Friday Funwrite Begins
Prompt: Ferry
Years ago I joined a community of writers on a blogging platform based on cryptocurrency. I had no idea really what the crypto was about, but it seemed to be thriving with writers and I wanted to dive back into writing.
One of the first communities I stumbled on there was called the Freewrite House. Their focus was writing every day, and they posted a prompt for a freewrite (if you don’t know what that is, I explain below) each morning. It was called the five-minute freewrite. I thought it was the most brilliant thing ever.
Five minutes a day? I can do that, I thought. So I did.
It was fun, I wrote a lot, came up with some great story ideas from my freewrites and most importantly made some good writing friends. I got heavily involved, ran some of their contests, and even offered editing services and writing advice.
I enjoyed it while it lasted. Well, I enjoyed my time there. It technically is still going on. I have my account but don’t post often anymore, though the Freewrite House is still doing their daily five-minute freewrite. My life just took me in other directions.
And now I’m here on Substack. I want to create something similar, at least for myself, but also for anyone who wants to join. So each Monday I’ll post a prompt, and on Friday I’ll post my freewrite. I’m calling it the Friday Funwrite. If you want to write a freewrite on the prompt too, share a link or post it in the comments. I love to read what others come up with using the same prompt.
What is a Freewrite? Or a Funwrite?
Most people credit Peter Elbow with the creation of the freewrite, though its origins go farther back. According to Psychology Today, the concept for it goes back to the Victorian era and spiritualism (though thankfully no spirits or connecting to the other side are necessary to do a freewrite these days).
Here’s how it works. You write, non-stop, for a fixed period of time (though longer is always ok, unless you need to catch a bus or go to a meeting or something) using some kind of prompt. Grammar doesn’t matter. Sentence structure doesn’t matter. You just let your mind, hands or fingers (pen and paper or keyboard) run free, capturing your thoughts as they happen. What comes out should be as raw as it can be, your inner editor or critic not having the opportunity to jump in and correct you.
The hope is to get into that “flow” state. All writers know what that is. It’s glorious but sometimes impossible to find. The freewrite is a way to induce it on demand. Ideally. It doesn’t always happen, of course.
So even if you write “I don’t know what to write” over and over until other words come out, you’re doing it right (see what I did there?).
But…what about editing?
It’s up to you if you want to edit before posting your Friday Funwrite. In the past, I have put up the freewrites as I wrote it, errors and all. I’ve also done a light pass to correct grammar and typo. Other times I’ve done a full edit into an acceptable flash piece. It usually depends on how much time I have and how much I love, or hate, what I wrote.
What about the prompts?
Since I’m starting this on my own, I go to a random word generator on the internet and pick one. I usually generate a list of ten then choose the one I’m drawn to most (though sometimes I get sneaky and generate another set of ten before choosing). I’m hoping in time, if others join me, we can have the community suggest prompts. I’m so looking forward to that as I love the challenge of coming up with ideas. Great things can come from unknown or spontaneous prompts.
Each Monday the prompt will be in a post, but also on the image for the post so it is easy to find. The post image will always have one or two of my Myriaduans on it as well so it stands out against other posts if your feed is full. These are chibis that act like ambassadors to my universe the Myriadu. Each was hand drawn by my lovely and talented daughter, Ellie (author E.R. Zanes). Here is the lot of them all at once:
The FIRST prompt
And here we are, the first prompt for Friday November 15ths Friday Funwrite:
Ferry
Happy writing!