The first step of the writing process (that is, after carefully reading and understanding the assignment) is to generate ideas for your project. In shorter versions of the writing process, or in processes designed for other kinds of writing, step 1 is sometimes called “gathering” because it also includes doing research.

There are various ways to generate ideas for your writing. People think and learn differently, so try them all and choose the one that’s best for you—although if you have never tried freewriting or “moodling,” described below, I strongly encourage you to try them both at least once. My experience is that students are usually happily surprised at the results.

As you will recall from “Whom are you writing for?“, the writing process starts as writer-oriented and gradually moves toward a reader-oriented product. Thus this step should be thought of as completely writer-oriented. Forget about your reader and assume that no one is going to see your notes or ideas from this stage. Let your ideas come out freely and be as wild and crazy as they seem. If you immediately censor what you think might be “dumb” or “silly” ideas, you may eliminate good ideas or connections to good ideas and are not really letting yourself think. As one moderately successful scientist (pictured at left) once put it, “Imagination is greater than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”