Timed Writing Workshop -- Freeing Up the Subconscious in Writing© by Holly Lisle
All Rights Reserved
I am indebted to Natalie Goldberg, author of Writing Down
the Bones, for what has become one of the staples of my
own writing practice. Though I don't do timed writing quite the
way she says most of the time, I still find it essential to cutting
through the murkiness of my own mind when I'm stuck, and for sharpening
images while I'm working on a book.
Here is timed writing my way.
I prefer working at a keyboard to writing in longhand, so I almost
always type my timed writings directly into the computer. If you
don't like doing raw material at a keyboard, try it anyway for a
while. You can always go to a notebook and pen when you're waiting
at the dentist's office---timed writing is much more interesting
than reading the June, 1974 issue of Field and Stream that he still
has in there. (After you've read the Patrick F. McManus article,
anyway.)
In either case, sit. Note the date and the time you start at the
top of the page, and your topic, whatever it might be. As soon as
you've done this, throw words on the page. Do not stop to correct
typos or change words, do not second-guess the images spilling out
onto the screen, do not stop to think of what comes next. If ideas
follow that make no real sense, or if words hit the page that seem
unconnected to anything, that's fine. Let them. If you write things
about people that you know they would never want anyone to know,
that's fine too. You don't ever have to show anyone your timed writings.
Natalie Goldberg says, "Keep your hand moving." If you're typing,
it's 'keep your fingers moving,' but either way, write steadily
for the time limit you've set for yourself. Try for at least ten
minutes---you can usually get into serious meat in that length of
time. Go for half an hour sometime, or for an hour straight just
to see what it feels like.
This is regular timed writing, (the link
lead to examples that will give you an idea what to expect) and
Goldberg recommends that you do it every day. I do my novel pages
every day, so I only do timed writing when I'm having trouble with
my pages, or when what's hitting my pages feels stiff and stilted,
or false.
If you're doing timed writing in that latter instance, you do
it a bit differently. Directly on the page where you're working
(or on a separate sheet of paper if you aren't doing your book or
story on a computer) write down the problem that your story is giving
you, in three or four words. Drop down a line, check the time, and
timed-write on that problem for ten minutes. Go get a drink of water
when you're done, give yourself a few minutes to relax, then sit
down and read what you wrote. More often than not, when I do this,
I find the solution to the problem in the block of timed writing.
Finally, here is a partial list of the topics that I write on
when I'm doing regular timed writing. I hope these spur your ideas,
and get you writing. (Feel free to cut and paste these to get yourself
started).
Some Topics for Timed Writing
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The past
The future
Ghosts
Anger
Hope
Peace
Rage
Today
Yesterday
Tomorrow
Food
Fantasy
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A color
A smell
Water
Weather
I fear ...
I love ...
I hate ...
I want ...
Wind
Walking
I Remember
Places
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Hurt
Dreams
Reality
What feels good
What feels bad
Family
Who I am
Who I wish I were
What I am
What I wish I were
Who I was
What I was
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Writing Workshop: How
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