Playing Scales with Words: The 7 Benefits of Freewriting for Fiction

I don’t feel ready to write my story yet, so I think I’ll do some freewriting. What are the benefits of freewriting? Just like playing scales, there are 7 Benefits of Freewriting:

1. Warming Up - just start, get into the groove of writing
2. Ear - get in tune with writing, improving your “ear” for writing
3. Techniques - practice your writing craft and writing process
4. Muscle Memory - burn in the consistent ability to write until it becomes second nature, a natural flow
5. Head-to-Hands Connection - develop the connection between what your mind (head) wants to write about and the actual words flowing from your hands (or mouth, if dictating)
6. Theory Into Practice - study the theory of the building blocks of fiction (structure/plot, characters, scenes, dialogue, narration, point of view, etc.) and put it into practice through freewriting
7. Freedom - gain the ability to approach any piece of writing without fear of the blank page

Before we start ...
do you want to write fiction faster,
while practicing your craft and your writing process to consistently get better? 

Check out this link to the FREE "Write Fiction Faster ... and better" guide and workbook,
which comes with a FREE companion course
with 23 bite-sized video lessons and 4 worksheets.

As I was writing at a restaurant, trying (and mostly succeeding) to avoid getting gumbo and hollandaise sauce on my MacBook keyboard, I was suddenly struck by the insight that freewriting is like warming up my fingers (and the connection from heads to hands to fingers to keyboard), warming up and stretching and getting prepared and in the groove for writing a “real” piece …

… which started to sound a lot like playing scales.

This made me think: why play scales, what are the benefits of playing scales, …

… and how do these benefits actually translate to writing?

Why Is Freewriting Like Playing Scales?

So, I did a bit of research and compiled the following seven benefits of playing scales and riffed on how each of them has good analogs to writing, specifically to freewriting.

The more I wrote, the more I saw that this is a good framework for freewriting within the context of the overall craft of writing, and the more I became convinced of the benefits of freewriting.

Plus, as you will see, I made a few distinctions about the importance of using freewriting as deliberate practice, a safe ground to test drive new writing techniques, a canvas for applying new concepts in the craft of writing.

First a couple of definitions.

By playing scales I mean those (often very boring) sessions of playing the sequence of notes that make up a musical key, typically played both forward (lowest note to highest note) and backward (highest to lowest) over and over and over again.

By freewriting, I mean those (hopefully not boring) sessions of writing on random topics, or even rambling along without a clear topic, just for the sake of writing.

Clear?

“Are you sitting comfortably?

Then I shall begin.”

– David Bowie, from “Peter and the Wolf”

(... also Nicole Kidman in “The Others”,

... but originally from the BBC Radio Show "Listen with Mother") 

7 Benefits of Freewriting for Fiction

Watch this video first, if you need a primer on the scales, and the Do-Re-Mi-Fa-Sol-La-Ti-Do:

Now, let’s take a look at each of the 7 Benefits of Freewriting for Fiction.

DO - WARMING UP

This one is easy because both the benefit and the analogy to writing are so clear.

Playing scales is a great way to warm up and stretch your fingers before playing a real piece of music.

Similarly, when I have a piece of writing to do, warming up with a short stint of freewriting is a great way of getting into the groove of writing, getting used to putting words down, shaping sentences, paragraphs, sections, really everything from outlining and capturing ideas from research through writing to editing.

The only danger is that freewriting can turn into another form of procrastination, because: “Hey, I’m writing, I’ve done my job, now I can play.”

One solution is to set a timer or stop after achieving a certain word count. Another solution is to get excited about the work I’m about to do on the “real” piece, just like someone who is playing scales begins to look forward to practicing and playing a real piece of music or even composing a new piece.

RE - EAR

This one takes a little more explaining, both for the concept in music and then how it relates to writing.

Playing scales, where the progressions of notes fit into a specific major or minor key, lets you hear the right way the notes go together within that key. The more you hear that, the more it gets into your ear, and you can more easily recognize notes that are in or out of tune with that key when you’re playing or composing a piece of music (or improvising).

Freewriting can serve the same purpose, simply by the repetition of writing, catching spelling and grammar mistakes (the closest analogy to being in and out of tune), the structure of sentences, the grouping of concepts into paragraphs and sequences of paragraphs. Simply putting down words over and over again in freewriting improves your “ear” for writing, just as scales do for music.

One danger in this approach is if the writing itself becomes very repetitive, which is also the danger of scales. By that, I mean writing on the same topics over and over again may not let you get into certain types of writing that actually needs to be practiced. For example, I may never really get to write dialogue if I am exclusively freewriting narrative nonfiction.

One solution, similar to scales, is to purposefully practice in different “keys”, the analogy being to freewrite in different styles, sometimes fiction, sometimes a speech, sometimes a blog post, etc.

MI - TECHNIQUES

Playing scales can be a good way to practice new techniques. For example playing very softly, loudly, or staccato vs legato, or some syncopated rhythm. Because you’re not actually trying to play a specific melody, scales can be a safe ground to practice a new technique, especially because the actual scales become so familiar that the fingering takes no thought and therefore you can focus completely on whatever new technique you are practicing, as if the scales are the canvas that you apply these new brushstrokes to.

