Free Writing

The art of 'free writing' is simply to write in a stream of consciousness, and has two main advantages, both of which I enjoy. The first advantage is that it helps to break writer's block, for which I am eternally grateful and the second is that such 'free' writing helps tremendously in the formation of writing patterns and articulatory enhancement. To put it simply, it allows you to put your thoughts into words far more easily with the prerequisite amount of practice. This piece itself has been free writing so far, and will probably remain so until the topic shifts naturally or an interruption occurs.

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An interruption just occurred, and now my flow is gone but with enough free writing practice you should be able to get it back again pretty quickly, and I think I have. This just goes to show that nothing is beyond the person who can write with impunity, irrespective of the actual content of what's flowing from the fingers. Mmmm. Chicken pie. Yes, that is a non sequitur.

'The world is merely a great big onion and all of us are rings' is not a quote from anything but I really wish it were. As a non-quote it makes just as little sense as if it were a quote by Kafka or Stan the Used Ship Salesman but as a non-quote it has a certain value in its obscurity. Stan the Used Ship Salesman allows a lovely segue into the Monkey Island adventure games of computer lore. Oh, those halcyon days of graphical adventures haunt me stll and I wish those glorious odysseys from LucasArts still emerged at a regular pace. It seems that even their illegitimate offspring Telltale Games has shifted away. Anyway, Stan is one of my favourite supporting characters, especially in the pre-voice actor days when all he did was wave his arms about and tap his foot while we read the clunky green and pink words above his head. Oh, how I wish I could scam The Sea Monkey tomorrow and sail away to a far away shore...

I love free writing as it also encourages total nonsense; the nectar from the writing heaven that allows us all to be dopey and happy and even occasionally euphoric. It's amazing. Sometimes I can just talk about the mutant cactus that's been growing in the garden for the last three weeks. Not only is that an unusual plant to be growing in November in the United Kingdom but the fact that it sneaks into the kitchen to take yoghurt at twenty past two every afternoon is rather irksome. If only it wiped up the floor behind it would be acceptable but who likes muddy floor in the kitchen really?

Free writing has an unwholesome, and mostly unenjoyable, opposite: Structured writing, usually for some serious purpose. Structured writing requires far more effort, a far less easily accessed flow of words in that first draft, and lots and lots of editing. As is obvious I hardly ever edit these posts at all. Structured writing is effectively my job at the moment, in supporting statements for job applications and in academic papers. The first draft is okay but all is tedium after. Maybe I should get Spikes outside to do some proofreading for me.

Oliver.