Book Review: Writing With Power by Peter Elbow - Page 2

In contrast, “Writing Down the Bones” starts with a prompt, which is usually a single word like “flag” or “rain,” but could be a sentence. Those prompts get the writers started, and with their inner editor turned off, something amazing often comes out.

I have found that some of my best short fiction has come out of these exercises. Ideas I never knew I had pop out, sparked either by the prompt, or the knowledge that I have permitted myself to do nothing but write for ten minutes, or perhaps both. As Elbow puts it, “I’m arguing that we can make a better plan if we plan for nonplanning; we can write better if we build in periods where we remove goals from our mind; we can meet the needs of writers better if we sometimes put readers out of mind — especially at early stages.”

So do I think Elbow is right about this process being a good idea? Definitely, and not just because I’m leading a similar exercise.

He does offer a good cautionary note about reading one’s own freewriting:

If reading over your freewriting or giving it someone else gets in the way of future freewriting, as it may well do, then it’s better just to throw it away or stash it somewhere unread. Reading it over may make you too self-conscious or make you feel, “Yeeecchh, what garbage is this,” or, “Oh, dear, there must be something the matter with me to be so obsessed.” This may start you censoring yourself as you engage in more freewriting. Don’t read over your freewriting unless you can do so in a spirit of benign self-welcoming. I used to be fascinated with my freewritings and save them and read them periodically. Now I just throw them away.”

1. The Direct Writing Process. — As he says, “The process is very simple. Just divide your available time in half. The first half is for fast writing without worrying about organization, language, correctness, or precision. The second half is for revising.”

This is a process intended for projects where you do not have a lot of time. To me this seems pretty obvious — of course you need to factor in time for revising if it’s something that needs to be turned in — but I’m sure to some this is a great insight. I’m not sure dividing it in half is a magic formula so much as a good goal; a way to say, okay, it’s time to stop writing

Article Author: Scott Butki

Scott Butki was a newspaper reporter for more than 10 years before making a career change into education.

He is an in-house media critic, a recovering Tetris addict and a proud uncle.

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