Similarly, when freewriting, you have a safe ground to experiment. You can even make a list of new techniques that you would like to practice in the craft of writing, and then when you are casting about for topics to write about in your freewriting sessions you’ll see this ready-made list, and it becomes a natural way of building skills while achieving all the other benefits of freewriting.

Techniques that can be practiced also include those related to the methods and media and process of writing. For example, right now I am dictating this while driving a car. I started this post writing on my laptop computer in a restaurant, did the outline, did the first few sections, then pasted the text into my dictation program on my phone, and now I am continuing the process, talking out into the air, while driving. Later, I will deliberately do a portion of this post in another venue and on another device, such as typing on my phone.

There are not too many dangers here. The main thing is to make this a deliberate practice, to spend some time preplanning and pre-positioning the kinds of techniques you want to practice and then have a process for picking these learning sessions. For example, every 3rd (or 5th or whatever) session is from your pre-positioned technique learning list.

FA - MUSCLE MEMORY

Playing scales get the muscles in your hands and fingers drilled in following the progression of notes that make up each of the keys. Over time this drill makes it more and more automatic to play the right notes in the right order. The musical instrument becomes an extension of your fingers and your hands.

This muscle memory makes you both more accurate and quicker over time, notes flowing without having to give them thought. In order to achieve this muscle memory, two things are important: practicing slowly at first in order to burn in the right notes and the right technique for accuracy, and practicing frequently and for a sufficient duration each time so that muscle memory sticks.

Frequent freewriting, and also taking the time to do it right, not just rushing, not just copying and pasting then editing, but instead writing from scratch each time (or most of the time), also serve to build the muscle memory for writing. Not in the sense of your fingers conforming to the keyboard, which only makes you a good typist, not a writer. No, it is the sense of building a muscle memory that runs from your brain down to your hands that burns in the consistent ability to put words down on paper, string together sentences, paragraphs, sections, and so on, so that it becomes second nature, a natural flow.

SOL - HEAD-TO-HANDS CONNECTION

Playing scales is a great way of drilling in the connections from what your head (brain, eye, ear) wants, to what your hands (and fingers) do. To some extent this is actually a physical connection, brain cells growing new and stronger connections along the pathways that are used repeatedly.

In other ways, it is a Zen-like practice where the distinction between thought and action disappears, as in the Zen art of archery where the ultimate goal is that the mind does not even form a conscious intent, yet the arrow is released and hits its target.

The fruit can be seen in effortless improvisational play where the notes seem to emerge not from the mind nor from the fingers but from some mystical interplay of both, or better yet, the instrument is playing the player. It can also be seen in greatly improved ability to play from sheet music, the eye seeing and then fingers playing without conscious thought to connect the two. It just happens.

In just the same way, freewriting builds this connection between what your mind wants to do and the actual ability to do it with your hands or in some cases dictating, (that is, with your mouth). By constantly writing on random topics or no topics at all, you get a freewheeling ability to just start writing, let sentences grow, begin to shape it up, then take it to a completion where it’s ready for some editing.

And just as with scales, the fruit of this practice is a nearly mystical ability to bring to life a new piece of writing, where the words seem to flow onto paper, taking on a life of their own. The story is writing itself — perhaps, in some deep sense, the story is writing the writer.

LA - THEORY INTO PRACTICE

Scales are the building blocks of much of music theory (such as pitch, modes, circle of fifths, chord progressions, consonance & dissonance, harmony, melody, form & structure, texture, and overall compositional theory) and they allow you to practice other aspects of music theory (such as rhythm, dynamics, articulation, timbre, expression) using the scales as your canvas. By playing the scales, the underpinnings of music theory become ingrained, understood at an experiental level, which lets you take the theory from your head into practice.

Freewriting gives you the same sort of a “canvas” to paint on and put theory into practice, as you study the concepts of writing: the building blocks of many forms of non-fiction compositions as well as the structure/plot, characters, scenes, dialogue, and narration, points of view and other concepts in fiction writing.

Similarly to the discussion on Techniques above, the key for effectively using freewriting deliberately in this way is to create a list of topics (with key reference material, sources, definitions, concepts, ideas for each) and then use a freewriting session to build a deeper understanding of the theoretical concept by putting it into practice.

Freewriting sessions can (and should) become frequent opportunities to get new writing concepts into your head and getting a deeper understanding and skill in applying writing concepts you are already familiar with.

TI - FREEDOM

Scales are boring, scales are constrained, scales require discipline, but through this discipline — which feels like a form of imprisonment — paradoxically comes great freedom.

For example, the freedom to play improvisational music is greatly facilitated by having put in the time playing scales, because your improved ear lets you hear the right notes that go together and your fingers naturally find notes that fit within the key you’re improvising on since you have drilled the notes of each key into your fingers, hands, and the connection to your head.

