How Raw Writing Can Help Writers Bring More Emotion to Their Work

Before I describe the next writing exercise, I want to tell you how I started doing it and why it works for me. In the late 2000s, I was taking a ton of writing classes in Los Angeles, and my scripts were cold and lacking emotion. An instructor told me I was writing from the left side of my brain, the half where logic, analytical thinking, and reason take place.

It stifled the soul out of my writing. I was trying to think logically too much when I produced stories. This was from years of working in post-production; quite honestly, it’s who I am.

I started seeing a writing coach to learn how to write from the right side of my brain: the half where intuitive, emotional, and spontaneous thinking occurs.

Thinking from the left side of the brain had gotten me through school and helped me survive living in NY and LA, but I had to turn my style of thinking inside out to try to bring more “emotion” to my writing.

So here I was, in the second week of working with a writing coach, and this would be the first major writing exercise where she threw me off the deep end to break my rigid thinking. She told me about raw writing, which is like the freewriting I was doing the first week I was working with her with Morning Pages, but this was more focused.

What is raw writing?

Raw writing is a form of freewriting in which you sit down at your computer or with a blank piece of paper and pen, check in with yourself internally, and start writing based on emotions you’re holding on to or the first image that comes into your head.

This is the rawest form of writing—nothing preconceived or outlined. Just sitting down and writing based on how you feel, like an acting improv class or a music group that starts jamming on the spot without sheet music, cover songs, or ideas for compositions.

It was scary as I had never written anything like this before, and that was the point. She was trying to break down a rigid process of writing that had hardened over several years. If I felt myself trying to put a structure on my ideas, I had to stop and start over with the first image that came to me or check in with my emotions. Over and over, I did this for 60 minutes every day for the next several weeks. I must have restarted five or six times during each hour for the first two months, but it was the first step in getting me to write from an intuitive space and not a structured and rigid mindset. It was one of the most miserable writing periods I had to endure for several months, but it was completely worth it. I wish I had started doing it in my early twenties, ten years earlier. In fact, I learned more about developing a writing process with my writing coach during this period than I ever did in college.

Watch this short video on how to complete a raw writing exercise.

What are the rules of raw writing for writers?

Raw writing is completely simple, but the simplicity is what makes it so difficult. You start writing your rawest ideas based on your emotions or images in your head at that moment.

You’re not allowed to change a word of what you put on paper or type. You must keep an open mind and write whatever comes into your head.

I was told only to write what interests me, to write about places, memories, and activities that excite me. The focus was on writing the strongest interest I had at the moment or the strongest image in my head.

How to stay out of your head when raw writing for writers

Now, here’s the tricky part: I had to stay out of my head. For some writers, that is easy, but for me, I was constantly questioning myself and going inside my head. My writing coach told me if that happened, to focus on a particular body part to get out of my head. I focused on my feet. If I felt myself getting too internal, I would stomp my feet or shuffle them front and back while writing.

Other writers can focus on their fingers typing on the keyboard or holding the pen while writing on paper. Some will start breathing heavily and focus on inhaling and exhaling heavily through their nose. Everyone is different; try whatever works for you to stay out of your head.

The main thing is to stay present in the moment while you’re doing the exercise. Don’t start thinking about whether this exercise works for you or the other writing you need to do or phone calls you need to return, etc., etc. Stay committed to the flow space and keep your fingers moving. Don’t plan what you’re going to write; just write and let the ideas come to you in the moment.

If you find yourself too inside your head and can’t get out of it, write what’s going on inside your head. There is probably some anxiety that’s creeping up that you should try to capture and put down on paper.

If your inner critic flares up, you must look at this as a gift and start talking with your inner critic. Figure out why your inner critic is flaring up and discuss what they’re saying. Try to write a conversation or interview with your inner critic.

If you’re struggling with bringing emotion to your writing, then I highly recommend doing this raw writing exercise every day for sixty minutes for an indefinite amount of time. You can handwrite on paper four days a week and type on a keyboard the other three days of the week or do one week of typing and switch off to handwriting the next week. Go ahead and experiment and see what works for you.

What should you keep in mind while writing raw?

Remember that this is a writing exercise that no one else will ever read, so don’t feel embarrassed about what you write. Ask yourself, if someone did read this, would it affect how or what you write? If the answer is “yes,” dive headfirst into your anxieties and fears about why this would affect you.

What are you afraid of if someone reads your raw writing? If big emotions start coming to the surface from this embarrassment, explore those emotions in your writing.