Writing With Power: Techniques for Mastering the Writing Process

Employing a cookbook approach, Elbow provides the reader (and writer) with various recipes: for getting words down on paper, for revising, for dealing with an audience, for getting feedback on a piece of writing, and still other recipes for approaching the mystery of power in writing. In a new introduction, he offers his reflections on the original edition, discusses the responses from people who have followed his techniques, how his methods may differ from other processes, and how his original topics are still pertinent to todays writer. By taking risks and embracing mistakes, Elbow hopes the writer may somehow find a hold on the creative process and be able to heighten two mentalities--the production of writing and the revision of it.

From students and teachers to novelists and poets, Writing with Power reminds us that we can celebrate the uses of mystery, chaos, nonplanning, and magic, while achieving analysis, conscious control, explicitness, and care in whatever it is we set down on paper.

Everything changed. This book did it for me. I read Elbow's advice on freewriting to create, how trying to edit and originate at the same time choked the spark off before it could get started. Writing freely without excruciating over what word to put where, then going back after you had some material to work with - it was revelatory. More; for the first time in my life, writing was fun. Really, really fun. It's stayed that way, in all the time since I read "Writing With Power." If I'm very lucky, it will become what I do with my life - but it is only for reading this book that I have any shot at all.

If you have any ambition at all to write, if you have ever experienced the frustration of knowing you have something to say without knowing how to say it, read this book. And start writing, right now. Just make sure you don't stop. You can always go back later.


It worked for me!   February 1, 2006
 24 out of 24 found this review helpful

It seems as if writing books can roughly be divided in two categories. First, there are the books that tell you to plan your writing project in advance in meticulous detail. Second, there are books that tell you NOT to plan anything in advance, but urge you to start writing until you drop.

Elbow's book is in the second category. Though it seems as if his method of "freewriting" leads you nowhere, the book helped me tremendously. Elbow describes several techniques, all of which can be of help (including the planned writing strategy) to those who have to write stuff. However, his own tack is what he calls the "loop writing" process. During this process, one blends freewriting techniques with more directed writing techniques. The emphasis, however, is on the creativity stimulated by freewriting. The reason why Elbow emphasizes freewriting is extremely simple, and by experience I know it to be true.

Elbow writes that when we write we tend to be our own critic. We evaluate immediately what we write, we edit on the fly, and therefore get stuck rather quickly. Elbow urges us to leave the editing until a later time, and simply start writing whatever comes to mind. You can always throw out stuff later. That way, you'll create a work flow, that is beneficial to your creativity. Just read the book and Elbow's wonderful advice, and see if this works for you as it did for me.

I took Elbow's advice seriously in my scholarly writing (I am a philosopher of religion and theologian at Leiden University, the Netherlands). Elbow's book was a real source of inspiration and made writing a lot of fun. At this stage, I have finished a 250-page book (which will be published in two months with one of the major Dutch publishing companies), and several articles. I don't claim it will work for everybody, but it certainly worked for me. Just read the book and try it - if it doesn't work for you, at least you've read a wonderful book!


An antidote to all those rules your English teacher taught!   December 26, 2001
 22 out of 22 found this review helpful

Before reading Elbow's book, I was quite skeptical concerning "freewriting" -- raw writing, writing without concern for the rules of grammar, writing for the sheer sake of getting words on paper. Elbow overcame my skepticism with powerful examples, reports from his own experience & that of his pupils, and clever exposition. Rather than ducking the complexities and contradictions of good writing, Elbow tackles them head-on. His strategy involves aggressively seeking counter-arguments to his suggestions, and he often admits that two opposing principles both contain elements of truth. He then gives thoughtful advice on how to cope with such complexity. Many of his guidelines involve dialectical or cyclical practices, e.g. paying attention to breathing life into your prose, but then revising for structure, and then returning once again to make sure you haven't choked the life out of what you've written.

In combination with Robert Boice's book, First-Order Principles for College Teachers, Elbow's book would make a wonderful present for a beginning academic or other professional whose livelihood depends on good writing. Graduate students in all fields would also benefit. And, of course, people who TEACH writing could find much of value in this book. Elbow, however, seems to have a dim view of many of his colleagues' tactics!


Good advice for getting juices flowing   March 12, 2000
 18 out of 25 found this review helpful

By "writing with power," Elbow means having control and not feeling stuck or helpless. One of the hallmarks of "flow" (see my own bestselling WRITING IN FLOW for lots on this) is a sense that you're in control -- at least enough to do the task you've set yourself. He offers a variety of methods for getting going, from the familiar freewriting to using a list of metaphorical questions that he provides to inspire fresh ideas. One of his techniques, which he explains in great and useful detail, is called loop writing or directed freewriting. For instance, one way to get started is to write out all your prejudices about a topic before you begin writing it. Interesting chapters on audience, feedback, and revision. Here's one of his astute suggestions: Never do major revising when nauseated by your writing.


Unorthodox & Helpful   December 7, 2000
 14 out of 14 found this review helpful

In Writing with Power, Peter Elbow shares several of his thoughts on techniques for everyone and anyone who writes. Divided into several sections with titles of "Audience" and "Feedback," Elbow walks writers through every step of the writing process, including thoughts on relieving writer's block, sharing individual writing with others, and several different types of actual writing processes and revision. His unorthodox approach to teaching how to write is something that inevitably spills over into this book. Personally, I found this book to be very useful in my own personal writing. I never would have considered giving myself a set amount of time to get something done (and stopping when that time is over) or adding a dialogue to a serious paper. I would also have never given myself permission to "waste" my time on something as frivolous as freewriting to get my mind going. Writing with Power is easy to read and highly enjoyable. His suggestions are valuable and very applicable to every kind of writing. Elbow is not afraid to go out on a limb in his own writing, which only serves as proof that Elbow "practices what he preaches" - and that it can work in daily writing.