Tip #10 - Stuck at the Start? Try Free Writing

Students (and writers of all ages and experience) often have a hard time getting started. They sit and stare at the blank page or screen, and the words won’t come. What to do?

A strategy that has been around at least since the mid-1970s, but often is underused, is called free writing. It also is called “stream-of-consciousness writing” because it involves simply writing whatever comes to mind without regard to sense, sentence structure, spelling, grammar, and so forth. The idea is to free the writer’s thinking by pushing aside the conscious blockage of the mind, which can be caused by anxiety, apathy, uncertainty, or other emotional or intellectual impediments. Blunting the influence of these impediments by free writing allows the subconscious to spur creativity. Eventually a cogent idea will emerge that can be shaped and set into prose, poetry, dialogue, or some other desired form.

To use free writing, ask students to write continuously for one to five minutes. Ask them to turn off conscious thinking and write whatever pops into their heads, even nonsense. The idea is to keep writing for the set time. After the free-writing period, ask students to turn their attention to responding to the question or prompt that embodies the actual assignment or project.

Spontaneous writing can be difficult. Yet it often is required, for example, in testing situations. Students need to be able to read a question or writing prompt and set immediately to work producing a coherent, organized, well-developed response in order to do well on an essay test. A way to build skill in spontaneous writing is to practice. One element of practice, certainly at the beginning, may be free writing. It’s a handy starter. Once students develop a capacity for fluent spontaneity, free writing can be dispensed with; however, it is always a useful fallback technique whenever students get stuck at the beginning of a writing assignment.

Tip #9 - Comma Rules, Part Two

Following are a couple more simple comma rules that students need to master.

#1 - Serial words are set off with commas. For example, commas separate multiple adjectives before a noun, but a comma is not used between the final adjective and the noun.

John was a tall, slender, athletic boy.

NOT John was a tall, slender, athletic, boy.

On the other hand, when the serial adjectives compose a series using the word and, the comma is included before (not after) and. For example:

John was tall, slender, and athletic.

This also is true for series of phrases. For example:

Betty was in charge of sweeping the floor, setting up the chairs, and arranging the refreshments.

The final comma in these instances is called a serial comma. Most standard American English writing calls for its use. However, it is omitted in journalistic writing. And the British tend to leave it out altogether.

#2 - In compound sentences a comma is placed before the conjunction (and, nor, but, yet, for, so). Examples:

We wanted to go swimming, but the rain made it impossible.

COMMA - “BUT”

Elaine had seen the movie, yet she could not remember the plot.

COMMA - “YET”

This rule is similar to the rule of separating independent and dependent clauses in a complex sentence with a comma (see Tip #8).

For most writing tasks the rules in this tip and the previous one will help students avoid common errors in using commas. There are a couple more rules, and there are nuances that may be applied to these four. But these rules cover the basics for most descriptive and expository writing.

Tip #8 - Comma Rules, Part One

Unless they come at the beginning of a sentence, after an introductory phrase or clause, or precede a concluding phrase or clause, commas usually come in pairs. In the previous sentence, for example, they surround the phrase “after an introductory phrase or clause,” which explains “at the beginning of a sentence.” In both preceding sentences a comma also is used between clauses. So here are a couple of rules:

#1 - One comma separates independent and dependent clauses in the same sentence. Examples:

John took a taxi, as it was too far to walk comfortably to the museum.

INDEPENDENT CLAUSE - COMMA - DEPENDENT CLAUSE.

If rain is forecast, please take your umbrella.

DEPENDENT CLAUSE - COMMA - INDEPENDENT CLAUSE.

#2 - Use commas in pairs to set off nonessential phrases, clauses, appositives, interjections, direct address, and so on as needed, except when they begin or end the sentence. Examples:

John, would you set the clock for me?

DIRECT ADDRESS - COMMA - INDEPENDENT CLAUSE.

She knew, for example, how to tie her shoelaces.

“FOR EXAMPLE” INTERRUPTS AND IS SET OFF WITH COMMAS.

Are there exceptions? Of course. After all, this is English, and what would our language be without exceptions to every rule? For instance, most modern writing avoids the comma following a short introductory prepositional phrase: “In January we will go skiing” rather than “In January, we will go skiing.” The latter form would have been more common, if not indeed required, fifty years ago. If the introductory phrase is long or might confuse the reader, however, the comma should be used.

Note in Rule #2 above the word nonessential. Essential clauses are not set off with commas. For example: “The woman who is wearing a red hat is my aunt.” Without the clause “who is wearing a red hat” the reader wouldn’t know which woman is the writer’s aunt.

More about commas in future posts.