You also have the freedom to pick up new pieces of music through improved sight reading, which gives you the liberty to play a variety of music and not be stymied by the effort required to learn a new piece. The many techniques you’ve practiced while playing scales gives you a toolbox for improvisation, composition, and for playing a wide range of music.

Similarly, the fruit of many hours of freewriting is that you have the freedom to write on any topic fast and with creativity.

Because you have been putting in the time writing on a wide range of topics, in a wide range of techniques, over and over again, you have developed the ability to approach any piece of writing without fear of the blank page, since you have been filling blank pages on a regular basis.

Freewriting by definition involves freedom of movement, writing whatever you like, as the spirit moves you. So it’s great that this act of freedom leads to more freedom. This is perhaps an area where freewriting is both like and unlike scales.

Freewriting is unlike scales in that it doesn’t feel like being imprisoned and it’s not boring because you get to write about anything you want to and if it’s not a good topic, just stop and start something else. Freewriting is like scales in that that more your practice, the more freedom you get, and the more you can self-actualize and improvise and create.

And here’s another way in which freewriting is unlike scales.

While playing scales is constrained to the order of each key you’re playing, free writing, which by its nature is unstructured, has the capacity to take on any form you want. It would be hard to imagine that very many melodies emerged from the composer’s head because he was playing scales. It is very easy to picture a freewriting session morph into writing a full piece with all its elements. In fact, that is what happened here, with this piece of writing.

And therein lies another and separate benefit of freewriting, beyond those who are analogous to the benefit of the scales.

Freewriting can help overcome the gravity that keeps you from writing.

Freewriting can be a launch pad. Freewriting can be a little trick you play on yourself. If I had set out to write a 3,000-word piece on the seven benefits of freewriting, it would’ve seemed like a chore, drudgery, something too hard start, and therefore never started. With freewriting I can effortlessly flow from a random beginning to sometimes completing an entire piece of writing.

Not always, and in fact, it shouldn’t really be the intent most of the time. The danger to that would be that all the other benefits where freewriting is more like playing the scales would vanish. There would then no longer be this safe ground, this blank canvas where techniques and concepts can be practiced, it would no longer be just a warm-up. But once in a while, sure, as the spirit moves me, why not? And it’s always fun to know that there is this capacity, that your random freewriting may turn into something “real” (i.e. publishable).

WHICH BRINGS US BACK TO … DO (WARMING UP)

So, there you have it: from the simple act of warming up and getting into the groove to the ultimate freedom of being able to play (and write) anything you want, and every other benefit that leads to that freedom, freewriting is just like playing scales.

We know that playing scales is the fundamental practice that builds mastery in music.

Now you know that regular sessions of freewriting, especially when done with deliberate intent to build certain skills and knowledge, is the key to mastering the craft of writing.

Always remember that freewriting is warming up for the real work of writing, developing stories from ideas, crafting scenes, drafting, editing, and … finishing (!), so you can share your stories.

Resources

What resources might you need to freewrite?

In one way, the answer is “Nothing, other than a space, time, and tools to do the writing.”

But another way to answer it is that since freewriting is like scales, you’re practicing the writing craft and the writing process.

With that in mind, here are some resources on the craft of writing and on the process of writing fiction.

MY FAVORITE ALL-PURPOSE RESOURCE

The Writer's Treasure Chest - everything in one place, curated, organized, this is a great reference for all things writing craft, with tons of prompts, plot/character generators and other tools to inspire your freewriting 

TOOLS

• Otter.ai - dictation and transcription (to practice your Head-to-Mouth Connection)
  
  
• Obsidian - all-purpose freewriting tool, where you can also easily insert links and create networks of your freewriting thought
  
  
• Lemome journal - to practice your head-to-hand connection with a pen in hand
  
  
• Levenger "pocket briefcase" - carry index card for quick freewriting sessions anywhere
  
  
• Kaweko LILIPUT mini fountain pen - tuck a mini fountain pen in your "pocket briefcase"

RELATED ARTICLES

As you use freewriting to work on your writing craft and wring process (or just as warming up so that you can get to writing your stories), here are some articles that will be helpful: 

• Write Fiction Faster! — How to Speed Up Your Story Writing 
  
  
• Need a Great Idea for Your Next Story? Try the Story IDEA Formula
  
  
• From Idea to Story: 3 Methods to Develop Your Story Idea 
  
  
• How to Write Characters Who Stick in the Reader's Mind 
  
  
• What Makes a Good Story? — Great Scenes! Here's How to Write Them
  
  
• Make Your Story Sing — Write Great Dialogue!
  
  
• Flash Fiction: How To Use It To Supercharge Your Writing 
  
  
• Blast Through Writer's Block: How to Get Unstuck 
  
  
• Find Your Stagecoach — How to Master the Art of Writing Fiction

FREE COURSE, GUIDE AND WORKBOOK

Do you want to write fiction faster, while practicing your craft and your writing process to consistently get better? Check out this link to the "Write Fiction Faster ... and better" guide and workbook, which comes with a companion course with 23 bite-sized video lessons and 4 worksheets.