Stream of Consciousness Writing

[JacobF]

Does anyone ever do this as an exercise? For those unfamiliar with it, you sit down with a pen and pad and write anything and everything that comes to mind. You do not stop, and music can sometimes enhance it.

Doing this exercise, I look back at what I write and it's almost impersonal. I can't recognize what I have written. I find this a good way to remove ourselves from... well, ourselves... so that we can be one with our stories. Capote discussed in an interview once the "horizontal and vertical line" analogy, where you write things 'vertically,' going straight into the story, instead of writing them 'horizontally,' sweeping across the events making it rather bland and emotionless.

Obviously, I don't suggest this as a way to write stories because what is produced is usually incoherent. However, I find it to be a good exercise.

[Infinitefox]

Haven't heard much about it, but I will try it tonight. I'll post what I end up writing in here.

[shortstoryfan]

I have never tried this and I don't know if I could even do it, but some of the comments made in the original post pose some very interesting questions. I don't want to take away from this actual thread with those questions, but I will have to address them in a different thread I suppose.
They are too intriguing to ignore.

[JacobF]

I have never tried this and I don't know if I could even do it, but some of the comments made in the original post pose some very interesting questions. I don't want to take away from this actual thread with those questions, but I will have to address them in a different thread I suppose.
They are too intriguing to ignore.

You may as well ask them here. As long as they're vaguely connected to the topic I don't see a problem.

[Delta40]

I haven't tried this Jacob but I will. What I did start doing in my journal was writing with my left hand instead of my right hand. This was a wonderful experience because not only was my writing very different but so was the content. I felt like I had tapped into another part of my creative self and I wrote pages and pages. I also held entire discussions between my hands - assuming the left and right brain were engaging with each other. Very interesting exercise.

[JacobF]

I haven't tried this Jacob but I will. What I did start doing in my journal was writing with my left hand instead of my right hand. This was a wonderful experience because not only was my writing very different but so was the content. I felt like I had tapped into another part of my creative self and I wrote pages and pages. I also held entire discussions between my hands - assuming the left and right brain were engaging with each other. Very interesting exercise.

That sounds like fun. I assume you're ambidextrous? I can't write anything legible with my left hand, so I'd probably end up with a bunch of scribbled lines.

[Delta40]

No I'm not. I mean I have to take my time and concentrate. This exercise taught me to be patient! My thoughts then eventually slowed to the same pace as my handwriting. I felt as if this was a whole new identity appearing before me. I made sure to NOT tuck my arm in towards my body when writing. My writing was more controlled and neater when my elbow was resting on the table away from my body. Anyway, My left side is nothing like my right side and I would recommend you try it. There's a whole different person in there Jacob!

[AtomicCafe1]

I haven't tried this Jacob but I will. What I did start doing in my journal was writing with my left hand instead of my right hand. This was a wonderful experience because not only was my writing very different but so was the content. I felt like I had tapped into another part of my creative self and I wrote pages and pages. I also held entire discussions between my hands - assuming the left and right brain were engaging with each other. Very interesting exercise.

Incredible! That sounds amazing!

Me, on this whole subject... it seems I would keep thinking about what I am thinking, and never be able to break out of the rut. I'd like to try it sometime though!

[Silas Thorne]

....
Wherewith freedom has blessed ragged sunset skillum caged and rapturous dragging thin bones upon the snow for adventure in twilights wonders. afterwards we heard that there was no time left in the world. Our eyes burned with briliiant suns and cried alone like seagulls angry at not getting the last chip from the fish n chip packet swirling above us. Don't stop the music for the music has no borders try to devise and you will be divided without this you are nothing angry in the silence of your touch I lie in in bed brittle snowflake of the calm harboured frogdream spawning.

unedited

[shortstoryfan]

Well, you talk about this technique being used to "remove" yourself and allow you to connect with the story. And also about the things you write seeming foreign and not of yourself.

Let me explain a few things now.

For three years, I studied opera at university. Emphasis was always placed on being present in the body, not in the mind so much: thinking too much was considered bad, because you process things instead of feeling them immediately.

