“Writing”, 22 November 2008 (Photo credit: dr_ed_needs_a_bicycle)

I’m still not feeling all that terrific. I’m rather sick at the moment, and I spent some time at the doctor’s office yesterday. I’m headed back there shortly to discuss the lab test results. Hopefully, I’ll be on the mend soon.

Meanwhile, I have one plot outline item — one of the pesky, little details that can make or break continuity — to fix. I’m not sure if I deviated from a character bio, the outline or my fingers were taken over by aliens allergic to coffee. I’ll find it and smooth it out, though.

What is Free-Writing?

Free-writing is letting the right-brain — the right hemisphere where creativity is housed — take over and write without censorship from the left-brain — home of logic and analytical skills. In other words, it’s when we write without concern for spelling, typos, punctuation errors. We just focus on letting our stories come to life on the page.

That’s not to say it’s okay to start writing fiction and in your stream of writing, head from character dialogue to thought dialogue about all the things you’re not getting done instead of writing:

Darryl crept up to the window.

“Keep your head below the sill, idiot. They’ll see you. Then our master plan to take over the world will collapse.”

Darryl turn to his other brother Darryl and responded, “Shut up, and go do laundry. It’s piling up again.”

“It’s your turn to do laundry.”

“No, it’s not. I did laundry last week. You went to see the Cubbies play.”

“No. You ran away to the circus. You came back after midnight when they turned you down, saying you were too weird even for them.”

“Oh, yeah. That’s right. I forgot about that.”

The Darryls ceased their bickering and turned back to the window. They looked down the barrel of that terrific super-soaker they’ve been wanting at Walmart. They barely registered their foe’s stereotypically evil laugh that followed.

They were discovered, and their masterful plot fell by the wayside once again.

See what I mean? Free-writing isn’t a stream of consciousness that would make Joyce proud. It’s merely unleashing one half of your brain while sequestering another.

No, it’s not developing a split personality either, although that’s an intriguing possibility. I’ll note that in my idea grab bag to consider later.

Today’s Agenda

Item one has to be getting my [bleep] to the doctor. I’m already running late. After that, though, give or take fluctuating energy levels, today’s is free-writing through chapter 3.

I think I’ll actually take the laptop back to bed with me when I return. I’ll have it immediately available when I have the energy to type.

Right now, though, I do have to go. Thanks for reading, and we’ll talk more tomorrow.

Related articles

• Bitching About Outlines (12novels.com)
• 3 Reasons Why Writing a Novel by Outline Is Really Awesome (sheilaashdown.com)
• Just Keep Writing (lalammar.net)