: Re: Can I avoid free writing? We write the best way, not when trying to perfect every sentence as we write our first draft, but when writing down our thoughts and not revising them till we finish

@Rivera824

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I shall go against the flow and say that some people do not work well with free-writing.

Ggiaquin does a great job explaining why it is a helpful technique and, especially when trying to get over a writer's block, I'd quickly suggest it.

However, I understand the OP's point. My writing is very much driven by the character's emotional state (whether they're cool headed or in the throes of melodrama). The narrator's voice must always strike the right voice. If, for some reason, the sentences come off slightly out of character or if the emotion conveyed isn't quite right, then that is an equivalent to someone interruptiong me. It kills the flow.

What I do, in order to get the right voice in my head so the writing flows quickly and in character and also in order to get the right emotion, is to stop writing and to play the scene in my head a number of times. I go over the emotion, the actions, the words. I become the main character of the scene and repeat it over and over (doing so while doing a completely physical activity, like vacuuming, can help). Then I get inside the other characters and make sure their actions and reactions are also in character. Finally I can sit down and write because the voices and the emotions are just right. I have written over five thousand words in a sitting after doing this preparation. The later editing comes down much more to just spelling and getting a few synonyms, because the events and the emotions usually come out right from the start.

In a way, it's also a form or free writing in ggiaqin's sense - it allows to write without being interrupted, whether by your inner editor or by a feeling that something is off which kills your progression. Just prepare yourself until you've got the right tone for your thoughts. Or perhaps just go over your thoughts without writing them in order to improve them, to help them evolve into the right idea. Once you feel the right idea booming inside you, you'll be able to write non-stop, fed by that feeling.

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