Xing Han

Mary Prince, Instructor

Foundations of Writing ENL 109 03

26 September 2023

Essay 2

Peter Elbow said “To begin the sea voyage, do a nonstop freewriting that starts

from wherever you happen to be” (51). This quote tells me that it’s not difficult to

start a narrative essay because I can just write down my initial thoughts. I didn’t know

I used the open-ended method until this class. Thanks to the guidance from Professor

Mary, I completed the open-ended process naturally. I just followed the prompts and

wrote down whatever I could in class. And I looked over to find the central ideas and

kept writing. I will use the open-ended method in my future narrative essay to

generate new ideas. Every ten minutes I will stop and organize my ideas to find the
central theme.

To be honest, I did experience the fluctuate. I usually got stuck because I didn’t

have another resource or experience related to my original thoughts. For example,

sometimes I started with describing how sleepy I was at that time. Then I turned to the

write more about my dreams. Sometimes I had the sound sleep, sometimes I had

nightmares. Dreams are always beyond my imagination. In the end, I summarize my

ideas to form a journal.

Open-ended method is prewriting in the writing process. During this process,

many different thoughts had sprung up, even they may not have connections.

Although I believed the open- ended method is great, I am used to making the

outlines before writing now. It can help me organize my ideas first. To me, using

outlines or graphic organizers gave me a sense of security to write.

From my point of view, the process of using open-ended method is like grasping
the driving skills in China. First, the coach taught us some theoretical knowledge.

Then, we got on the car and practiced the car at the driving school. We made mistakes

and summed up the experience after driving for some time. We cycled this step until

our driving level tended to perfection. I can compare this process to “sea voyage”.

After that, we went to the exam room and finally got our driver’s license, which

meant we reached to “the new land”.

“You won’t waste so much time getting started when you turn to the real writing

task…” (Elbow 15). I really agreed with this statement. When I tried to start my

assignments, what appeared in my mind was always some difficulties, like I need to

write down 500words, think about the abstract structure first, generate the main idea

or something else. The end result is often that I postponed the completion of my

homework until the deadline. But when I used free writing, I just started with what I
thought at that time even they were some nonsense words. I don’t need to care about

the spelling, grammar, and the structure. I used dangerous methods when I write the

test and email. “Trying to write things right usually means writing very slowly &

carefully” (Elbow 43). From my point of view, it’s easy for us to spell wrong or make

some grammar mistakes if we are eager to finish the writing in a rush. So, we have to

slow down to ensure that we didn’t make some low-level mistakes in our writing.

When I need to finish the test to get higher grades or email to my professor, I have to

use some formal words and correct grammar. I think Peter Elbow means we need time

to consider the words and check our spelling or grammar.

I started with what I thought and continued my free writing in the class. During

the period, I sometimes generated some new ideas. When I summed up, I found what

I have done can gave me a lot of inspiration. As a result, I like free writing.
 I am trying to use this method in my creative writing class now. Maybe I will

write some nonsense language or words that doesn’t relate to the writing prompts. But

it can be another topic. Who knows?

In conclusion, The Open-Ended project helped me generate new ideas and made

the narrative writing begin. It’s a practical method for me.

 Works Cited

“Open-Ended Writing Process.” YouTube, YouTube, 28 Oct. 2014,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJ4-WxEYqsw.

Peter Elbow. Writing With Power : Techniques for Mastering the Writing

Process. OxfordUniversityPress, 1998. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

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