[stylist] Stylist- Stream of Consciousness vs. Free Association

[Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter]

In an effort to spark writing-related discussions, I post the following:
FYI, I did post this several years ago, and it was in an issue of S & S.
While I think up a new topic, I thought I would share this again, enjoy.

Stream of Consciousness vs. Free Association
By Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter

Stream of consciousness is a writing format with a specific structure
following literary rules. It's often referred to as narrative voice or mode
as well. Writers not using formal outlines as a tool for the writing process
are not wielding a stream of consciousness piece; they're just following a
more organic process different from a formal, structured process.

Free association is a common writing exercise employed using random data to
affect and resolve the outcome of plot, characterization and story
development. Free association and stream of consciousness are often confused
and lumped into the same definition. Stream of consciousness is an actual
writing method following a defined structure in which to style a story.

Stream of consciousness was coined by psychologist William James, older
brother of novelist Henry James, according to the website Stream of
consciousness-Narrative. Psychologist in the late nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries employed stream of consciousness describing the personal
awareness of ones mental processes. From a psychological view, stream of
consciousness is a metaphorical way in which to describe the phenomenon of
the continuous flow of sensations, impressions, images, thoughts and
memories experienced at all levels of consciousness, according to Stream of
consciousness-Narrative.

Stream of consciousness writing boomed in the 50s and 60s, though it
developed in the late 19th century as a way to turn away from realism, and
has become popular in recent years. The psychological term was appropriated
to describe a particular style of novel, or technique of characterization,
prevalent in some fictional works, according to Stream of
consciousness-Narrative.

This technique relies upon mimetic (re)presentation of the mind of a
character and dramatizes the full range of the character's consciousness by
direct and apparently unmediated quotation of such mental processes as
memories, thoughts, impressions, and sensations. Stream of consciousness,
constituting as it does the ground of self-awareness, is consequently
extended to describe those narratives and narrative strategies in which the
overt presence of the author/narrator is suppressed in favor of presenting
the story exclusively through the (un/sub/pre)conscious thought of one or
more of the characters in the story, according to Stream of
consciousness-Narrative.

The technique of writing stream of consciousness follows a very specific
structure and isn't a writer creating material as it pops up in their head.
It relies on internal concerns with characters and plot, and isn't the
process a writer chooses to follow when crafting a manuscript. It still
relies on themes and/or motifs and plots. It can appear similar to free
association, but it's actually a highly structured technique. Today, it's
often employed in personal essays and memoirist pieces, but fiction writers
and poets really honed the technique.

It focuses on psychological and/or emotional aspects of characters. Because
of this, lyrical essays tend to be labeled stream of consciousness essays
too. Stream of consciousness pieces often do not use proper punctuation and
syntax or adhere to traditional methods of writing. lyrical essays, which
follow similar structures, are often identified as stream of consciousness
pieces because of this. They're quite different styles of writing however
despite sharing similarities.

Stream of consciousness and internal dialogue can be similar as well. It's
dependent upon structure and style. If not specifically using stream of
consciousness, internal dialogue is just a tool a writer believes is germane
to the story. Therefore internal dialogue and the stream of consciousness
style are not synnonomous.

When writing stream of consciousness, outlines are still very helpful.
Voice, tone and structure are affected and not the process in which a writer
crafts a story. In fact, many practitioners of this form employ tools such
as detailed outlines.

A story must somehow be anchored within the stream of consciousness. One
method is a recurring motif or theme. The motif appears on the surface of a
character's thoughts, then disappears among the flow of memories, sensations
and impressions it initiates only to resurface some time later, perhaps in a
different form, to pull the story back up into the consciousness of both the
character and the reader, according to Stream of consciousness-Narrative.

The following examples are taken from the Stream of consciousness-Narrative
website:

Consider the example of Virginia's Woolf's short story The Mark on the Wall.
The story begins as a meditation-which could easily be read as a spoken
monologue-on a series of recollected events but quickly turns, through the
motif of a mark seen by the narrator over a mantle piece on the wall, to a
near random stream of loosely connected memories and impressions. As the
story progresses, the mark's speculations as to its nature and origin appear
and disappear as a thread running in and out of and binding the loose folds
of the narrator's recollections. The narrator's stream of consciousness
ranges widely over time and space whereas the narrator quite clearly remains
bound to a particular place and time, anchored-seemingly-by the mark on the
wall. 

Also consider the following from the ending paragraphs of Joyce's short
story The Dead:

He wondered at his riot of emotions an hour before. From what had it
proceeded? From his aunt's supper, from his own foolish speech, from the
wine and dancing, the merry-making when saying good-night in the hall, the
pleasure of the walk along the river in the snow. Poor Aunt Julia! She too,
would soon be a shade with the shade of Patrick Morkan and his horse (222).

The first sentence is clearly the narrator telling what the character,
Gabriel, is thinking; but with the second sentence a transition in the form
of a series of sensory impressions moves the reader to Gabriel's own
conscious thoughts. In the end, it is not the narrator who thinks, "Poor
Aunt Julia!"

Here is another example from Virginia Woolf's short fiction Mrs. Dalloway.

Such fools we all are, she thought, crossing Victoria Street. For Heaven
only knows why one loves it so, how one sees it so, making it up, building
it round one, tumbling it, creating it every moment afresh; but the veriest
frumps, the most dejected of miseries sitting on doorsteps (drink their
downfall) do the same; can't be dealt with, she felt positive, by Acts of
Parliament for that very reason: they love life. In people's eyes, in the
swing, tramp, trudge; in the bellow and the uproar; the carriages, motor
cars, omnibuses, vans, sandwich men shuffling and swinging; brass bands;
barrel organs; in the triumph and the jingle and the strange high singing of
some aeroplane overhead was what she loved; life; London; this moment of
June (The Complete Shorter Fiction of Virginia Woolf).

Unlike free association, stream of consciousness is not about the process or
whether a writer uses outlines or not. It's a literary style having nothing
to do with writing strategies except when determining voice and tone. In
fact, when writing in stream of consciousness, it's vital to pay attention
to every little detail to ensure the plot is consistent and present for
readers.

Some popular writers who have, and are, employing stream of consciousness to
check out are:

.	Sylvia Plath
.	Anton Chekov
.	Michael Cunningham
.	T. S. Elliot
.	James Joyce
.	William Faulkner
.	F. Scott Fitzgerald
.	Cormac McCarthy
.	Brett Easton
.	J. D. Salinger
.	Jack Kerouac


Outside sources were taken from:
http://narrative.georgetown.edu/wiki/index.php/Stream_of_consciousness