In freewriting – a term coined by Peter Elbow – we permit ourselves to associate freely, that is to write down the first words that occur to us, then whatever that makes us think of, following the train of thought wherever it goes. It can feel uncomfortable, especially at first. You may feel that what you are writing is silly or unseemly or banal. You may feel a strong urge to stop or control it. But don’t. You will often be surprised, even delighted, by the liveliness and power of the ideas and words that emerge.
A long time ago...
‘A long time ago’, everything was better. Even if there was a war on, people seemed to cope. It was probably because alcohol and fags were so cheap then. I’ve had some great times and they were all ‘a long time ago’. Songs, food, smells, photos, places, TV shows, all remind me of these wonderful times but I know for sure that some of them weren’t that great. In fact, some were awful. However, we still get nostalgic about the bad times. I think nostalgia is the best way to describe it. There should be a word that means ‘negative nostalgia’. Maybe there already is. My Granny told stories about the family all sitting up late together getting drunk. It sounds like Hell to me – sitting in a stuffy living room with a fire that is too hot, drinking gin with ones relatives. I don’t think I could handle taking the kids to school the next day with a hangover, waiting to see if the air-raid siren goes off. Why do we always remember things as being better than they actually were? Maybe I haven’t suffered enough. Maybe if something really horrendous happened I wouldn’t remember it in that way at all. Maybe that’s why we sometimes return to things we know will hurt us. Maybe it’s because we just want to be younger again, get as far away from death as possible, a need for something that has already happened, that we know the outcome of, even if it is a bad one. Maybe that’s why little children still cry for a mother that abuses them. Perhaps we would do best to go so far back that we had never been born at all.
This is one of my first attempts. I think next time I'll try to focus more on imagery and words, rather than ideas.
Brilliant! What a lot of different scenarios.
ReplyDeleteSorry: alias = Frances Canning.
ReplyDeleteVery nice example of free writing!
ReplyDeleteOne minor point regarding what you said you will try next time. The whole point of free writing is not to focus on anything particular. Just let your hands do the writing and your sub conscious guide the hands. You personally should have as little as possible to do with guiding or editing the words before they hit the paper/screen. The editing part comes the following day once you read the words on the page/screen, and that is when you start writing a piece of work from the free written work. Does that make sense?
Very nice bit of free writing though Eleanor, lots of material for you to work with! Congrats!
I agree, loads to work with. Getting worried about mine now as finding it hard to let my mind guide my hand as Neil so aptly phrased it! Oh God!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments, everyone. It is pretty hard to get started and I keep thinking that I'm thinking about it too much and therefore, it's not freewriting. This is one of the only one I managed to write straight away from the prompt. I guess practise will make it a lot easier.
ReplyDeleteNeil, I think you're right. I might underline some phrases and make clusters out of them. Thanks again! x
You are welcome! I am glad that you think my comments are worthy of note both! Sally, don't despair ever! No two people express themselves in the same manner, and good job too or everything would be boring! I personally thought your work, like Eleanor's was very good, and while we three all have different styles, that can only be a good thing as it keeps things fresh when viewing new material!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, as we are on Eleanor's blog here, I will finish off saying again how good your free write is, and keep it up! - just don't over think before or during a free write! - Oh, and set a timer (I do 5mins) as it seems to help. There is a video online, and posted on fb giving great advice!