Some Remarks about Semi-Automatic Writing: Between Constraints and Possibilities in a Writing Workshop

This article illuminates a number of issues related to semi-automatic writing, and it is based on my long experience conducting writing workshops. Despite its complexities, this activity is generally thought to be spontaneous, primary and unplanned. In this article, semi-automatic writing emerges as a form of intensive writing practice that could stimulate discussion of both theoretical and practical issues related to textual communication. One of the results of this writing experience is that it leads to the de-automatisation of accepted reading and writing habits. Instead of totally freeing the written expression from cultural bonds (as it could be supposed to do), it presents it for examination, thus allowing discussion of what we take for granted regarding text and its shaping. The writing workshop encounter is presented here as a case study.