Later, I read some writing by Eckhart Tolle, this guy who has become very famous from being on Oprah. He talks about how human misery stems from us being unconscious most of the time, and not living in the present moment. Many of his writings are based on earlier Hindu and Buddhist writings. He advocates paying attention to body function and your surroundings in the present moments while idle to keep yourself from thinking about sad things in the past, or imagining dreary futures. He calls this being in the "Now". (His first book is "The Power of Now", which I'm sure many have read.)

It reminded me a lot of the advice in music school. I was always horrible at this, being a very introverted, thoughtful person, and I constantly censored my voice on its way out. I "thought" about my voice instead of "feeling" it and being aware in the present moment.

The writing process that many authors seem to use, especially in prose, does not seem too spontaneous. It involves research and editing and lots of thinking and plotting, etc. So, I tend to envision writing as an antithesis to singing, purely concerned with information gained in the past and using that information, or the future, due to the plotting and foresight that it requires. I'm not saying all writers write in this way, but I know very few writers that write totally in the Now. It seems more Past and Future Driven.

Eckhart Tolle says that when you are in the Now, you may feel disconnected from "yourself" your ego that you perceive yourself as. You are more connected to your true self, your universal self.

This may not make sense, I feel that I'm rambling, but it struck me when you talked about feeling that you were able to connect with the story. Maybe writing involves spontaneous inspiration, and then all that other stuff? I don't know...I'd like to hear how other people perceive it.

[JacobF]

No I'm not. I mean I have to take my time and concentrate. This exercise taught me to be patient! My thoughts then eventually slowed to the same pace as my handwriting. I felt as if this was a whole new identity appearing before me. I made sure to NOT tuck my arm in towards my body when writing. My writing was more controlled and neater when my elbow was resting on the table away from my body. Anyway, My left side is nothing like my right side and I would recommend you try it. There's a whole different person in there Jacob!

Hmm. I think I will try it, then.

Silas, I liked the last two words of yours, "frogdream spawning." Has a nice science-fiction ring to it.

Shortstory, to be honest I always dismissed Eckhart Tolle's writing as new-age mysticism. But I can definitely relate to your opera experience. I'm in the theater club myself, and I always get the feeling that I'm thinking too much on stage rather than 'being in the moment' with my character. And what you say about spontaneous inspiration, I definitely agree with. Writers have to spend a lot of time revising, editing, consulting with others, et cetera. But the core of the story should be inspired, not stilted. The brilliant moments in a story -- or any work of art for that matter -- are the spontaneous ones that leave you stunned.

[shortstoryfan]

Well, I am the product of a family of New Age mysticists, so...

I don't know, I have read many authors relaying the stories of how they came up with a certain idea for a work. Maybe the moment of inspiration is common among them, but it is still very different. I started out in theatre, although I can't really say that the theatre people I was involved with were as talented as the opera people I was involved with, so maybe theatre people do have the same kind of "in the moment" experience that singers do, though I've never encountered it.
Maybe when writers practice their art, they become better at writing from inspiration? I don't know. I'm not really a writer or a singer, or anything. I just have a broad base of detailed knowledge about things. But the only art I personally have seen this active inspiration in is opera. I am probably also prejudiced too, since I studied it rather extensively, and most people have not, and cannot relate to some of the ideas used to teach voice. It's very metaphysical, and you feel sensations that are not even caused by sense, but something psychological. It's odd...I don't know. The original post just struck me I suppose.

And forgive me, I am not always so good with English. It is still sometimes hard to come up with the words to express these intangible thoughts I have.

[JacobF]

Well, I am the product of a family of New Age mysticists, so...

I don't know, I have read many authors relaying the stories of how they came up with a certain idea for a work. Maybe the moment of inspiration is common among them, but it is still very different. I started out in theatre, although I can't really say that the theatre people I was involved with were as talented as the opera people I was involved with, so maybe theatre people do have the same kind of "in the moment" experience that singers do, though I've never encountered it.
Maybe when writers practice their art, they become better at writing from inspiration? I don't know. I'm not really a writer or a singer, or anything. I just have a broad base of detailed knowledge about things. But the only art I personally have seen this active inspiration in is opera. I am probably also prejudiced too, since I studied it rather extensively, and most people have not, and cannot relate to some of the ideas used to teach voice. It's very metaphysical, and you feel sensations that are not even caused by sense, but something psychological. It's odd...I don't know. The original post just struck me I suppose.

