Stream of Consciousness Writing
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.