problem am I trying to solve?
(It is advisable that the formulation be general. Specifics are unnecessary. Here are examples of good formulations of a general problem: “How can I create a permanent contingent of fans of something little-known?”, “How to sell a product to customers who mistakenly believe that they have a complete understanding of the product ?”, “How can I reduce costs while increasing coverage?”)

2. Who had to solve a similar problem?
3. How was it solved?
4. How can their solution be used in relation to my situation?

Writer's Marathon

A short freewriting session will help you find the answers. But to really get fresh thoughts, try doing a series of these sessions over a period of several hours. Make sure that each session begins in a new direction - even if it seems unnatural and difficult.

I work in a similar way on long articles when I sit down to write my book. For example, today I have planned 5 “approaches” to the book, 20 minutes each.

I liked the idea of ​​a “talking” letter.

To create such a document, you can use one of two methods (or a combination of them): write a letter to a friend or colleague about what you are thinking about; make a collage of freewriting fragments. Make sure in advance that the person you are writing to has the desire (and time) to read your document. Tell him what kind of feedback you would like to receive.

“Stories only happen to those who know how to tell them” Lou Willetta Stanek