And forgive me, I am not always so good with English. It is still sometimes hard to come up with the words to express these intangible thoughts I have.

I watched an interview with Ray Bradbury the other day and he said that his best writings were "from the heart." So I think that's true -- the more a writer writes, and the more they write for themselves, the better their art becomes.

I understand what you mean with sensations being caused psychologically. It's inexplicable, and that's what good art is. And your English is fine.

[Virgil]

It sounds like an interesting experiment. Actually it's similar to a writng tool I've used. If you need to write on a subject and not quite sure what to write, you can set a timer for a half to an hour and then just write down everything that comes to your head on the subject, right, wrong, fragmented, whatever. Then after the hour, set it aside for at least a few hours. When you come back to that scratch pad should look it over and something should coalesce into an idea or theme.

Sounds like something I may try Jacob. Thanks. :)

[shortstoryfan]

I have yet another question. Please don't hate me (if you do not already).

I am not familiar with works by authors who are known for stream of consciousness writings. Isn't it supposed to emulate thoughts? Could someone give me some examples of stream of consciousness works/authors? I have heard that Virginia Woolf writes in this style, I believe.

Some of the posts made in here have kind of confused me as to what stream of consciousness is supposed to be. Is it random words? Or does it emulate thought patterns? I feel so stupid sometimes. Bah.

[Silas Thorne]

About stream of consciousness, James Joyce is the big one, I think. I think it's supposed to emulate thought patterns and allow the author to behave like an omniscient presence all at once.

I've heard W. B. Yeats used automatic writing to write some of his poetry.

But automatic writing and stream of conciousness are not the same thing. Stream of consciousness is a style of narration, isn't it? It can be carefully planned and edited. I think automatic writing is either a way to stop over-the-top self-criticism (and so eliminate writer's block by writing something/anything) or to allow the spirits, or whatever you believe, to flow through you.

I'm just writing from hearsay. Someone please stop me if I'm spouting the toothpaste all over the floor.

[shortstoryfan]

No, that seems right. I started to read this book once, umm, by Joyce, and it was all like that. I was just confused when you posted that unedited thing, I think...but this exercise is different than stream of consciousness narration, I guess...

[Virgil]

I have yet another question. Please don't hate me (if you do not already).

I am not familiar with works by authors who are known for stream of consciousness writings. Isn't it supposed to emulate thoughts? Could someone give me some examples of stream of consciousness works/authors? I have heard that Virginia Woolf writes in this style, I believe.

Some of the posts made in here have kind of confused me as to what stream of consciousness is supposed to be. Is it random words? Or does it emulate thought patterns? I feel so stupid sometimes. Bah.

Virginia Woolf's To The Lighthouse is a good example. Parts of Joyce's Ulysses is in stream of conscious.

[JacobF]

I have yet another question. Please don't hate me (if you do not already).

I am not familiar with works by authors who are known for stream of consciousness writings. Isn't it supposed to emulate thoughts? Could someone give me some examples of stream of consciousness works/authors? I have heard that Virginia Woolf writes in this style, I believe.

Some of the posts made in here have kind of confused me as to what stream of consciousness is supposed to be. Is it random words? Or does it emulate thought patterns? I feel so stupid sometimes. Bah.

To my knowledge, stream of consciousness writing is what I described in the OP. However, from more research I've discovered that some authors use a stream-of-consciousness writing style for a character's interior monologue. I think it's supposed to emulate certain thought patterns too. In a lot of my stream-of-consciousness writings there were lots of references to video games -- which is a hobby of mine. I don't think it's completely random, although due to the incoherency it can appear to be.

And stop beating yourself up, I don't hate you :p. Nor are you stupid.

And Silas, you could be correct about the terminology. I've looked up both 'automatic writing' and 'stream of consciousness writing' on Google and many of the results discussed the same thing -- sitting down with a pen and paper and writing non-stop. I was always told stream of consciousness, though. Not sure which is the correct one.

