Day 1
1 hr free-writing + getting a journal
Jacqui starts with an exhortation for us to discover our unique creative energy. We need to believe that we have a right to write. Hard work makes us better, but belief gets us started. Our writing needs to have value for us first, before we concern ourselves with its value to others.
Exercise
- choose a “handsome journal” to see you through the course
- 1,000 words: free-write an exploration of your new / existing project
- just write, don’t judge, don’t revise
My response
- I like to use scrap paper and cheap pens to write; the pressure of a beautiful journal is too much for me. My current tools are a biro and a found Rhino school exercise book! Maybe I will be ready for a Mont Blanc and Moleskine by the end of the course.
- I would like to write by hand, as it helps me think and gives my eyes a break from computer screens, but typing directly removes the transcribing step, and is an easier way to keep track of word count.
- Free writing: I hadn’t made much use of it before. I tend to generate ideas or think scenes up while on the move (walking, trains), and then “record” it in writing later. If I have an idea that needs a logical solution, I’ll approach it with research and planning and diagrams. It never occurs to me to write out all my thoughts without edit. It turns out that my mind is not the babbling idiot I thought it was. Okay, it is; but there’s wisdom among the foolery. At the point I would usually stop — “I don’t know the answer, so I’d better take pen off paper and Think” — I pushed on through with any old nonsense and lo! a useful thought arrived soon enough. Even though my primary urge throughout was to throw my work out of the window.
- By the end of the hour, I had started thinking about a main character, getting a sense of her, what she wanted, the scope of the story, the stakes of the story . . .
- I like the essentially non-judgemental character of free writing. It’s a relief not to be constantly evaluating my output; if only for an hour. I think we need our critical voices, but a lot of us could benefit from turning them down from 11.
all course content copyright Jacqui Lofthouse thewritingcoach.co.uk