stream of conciousness..

[Kenzo]

i asked a while ago about writing the first thing that comes into your head, and this is apparantly called stream of concoiusness, i was also wondering when you write the stuff down, what does it actually mean? like can you analyse it and get a character profile or something? someone i know said it shows your thought process.

[Quizmonster]

Saying/writing the first thing that comes into your head sounds to me more like a 'word association test'. That is, the psychologist says: "Mother" and perhaps most 'normal' people would be expected to say: "Father" or "Love" or "Baby" or somesuch idea.
If, however, the test subject said: "Shark" or "Blackness" or somesuch, then the psychologist might suspect some breakdown in familial relationships! That, in other words, might be a mental area in the subject that needs to be examined.
'Stream of consciousness' is a writing technique designed to reveal an ongoing thought-process. We do not generally think one topic through before our minds flit off onto other subjects. There is, however, a 'flow' to the process, whereby there is generally some link between the thoughts concerned. If you want a perfect illustration, read the last pages of James Joyce's novel 'Ulysses'. There, Molly Bloom, the wife of the novel's central character is thinking and the writer simply presents the flow of her thoughts.

[snook]

When you write using the stream of consciousness method you are, in a way, opening up your thoughts for inspection. You are allowing your thoughts to crystallise into words, without the �gatekeeper� (your conscious mind) constantly stepping in and making judgements and adjustments. Imagine crossing a road, while you�re mind is elsewhere � you step out and instantly you�re aware of a car bearing down on you, at speed. You jump back out of danger, instantly yanked out of your daydream and performing the precise life-saving action that�s required of you at that moment. If you�d thought about what to do and considered the options, you�d be dead. Your conscious mind, however, was bypassed, since to consult it would have meant to increase your danger. This is a survival technique we all employ, and stream of consciousness writing is a method of reaching this clear and uninhibited thinking.

With stream of consciousness, you�re encouraging your subconscious mind to speak out, to say exactly what it�s thinking. Just let yourself go and relax. Drift away and think of other things, or nothing at all. Just write. Just allow the writing to happen. Lull your conscious mind into such a relaxed state that the gatekeeper thinks there�s no-one there to stop and fire questions at.

When you�ve finished, you might be surprised at some of the things you read. Your writing can reveal deep seated inhibitions, fears, desires, and hopes for the future once the careful, judgemental, safety-conscious part of the brain is quietened. This type of writing can be therapeutic, and is a whole lot cheaper than psychoanalysis (which I think is largely a waste of money anyway).

[scuzzball]

Stream of conciousness in literature does not mean letting you sub-concious out. It simply means transfering the characters unmediated thoughts from his/her mind onto the page. The classic example is Molly Bloom's stream of conciousness at the end of James Joyce's novel Ulyssess. In the normal process of conveying a characters thoughts the novelist would write them in a reasonable gramatical and structured fashion. In stream of conciousness the novelist writes them as they feel they would actually be occuring in the character's mind.

[scuzzball]

And if I had bothered to read Quizmonsters reply properly I would have seen he had already said what I just said, but in a clearer manner! Sorry!

[Quizmonster]

Not a problem, S. You just reinforced the point I was making, in effect, so all to the good. Cheers