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Jack Kerouac’s 31 Beliefs aboutWriting

by Joe Bunting | 79 Comments

I came across Jack Kerouac’s list of thirty “Beliefs and Techniques for Modern

Prose,” and unsurprisingly, if you’ve read Kerouac, it’s less of a list of

techniques and more a poetic ri삢 on the writing life itself.

My favorites from this list of Jack Kerouac quotes on writing are, “Write what

you want bottomless from bottom of the mind,” and (of course), “Remove

literary, grammatical and syntactical inhibition,” and, “Writer-Director of

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“

Earthly movies Sponsored & Angeled in Heaven.”

Here’ the full quote:

1. Scribbled secret notebooks, and wild typewritten pages,

for yr own joy

2. Submissive to everything, open, listening

3. Try never get drunk outside yr own house

4. Be in love with yr life

5. Something that you feel will 䃡nd its own form

6. Be crazy dumbsaint of the mind

7. Blow as deep as you want to blow

8. Write what you want bottomless from bottom of themind

9. The unspeakable visions of the individual

10. No time for poetry but exactly what is

11. Visionary tics shivering in the chest

12. In tranced 䃡xation dreaming upon object before you

13. Remove literary, grammatical and syntactical inhibition

14. Like Proust be an old teahead of time

15. Telling the true story of the world in interior monolog

16. The jewel center of interest is the eye within the eye

17. Write in recollection and amazement for yourself 18. Work from pithy middle eye out, swimming in language

sea

19. Accept loss forever

20. Believe in the holy contour of life

21. Struggle to sketch the 쁺ow that already exists intact inmind

22. Dont think of words when you stop but to see picture better

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←

How Everyday Objects CanHelp You Write Better Stories 4 Storytelling TechniquesStolen From TV→

23. Keep track of every day the date emblazoned in yrmorning

24. No fear or shame in the dignity of yr experience,language & knowledge

25.

26. Write for the world to read and see yr exact pictures of it

27. Bookmovie is the movie in words, the visual Americanform

28. In praise of Character in the Bleak inhuman Loneliness

29. Composing wild, undisciplined, pure, coming in fromunder, crazier the better

30. You’re a Genius all the time

31. Writer-Director of Earthly movies Sponsored & Angeledin Heaven

Which of Jack Kerouac’s writing quotes are your favorites? Let us know in the

comments section.

PRACTICE

Write your own poetic ri삢 on the writing life.

Write for 䃡fteen minutes. When you’re 䃡nished, post your practice in the

comments, and if you post, be sure to comment on a few of your writingfriend’s posts.

Also, if you’d like to shorten your “yr’s,” yr welcome to do so.

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About Joe Bunting Joe Bunting is a writer and entrepreneur. He is the author of the #1 AmazonBestseller Let's Write a Short Story! and the co-founder of Story Cartel. You canfollow him on Twitter (@joebunting).

79 Comments 1

• •

AliceFleury •

Stand on your head. View the world from a different perspective.

Break a writing rule. You’ll feel like a kid and you may get away with it.

Tell your character she’s grounded. See. She’s sneaking around doing all kinds of stuff.

Write one word, one sentence, one paragraph.

Write with your eyes closed. Write about what you envision.

Make fun of your characters, out loud. Listen to what they tell you back.

Tell your inner editor he/she is naked. Watch them run and hide.

Brush your teeth. And if you have false teeth put the damn things in your mouth before

the dog gets them.

Look at your hands. How come they aren't busy writing?

• •

709writer •

Tell your inner editor he/she is naked. Lol!

• •

Guest •

Send your inner editor running. Funny and oh so liberating

• •

Steph •

Haha - love the naked inner editor!

Kanekoa82 •

Thank you for the advice on my inner editor. Sometimes you are your worst

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• •

enemy.

• •

Wanda Kiernan •

ou've given me some good ideas about playing with my characters - grounding

them and making fun of them. Priceless.

• •

Barb •

Writing indulges my bipolar tendencies. On paper, my moods can swing wherever they

want with no judgment from my pen. My feelings can soar as high as they want and my

moods can bottom out without psychological, physical or financial repercussions.

Often my thoughts are in a race with my hands, me frantically scrawling words across a

napkin, Post-It or envelope lest I lose the idea. I worry, like a mother worries about her

child running too far ahead. Will he get lost? Will I be able to find her again?

Like monkeys swinging aimlessly through the trees, so are my thoughts. They’re having

fun, but they don’t accomplish much; they aren’t complete; they’re only fragments – not

of any real use. But if I give my ideas free reign to move from branch to branch, hang by

their tails, and jump freely within a limited stretch of forest, they burn off nervous

energy. Once they settle down, they are more focused and able to be tamed and taught.

They don’t necessarily color within the lines, but they at least stay on the page.

• •

Livvy •

Love it!

• •

Kanekoa82 •

I sit in front of my computer and stare. Fear leads to hesitation. Hesitation turns into

delay. And delay conjures up excuses. Why am I scared to let my voice be heard? Is it

cause I stuttered when I was boy or was it because I was told I had nothing to say?

