Intro to Frantic Writing
Unfinished Speed Writing
First, thank you for taking a look at this blog!
I know Substack recommends that bloggers not waste the time of their readers and that they should make some effort to truly polish their writing before posting. Unfortunately this will likely not be what you will get on this site. These are speed writing pieces of fiction designed to get the creative juices flowing and although I try to polish and correct my writing as I write, it’s difficult to do it when you’re writing against a clock.
So, a small group of us do timed writing sessions together. We’ll set a timer, either 5, 10, 15, 20, or, very very rarely 30 minutes. We’ll fabricate an opening sentence or modify one from some existing literature, then start the timer and write as fast as we can. I’m a slow typist (and even slower when I thumb type on my phone) so my word count is not especially high. And because I can’t help myself from making corrections as I go, my word count is inevitably far lower than my writing companions.
The result of these sessions is unfinished short pieces of fiction (although the rare 30 minute sessions have resulted in longer unfinished pieces - but they’re all unfinished works. Many are loopy silly pieces of nonsense (most of our writing is done late at night (free time) as a last minute bit of fun before sleeping), hence tiredness contributes to the loopiness. Although, there are the occasional attempt at creating something more “normal”. They range in length from a couple of hundred words to a couple of thousand, depending on how we set the timer. Then, once the timer is done, we take turns reading what we wrote to one another, usually to much amusement and laughter, and occasionally to an acknowledgement of passably decent writing.
These brief competitive (against the clock) sessions are a fun way to practice and possibly improve our writing. At any rate it’s a lot of fun and a good time.
Here, on this substack, I will share some of my (unfinished) pieces, as ridiculous as some of them are, for your entertainment pleasure. I hope you obtain some enjoyment from them.
Thank you for reading!