Editing Writer's block (section)

===Free writing and brainstorming===
{{Main article|Brainstorming}}
[[Free writing]] is a widely accepted technique for overcoming writer's block.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2016-12-14 |title=Overcome Writer's Block |journal=Nonprofit Communications Report |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=1 |doi=10.1002/npcr.30569 |issn=1549-778X}}</ref> Taught by [[Peter Elbow]], free writing is similar to [[brainstorming]] but is written in prose form without stopping.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kwame Harrison |first=Anthony |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/6383/chapter/150146250 |title=Writing Up Research Findings |date=2018-05-24 |publisher=Oxford University Press |volume=1 |language=en |doi=10.1093/oso/9780199371785.003.0004|isbn=978-0-19-937178-5 }}</ref> To free-write, one writes without pausing to think or edit, and one pours raw ideas onto paper.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jackson |first=Michael |chapter=24. Writing in Search of Lost Time |date=2013 |doi=10.1525/9780520954823-025 |title=The Other Shore: Essays on Writers and Writing |pages=150–154 |location=Berkeley |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=9780520275249 |s2cid=226887120 |oclc=808007361}}</ref> Author Benjamin Solomon described the rationale for the technique: "Writer's block is a rut, a ditch, a trap, a swampy mire, and in order to lift yourself out, you need to ''do'' something—anything!—to jog yourself into motion."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2004-09-01 |title=The midnight disease: the drive to write, writer's block, and the creative brain |journal=Choice Reviews Online |volume=42 |issue=1 |pages=42–0127–42–0127 |doi=10.5860/choice.42-0127 |doi-broken-date=1 February 2025 |issn=0009-4978}}</ref> Cherryl Armstrong, who worked with the South Coast Writing Project, stated that one can free-write about anything, even a completely different subject than one was going to write about: "any writing will do".<ref>{{cite journal |last=Armstrong |first=Cherryl |date=January 1983 |title=There's no such thing as writer's block; (or if there is, some suggestions for dissolving it) |journal=The Quarterly of the National Writing Project |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=14–15, 18 |url=https://archive.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/1826 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231206085741/https://archive.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/1826 |archive-date=December 6, 2023}}</ref> Oliver claims that after free writing the writer is able to analyze many ideas that might not have been generated before and develop a clearer sense of what theme is trying to be communicated throughout the writing.<ref name="Oliver" /> Lawrence J.&nbsp;Oliver suggests that {{clarify span|freewriting is another|Is it different from "free-writing" and "free writing" described above, or this paragraph must be edited for consistency and sequentially?|date=June 2024}} effective method that has helped people deal with writer's block. This method consists of writing down ideas or thoughts about a certain topic. Freewriting doesn't focus on grammar or style. There is only one rule for this method, and that is to keep on writing. Educators should also never read students' freewriting unless asked to do so.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Oliver |first=Lawrence J. |date=1982 |title=Helping Students Overcome Writer's Block |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40029248 |journal=Journal of Reading |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=162–168 |jstor=40029248 |issn=0022-4103}}</ref>