Not “selectivity’ of expression but following free deviation (association) of mind into limitless blow-on-subject seas of thought, swimming in sea of English with no discipline other than rhythms of rhetorical exhalation and expostulated statement, like a fist coming down on a table with each complete utterance, bang!
-Jack Kerouac, “Essentials of Spontaneous Prose”
Word association is an integral aspect of human language. When we have heard some one speak a word, or when we have read a word, its influence does not suddenly stop the moment we are done hearing it or reading it. Rather, the word continues, rippling through our minds, brushing up against memories and evoking the words we would use to convey those memories.
For this activity:
- Pick a random word.
- Write the word down on a piece of paper. Only write it once toward the top, leaving plenty of room beneath.
- Consider the word for one minute without writing. Try to define it in your head. Imagine how you might use it in a conversation. Consider the letters of which it is comprised. Consider the sound of it in speech, saying it aloud, even, both fast and slowly. What images come to mind when you read the word? Memories?
- Write a word you would associate with the original word just to the right of the original word.
- After five seconds have passed, write a new word in relation to the previous word (rather than the original word). Every five second write a new word. The relationship between each word and its predecessor need not be rational, apparent, appropriate, or eloquent.
- If you find yourself getting off-track, thinking about other things, re-focus on the most recent word. You can take more than five seconds to consider the word if it helps, or less if you would prefer to write in more of a continuous stream.
- Some considerations that might help: rhyme, rhythm, alliteration, synonym, antonym.
This exercise is particularly useful for the cultivation of a more advanced vocabulary. You should try to use words that you do not necessarily feel comfortable using under normal circumstances (looking up the proper definitions after, or even during, the exercise). Be crude if you like, or lyrical, or terse.
One “goal” of this exercise might be for the practitioner to foster a greater appreciation of the complex relationship between reading, writing, and thinking.