Clustering

The other day, I suggested using the clustering technique with the "dreams" prompt and said I'd come back and describe the technique for those of you who have never used it. Finally getting a chance to do so on.

This is a really simple technique often used to help people overcome writer's block. When I was teaching freshman composition sometimes I'd present the topic we'd be writing about and be greeted with groans and complaints by some students who said they couldn't think of anything to write about it. So, we'd do the clusterig technique as a class to drum up ideas.

All you do is take a blank sheet of paper and in the center write the word or phrase you wanted to write about. Circle the starting point then just let your mind come up with any associations, without worrying about where or how they fit the topic. Each thought or association tht comes to mind gets jotted on the page and circled with a line going back to the prompt at the center. For instance, in the example below, the first thing that comes to mind when I think "dreams" is "those movies of the mind" we have when we sleep, so I jot that down, circle it and put a line from it back to the center prompt. Then something else comes to mind, that is, that "dreams" also can be used to refer to
hopes, asperations, & goals" we have. That's a different thing, not generally related to the "movies of the mind" so it goes in a circle of it's own with a line back to the prompt. I also think of a quotation I like, "To dream of being someone else, is to waste the person you are." Since that seems a different line of thought, it gets its own bubble with line back to the center. Of course, as you think about the topic, you will find you have various thoughts that relate closely together. For instance, when I jotted down "movies of the mind," I also remembered that dreams occur during R.E.M. (rapid eye movement) cycle of sleep. Because that is so directly related to "movies of the mind," I put it in a bubble below "movies" and made a line back to that. You can see evidence of my training in psychology as you follow the bubbles down that line. This particular cluster looks very neat and orderly but they aren't always; they don't need to be. The idea is not to stop and analyze as you go but just jot down any associations or thoughts related to the prompt. Sometimes you'll see a clear link between ideas and it's fine to connect those with lines. Other times you may not readily see connections. When you've given yourself a reasonable amount of time to think about the prompt, then go back and read your entries. At that time, look to see what, if any, relationship there is among the bubbles. Draw lines to indicate what with with what. You may find that you've got sufficient ideas/thoughts along one line to write about. And you may find that once you've sorted these jotted thoughts into a kind of order that makes sense for you, that "dreams" isn't really what you'd call it. That's okay too.

What you are doing with clustering is giving yourself free reign to think about the prompt and see where it takes you. It's one way of by-passing the inner censor that tries to tell you, "You can't write about that!" or "That doesn't make sense." Don't believe it.