On the value of freewriting for all majors and disciplines
By Amber Foster, Ph.D. – September 24, 2020
Writer and editor Dorothea Brand is frequently cited as one of the originators of the practice of freewriting. In her 1934 writer’s guide, Becoming a Writer, Brand reflected on the way timed, unedited writing taps into the unconscious mind, particularly the state of being “deep in reverie.” She notes:
Occasionally this reverie takes the form of recasting one’s life, day by day or moment by moment, into a form somewhat nearer to the heart’s desire: reconstructing conversations and arguments so that we come out with colors flying and epigrams falling around us like sparks, or imagining ourselves back in a simpler and happier period. Or adventure is coming toward us around the next corner, and we have already made up our minds as to the form it will take.
Brand went on to recommend writing for thirty minutes every day, first thing in the morning. Her advice to would-be writers was quite sensible: “Your primary purpose now is not to bring forth deathless words, but to write any words at all which are not pure nonsense.” Similar practices later became integral to writing pedagogy, particularly following the publication of Peter Elbow’s Writing Without Teachers in 1973. This pioneering work argued that freewriting could break students out of writer’s block, as it asked students to write only for themselves (without instructor feedback), thus eradicating the need to stop and edit out “unacceptable thoughts and feelings.”
These days, freewriting has become widely accepted both inside and outside the classroom. Countless Internet articles recommend freewriting as a means to improve mental and physical health or boost productivity. Since the onset of the coronavirus crisis, elementary and high school teachers have suggested the practice as a means for home-schooled children to process their feelings of fear and uncertainty. There is also scientific evidence to support claims that freewriting, expressive writing, and journaling can help with processing trauma.[1]
During the Spring semester, I began incorporating freewriting exercises at the beginning of each virtual class. I would set a timer for 5 or 10 minutes; students were allowed to turn the camera off as they wrote. Sometimes, they were writing only for themselves; other times, they discussed what they wrote with peers in breakout rooms. These are just a few of the prompts I’ve used:
- Describe your happiest memory.
- What are you grateful for today?
- Describe your perfect day. This can be a day that really happened, or a wild leap of your imagination.
- What is helping you to cope?
- One-word prompt! Respond to the following word in any way you see fit: “Refreshing.”
- Read the excerpt of Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones (“On Loneliness,” on page 22). Then, start writing. Begin with “I remember…”
These exercises provided a moment of self-reflection during a tumultuous time, while aiding my efforts to maintain the community I had built during face-to-face instruction. Although I was concerned about “wasting” instructional time, I discovered the opposite: the activity enhanced remote learning, as students seemed more centered and more engaged during the rest of the lesson. In my course evaluations at the end of Spring, many students commented on the freewrites as one of the most enjoyable aspects of the course.
Since then, I have continued to integrate freewriting into my classes whenever I can, although with slightly less frequency (weekly, rather than daily, due to the exigencies of fall semester). “I needed that,” one of my students commented after one recent session ended, and I was reminded of how intense remote learning can be—for students, and for instructors. The abbreviated semester brings added intensity to an already stressful time, and few students feel they have the time or energy to take a step back and reflect on their lives.
When we integrate freewriting into our classes, we are making room for unstructured thought, a reprieve from the constant cycle of productivity and assessment. It may also facilitate deeper understandings of course content. Caltech quantum physicist Spiros Michalakis once remarked that writing “affords . . . an exquisite freedom in both style and subject matter,” in that it allows him to “wax philosophical about the nature of space and time,” among other potential benefits.[2] Perhaps by embracing this “exquisite freedom” in our own online classes at USC, we can open the door to more self-reflection, exploration, and—ideally—connection.
[1] For an example of this emergent field, see: Baikie, Karen A., and Kay Wilhelm. “Emotional and Physical Health Benefits of Expressive Writing.” Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, vol. 11, no. 5, 2005, pp. 338–346., doi:10.1192/apt.11.5.338.
[2] Wolpert-Gawron, Heather. “The Full Interview With Dr. Spiros Michalakis.” Tweenteacher: Telling Stories Through Curriculum Design, 30 Oct. 2014, tweenteacher.com/2014/10/30/the-full-interview-with-dr-spiros-michalakis.