Paper Writing - Free Writing Exercises

When you're feeling stuck and like you just can get started writing your paper and you don't know where to start it might be time to try a quick and easy writing technique to get your brain moving!

Free writing and brainstorming take only a few minutes, but they can jump start your writing by providing lots of ideas very quickly. Once you have a lot of ideas, you can pick and choose the best ones and start writing your paper with adding on to one idea at a time.

One of the biggest time wasters when preparing to write an assignment is getting stuck at the beginning. It doesn't matter what order you write your paper in, just that you start writing.

You can always go back and cut and paste paragraphs into a better order and add an introduction or transitions in between your ideas later on.

1) Free style free write:

Write for five minutes straight without stopping in stream of consciousness style. Do not worry about spelling or grammar. You do not have to use complete sentences. Just get your ideas down on paper as fast as you can.

2) Free word jump start:

Sometimes one word is enough to jump start our imagination. Pick one word from the list below and start writing for the next five minutes.

winter           country            kitchen              DNA                sparkle             panther               freezing

ginger          monarch          technology        sand               Sam                  Florida                crash

Aurora         zip                   engaged            evergreen       university         striped                desert

3) Free five word jump start:

The five word jump start is a free writing technique where you are given the first five words of a story which you must then complete. Choose one set of five words and write a story for the next five minutes.

"He was walking down a..."

"It was black and gray..."

"She opened her eyes and..."

"The sky was bright, blue ..."

"The professor looked up and..."

"Shucks, lady I don't think..."

Free writing- Free writing is a writing exercise where you write in a stream of consciousness fashion without concern for spelling, grammar, punctuation or style. In free writing, you want to write continuously and not worry about whether or not ideas make sense when connected together. Free writing is often used as a pre-writing technique to warm up your brain and get your thoughts flowing before a more formal writing assignment.

Brainstorming- Brainstorming is another writing technique where you write down all ideas that come to mind without judging their value or if they are possible or if they even make sense. Brainstorming can be done by an individual or in groups. It is used as a technique to get ideas flowing.