Hot Penning or Free Writing
How to get Started Writing and Find Ideas, Characters and Stories
All you require is something to write with, something to write on and a timer, a cooking one is ideal.
Where to Sit
Sit at a table or desk. Some people find it easier if they do so while others prefer to slouch on the couch or sit up in bed. Try various places and seating arrangements until you find the one that works best for you. Ideally, there should be no best place, you should be able to write wherever you are. But this will come in time. For the moment, concentrate on finding what works for you.
Starting to Write
Set the timer for five minutes. Then write without lifting your pen or pencil off the page or stopping. If you can't think of anything to write, simply write your name again and again until you find yourself writing something else. Don't stop. Don’t lift the pen from the page. Keep going until the five minutes are up and the timer rings.
- Don't cross out – that's editing
- Don't bother with grammar or even sense
- Let go - nobody else is going to read it, you won't have to share it with anyone
- Write as 'you' – use your own voice. Don't try to be what you think a writer should be
- Don't censor – write what comes in whatever way.
Remember, if you dry up, write your name or anything that comes into your head.
This process engages the creative side of the brain. It makes use of the sub-conscious and what you write may well surprise you. Let it flow and don’t stop to correct anything or to read it over.
Read it Over
When the timer rings, stop, go away and make a cup of tea, crack open a beer or just relax. Then, after a few minutes, go back to read what you have written. Circle or underline any parts that you think are interesting or unusual, words and phrases that engage you, bits that you like. Do not pick out parts that you don't like or think are rubbish.
Creating Characters and Plots
Do this every day but just for five minutes. You may find that what you have written provides starting points for other pieces of writing, perhaps a character emerges or a plot line or a situation or circumstance or you may simply feel more at ease with yourself for having got rid of something which has been bothering you and which you now have committed to paper.
After a week or so, you should have a collection of pieces of writing which will have started you off on the business of being a writer. From there, you can create stories and poems, articles and novels that you didn’t know you had in you.
You too can be a Winning Writer
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