Ingredients:
-Writing prompts (write them yourself, get them from books, use other texts, pics, art as inspiration)
-People
-A writing instrument that you like
-Lots of paper (or hard drive space, if using a text document ;)
-some kind of timer
1) Decide how long you want the session to be [recommended 1-4 hours]
2) Decide how long your first writing segment will be (10-60 min. rec'd)
3) Pick your first prompt out of the hat/book/magic prompt portal
4) Start the timer, start writing, and don't stop writing until the timer runs out.
5) After each segment, people may share what they've written
6) No commenting/prefacing!
7) Repeat steps 2-6 until session is over!
Some tips:
- you don't have to write as fast as you can -- we want to take care of our hands
- beginner marathoner's might want to start with shorter time segments -- 10-30 minutes, maybe
- resist the urge to comment! if you have something you need to express, use it as a prompt for your next segment
- you don't have to follow the prompt
- if you get stuck, write nonsense, sound babble, the word "carrot" over and over again, "I can't figure out what to write about, my brain is so dead, my life is so boring," until you find something new.
-if the timer runs out, and you still got writing fire in your belly, things you must get out, keep on writing.
-no editing! Writing marathons are way way before any semblance of a revision/editing process - this is create for the sake of creating
-self consciousness and anxiety are ok, expected
i think that's all the tips
Why a writing marathon?
-it's fun
-good tonic for writer's block
-good practice for your writerly brain
-good for your hands
-good for your self esteem
-puts hair on your chest
-puts hair on your head
-puts hair on your dad's head
(some of those are not true)
-People
-A writing instrument that you like
-Lots of paper (or hard drive space, if using a text document ;)
-some kind of timer
1) Decide how long you want the session to be [recommended 1-4 hours]
2) Decide how long your first writing segment will be (10-60 min. rec'd)
3) Pick your first prompt out of the hat/book/magic prompt portal
4) Start the timer, start writing, and don't stop writing until the timer runs out.
5) After each segment, people may share what they've written
6) No commenting/prefacing!
7) Repeat steps 2-6 until session is over!
Some tips:
- you don't have to write as fast as you can -- we want to take care of our hands
- beginner marathoner's might want to start with shorter time segments -- 10-30 minutes, maybe
- resist the urge to comment! if you have something you need to express, use it as a prompt for your next segment
- you don't have to follow the prompt
- if you get stuck, write nonsense, sound babble, the word "carrot" over and over again, "I can't figure out what to write about, my brain is so dead, my life is so boring," until you find something new.
-if the timer runs out, and you still got writing fire in your belly, things you must get out, keep on writing.
-no editing! Writing marathons are way way before any semblance of a revision/editing process - this is create for the sake of creating
-self consciousness and anxiety are ok, expected
i think that's all the tips
Why a writing marathon?
-it's fun
-good tonic for writer's block
-good practice for your writerly brain
-good for your hands
-good for your self esteem
-puts hair on your chest
-puts hair on your head
-puts hair on your dad's head
(some of those are not true)
2 comments:
man, I had to put "
" in for all the line breaks - do I have to do that forever?
oops. br in brackets
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