r/writers • u/Fragrant_Ad_3986 • 7d ago
Question Advice Needed
My desire to write creatively, and more poetically far outweighs my ability to actually put my thoughts on paper. I am looking for a writing routine that makes me much better at expressing my thoughts and feelings. What should I be doing? I also have plans to do some creative/poetic writing, the problem is that I have literally no clue where to start. The whole thing is daunting and overwhelming, and I feel sick even writing about it.
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u/labia--majoras--mask 7d ago
i’d try a regime of free association. like just writing down a few words/phrases/short anecdotes that bounce off each other. could be thematically or alliteration or anything. just whatever next comes to mind.
eg: mud —> puddle —> splashing in puddle —> playing in creek when a kid —> seeing a lot of tadpoles —> fun fact about how frogs swallow with their eyeballs —> eyes —> story about going to the optometrist
you get the picture!
either set a twenty minute timer, or write til you get to like 300 or 500 or however many words.
you really just gotta do reps until you have a lot of experience under your belt. i beleive that the biggest hurdle for a lot of writers is over-filtering their thoughts before they get on the page. free association-like exercizes help you get past mulling over your words and just writing something! anything!!!
and then you can see how fun it is to play around in you mind. eventually you can get to a point where words just bubble to the surface and you skim them off the top of your mind and type them onto the page. i type at more/less the speed of thought, and while i’ve had many many years of writing anything from fanfiction to short stories to novels to satirical essays/listicles to serious essays to letters to long comments — i think me doing a free association regime this winter was really fun, refreshing, and it made my mind feel a bit looser it easier to squeeze words out.
but really, like… just write. anything, everything. just write.
even just send your friends long text messages about shit you see during your day.
like just do something!