[shortstoryfan]

Well, maybe I will make Virginia Woolf the next author I read. I kind of dread it though. I suppose it must be done sooner or later though.

[Silas Thorne]

Virginia Woolf's To The Lighthouse is a good example. Parts of Joyce's Ulysses is in stream of conscious.

Isn't 'Finnegan's Wake' entirely stream of consciousness? I didn't have the mental stamina to plow through this work, but was amazed by the poetry of it.

'Portrait of the Artist' was much more readable.This was kind of stream of consciousness too, I think, yet less abstruse.

[NickAdams]

About stream of consciousness, James Joyce is the big one, I think. I think it's supposed to emulate thought patterns and allow the author to behave like an omniscient presence all at once.

I've heard W. B. Yeats used automatic writing to write some of his poetry.

But automatic writing and stream of conciousness are not the same thing. Stream of consciousness is a style of narration, isn't it? It can be carefully planned and edited. I think automatic writing is either a way to stop over-the-top self-criticism (and so eliminate writer's block by writing something/anything) or to allow the spirits, or whatever you believe, to flow through you.

I'm just writing from hearsay. Someone please stop me if I'm spouting the toothpaste all over the floor.

You have not spouted the paste. Automatic writing is an excerise and stream of conscious is a narrative technique.


Isn't 'Finnegan's Wake' entirely stream of consciousness? I didn't have the mental stamina to plow through this work, but was amazed by the poetry of it.

It is stream of consciousness in terms of a linking system of images, ideas, words and sounds.

[Delta40]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stream_of_consciousness_writing

hey isn't wikipedia just great? This link has a heap of information and lists of published works

[xtianfriborg13]

Haven't tried it but definitely will. Sounds fun.

[moodymozart]

Well, you talk about this technique being used to "remove" yourself and allow you to connect with the story. And also about the things you write seeming foreign and not of yourself.

Let me explain a few things now.

For three years, I studied opera at university. Emphasis was always placed on being present in the body, not in the mind so much: thinking too much was considered bad, because you process things instead of feeling them immediately.

Later, I read some writing by Eckhart Tolle, this guy who has become very famous from being on Oprah. He talks about how human misery stems from us being unconscious most of the time, and not living in the present moment. Many of his writings are based on earlier Hindu and Buddhist writings. He advocates paying attention to body function and your surroundings in the present moments while idle to keep yourself from thinking about sad things in the past, or imagining dreary futures. He calls this being in the "Now". (His first book is "The Power of Now", which I'm sure many have read.)

It reminded me a lot of the advice in music school. I was always horrible at this, being a very introverted, thoughtful person, and I constantly censored my voice on its way out. I "thought" about my voice instead of "feeling" it and being aware in the present moment.

The writing process that many authors seem to use, especially in prose, does not seem too spontaneous. It involves research and editing and lots of thinking and plotting, etc. So, I tend to envision writing as an antithesis to singing, purely concerned with information gained in the past and using that information, or the future, due to the plotting and foresight that it requires. I'm not saying all writers write in this way, but I know very few writers that write totally in the Now. It seems more Past and Future Driven.

Eckhart Tolle says that when you are in the Now, you may feel disconnected from "yourself" your ego that you perceive yourself as. You are more connected to your true self, your universal self.

This may not make sense, I feel that I'm rambling, but it struck me when you talked about feeling that you were able to connect with the story. Maybe writing involves spontaneous inspiration, and then all that other stuff? I don't know...I'd like to hear how other people perceive it.


Hi, have only just registered and came across your post shortstoryfan and your other posts in the thread and I just wanted to say that it must be terrific to write in this way and also two of my favourite authors kind of give me the impression that they did write 'in this ZONE' so to speak. Virginia Woolf and Haruki Murakami.... Murakami particularly (I can picture Haruki just sitting himself down and letting go of the rail and drifting off with that flow). I enjoy the writings of John Banville also but listening to him gives me the impression that writing can almost be tortuous taking hours to get a sentence the way he wants it in what he calls his John Banville novels aside from his Benjamin Black ones. Rambling on a bit now sorry, see you here again I hope. :-)