Stand, smile, and agree through your teeth. Don’t let your family, friends or the world

know you exist. Maybe it was the way I spoke, coming from a home of high school

dropouts doesn’t breed intelligence. Or does it? Maybe it’s the abuse I received. Hey youdummy, you’re never going to achieve. So why do I love to write? How is it, I’m afraid of

something I love? Is it because it served as an avenue toward healing when I was a

teenager? Or maybe it’s because it slowed my thoughts down long enough for me to

express my true self? If writing is an expression of ones soul, maybe I’m fearful because

others will tell me that my soul isn’t worth seeing.

• •

M.FlynnFollen •

This is a stream of consciousness that has bled from every writer's brain. I'm sure we can all lend a relative eye to this. Thanks for sharing.

Donna Kiser •

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• •

Oh my Kanekoa82, yes, yes, and yes. Every word you wrote is painstakingly true.

Soo, what are we to do?? I'm still at a loss even though I look at the screen and

'try' everyday. You?

dk

• •

Guest •

Thank you Kanekoa82. You showed me a glimpse of a kindred soul. A soul worthseeing.

• •

Kanekoa82 •

Thank you for the words of encouragement.

• •

PJreece •

Damn I like listening to Kerouac and Hemingway and Woolf and Maugham andDashiell Hammett and all those originators and dharma bums freewheeling all over the

place -- why is that? The freedom they exude, the rules they break, the voice of someone

who knows the value of their freedom. But hey we get caught in trying to replicate

someone else's freedom, how ironic is that? Even still it's the infection we like, what

zooms in our veins and frees us for a few seconds and if we can only get up that speed

and then jump the rails of where Kerouac was headed and veer off on our own

impossible direction all alone and terrified of what we might say... that's the thing.

Speaking before we think, getting in trouble for long buried thoughts at large on the

streets causing havoc with conventional thinking. Wow, we need to hear this kind of blessed mania every now and again or perhaps everymorning before tea. This is only five

minutes, not fifteen, but i'm going to take this momentum and get cracking on my new

crap-lit novel without further a doo-doo.

• •

Steph •

"blessed mania" - that's great

• •

AliceFleury •

Love this. It only took you 5 minutes? Geez I took more than 20 to write the few

sentences I posted. I understood you better than Kerouc, which I didn't get at all.

I read it more than twice.

• •

M.FlynnFollen •

Kerouac is so boundless it's hard not to sucked into his stream of unconventional

method and rhythm.

crwills •

Here's my cent's worth.

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• •

Place rear on seat and get writing,

Or you'll never finish that book,

And you'll never get published.

ou'll be like a lottery dreamer

Who never buys a ticket.

ou might think you're a writer,

But you'll never be an author.ou'll only be a wannabe;

A blogger with a dream

• •

AliceFleury •

CRWills, You are a writer, you will finish, you will get published.

• •

Kathryn Vaughn •

well said

• •

TPChianese •

Nice

• •

Kanekoa82 •

Thanks for sharing. I feel that way all the time. It's especially been harder after

having a baby. It's like a built in excuse for me. But in the end, if I want my

daughter to go for her dreams, I need to do the same. If not I may end up a

grumpy old man.

M.FlynnFollen •

Close your eyes and run

Fold your clothes then throw them in a dumpster

Rhyme with chime

Forget the back of your eyelids

Brush your teeth with your opposite hand

Pilot a kite to the clouds and let it go, leave a note on its string

Water a parking lot

Purchase a pet parrot, say goodbye and let it fly

Leave your car unlocked

Eat dirt

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• •

• •

Susan W A •

Great. Each one of these stands on its own. Among others, I like:

Breath[e] with your penPut your favorite outfit on, then hop in the shower fully clothed

NEVER COMPARE

Paint one day

Follow the tumbleweed

I'm glad the tumbleweed brought me by your door today.

• •

Kiki Stamatiou •

A very profound piece of writing. I like the imagery a lot, too.

• •

PJ Reece •

M.Flynn... Wonderful. I'm living the day wackbord and I'll meet you at dawn, on

the ceiling. Don't catch me if I fall.

• •

M.FlynnFollen •

Take a spin on the ceiling fan while your up there. I'll be behind the sun,

eclipsing some alien earth thousands of miles away.

• •

Sladkomn •

Thanks for this glimpse into the mind. You can't beat the Beat aesthetic. (But do we all

want to sound like Kerouac?)

• •

Orson •

We all don't have to sound like Kerouac; we all call learn from him. We each

should sound like ourselves. After all, George R. R. Martin learned from J. R. R.

Tolkien.

Wanda Kiernan •

Don’t think just do.

Let it flow freely.

Fill up a page.

Don’t be self-conscious.

Don’t let the left brain take control.

Let the right brain have some fun.

’

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• •

.

Paint with words, and when you do don’t worry about staying within the lines.

Inhale and when you exhale write whatever is coming out of you.

Close your eyes and let your fingers do the walking across the keyboard.

Finger tips typing, hands writing; let it all come from within, without hesitation.

Daydream all day.

Let your characters speak to you.

What about writer’s block? Kick it until it falls out of the way. It’s just trying to hide

something really nice on the other side.

Feel good.

All the senses come alive on the page.

Think about an orange – see the color, touch the waxy skin, smell the citrus, taste the

tartness, hear the peel separating from the slices.

Weights are lifted from mind and body.

Confidence

• •

M.FlynnFollen •

"Paint with words" YES.

• •

Donna Kiser •

"Daydream all day." I would so love to, Wanda. Thx.

dk

• •

Barb •

I think I like your list better than Kerouac's. I especially liked "don't think just do"

and kicking writer's block until it falls away.

Donna Kiser •

It felt good to just sit and type without any real editing:

Being crazy and listening to everyone else except yourself. Your own mind even tells you

lies, and you listen instead to all of it instead of your heart. Your heart feels a story, yourheart feels the poem, your heart urges you with flutters and leaps and bounds and still

you stare at the white sheet if you get a sheet at all. If you stop yourself from doing the

dishes, the laundry, or numbing your heart with television. If you are able to stop doing

what your minds says and do what your heart says, you will create beauty and

inspiration and joy, for yourself and others. You will forget about the right and the

wrong, the system, the how-to and you will just do. Just do it! There is no try, there is

only do. I can tell you that stopping everything else, letting the world slip by for only

these precious fifteen minutes is torture. You want the right word, you want the right

emotion, you want to stare into the trees on the blank wall searching, and that is when

you get caught, snatched up in the black widow writer killer web. You must push

through, push through and just write whatever the word the comes to mind, whatever

the emotion that you want to express, trust that the frustration, the exhilaration, the

pain will come through in the words that come out. The life, the life, the life of a writer, a

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• •

poet, is there a life? Is there ever peace? Do you ever arrive? Become? Surround yourself

• •

Wanda Kiernan •

Nice flow! I like the rhythm of the word repetitions, and all that rhyming at the

end. Very inspirational.

• •

Donna Kiser •

Thanks Wanda - at least it's inspirational for someone. :)

dk

• •

AliceFleury •

love the "black widow writer killer web". and "stay in your own yard and tend the weeds and plant the seeds" Great stuff.

• •

Donna Kiser •

Thanks Alice, altho after re-reading it, I'm not sure the whole black widow

phrase makes any kinda sense. Oh well, it does sound pretty rolling off the

tongue though.

dk

• •

Jim Woods •

Joe, is #25 fill in the blank?

• •

M.FlynnFollen •

I think he skipped it to skip it. Nothing is something.

• •

Joe Bunting • Editor

I don't really know. He was a tripper, as you can tell. What do you think it

means?

• •

Jim Woods •

That's my theory. Fill in the Blank. There is no rule..just do what you want

for that one :)

Joe Bunting • Editor

That's a good theory. My thought was that the blank tip is a satire

on the whole thing, that he's really saying that not only there is no

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• •

ru e or t is, ut t ere are no ru es at a an t at t e creation o

these sorts of lists are just acts of vanity. From what I know about

Jack, I think this theory is plausible.

• •

Larry Blumen •

whatever

• •

Jim Woods •

Thanks. I come up with good theories EVERY now and then.

Usually they are copied from someone else. :) haha

• •

Justin Charron •

you are only a writer until you put the pen down. Never put the pen down.

• •

Neil Waring •

Interesting guy and great look at life

• •

Kiki Stamatiou •

I Wind My Mind Around The World’s Festering Tomb Diminished by Time

By Kiki Stamatiou a. k. a. Joanna Maharis

I wind my mind around the world’s festering tomb diminished by time. It’s buried inside

the ancient ruins. I draw on the knowledge life experience has brought my way

throughout the aching years of turmoil festering up in my soul.

Far reaching are the dreams of a visionary to overcome the battles going on inside my

mind when tides of the ocean come crashing down upon my head. I hunger for the

hands of the Lord to raise my soul up from the illusions spinning my mind in a

whirlwind. The more the fever rises, the hotter my fire, and the more thoughts come into

being. I trickle every drop onto this page as the world empowers me to strive towards

perfection one outbreak at a time.

For all is this Kingdom’s grace rising out of the ashes withholding my light burning up

the sun in the sky during the dawning of a new day. Through every word I write, I strive

to create pictures surrounding me in my room at night when I sleep. Shadows hover

above my bed to watch over every move I make when tossing and turning, trying to get

Susan W A •

...the rhythm ...words swirling around, flowing one to the next to the next ... Ideas

/ experiences go forth to bring an understanding, provided to all from within

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• •

Beauti u y expresse , Ki i..

• •

Kiki Stamatiou •

Thank you so much, Susan W A. I appreciate your kind words.

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