kickwriting

English

Etymology

kick +‎ writing. Coined by Jack Kerouac in a letter to Neal Cassady, describing Cassady's writing style.

Noun

kickwriting (uncountable)

1. (literature) A frenzied, first-person style of writing.
   • 1996, Jack Kerouac, Ann Charters, Selected letters, 1940-1956, →ISBN, page 242:

     You must and will go on at all costs including comfort & health & kicks; but keep it kickwriting at all costs too, that is, write only what kicks you and keeps you overtime awake from sheer mad joy.

   • 2011, Ann Charters, On the Road (Introduction), →ISBN:

     A rapid typist, Kerouac hit on the idea of typing nonstop to get the 'kickwriting' momentum he wanted.

   • 2011, Zahn Pesh, Cat-Cup Clones: A Fictional Memoir, →ISBN, page v:

     ... many experimental contemporaries—an unplotted, visionary, kickwriting syntax.

   • 2012, Nick Tasler, The Impulse Factor: Why Some of Us Play it Safe and Others Risk it All, →ISBN:

     Only by using his free-flow style of “kickwriting” did Kerouac believe he could capture the vibrancy of the man that inspired the book, his friend Neal Cassady.

   • 2016 September 16, Celia San Miguel, “22 Literary Tattoos That Book Lovers Will Appreciate”, in The Stir:

     To master this "kickwriting" style, Kerouac taped together 12-foot-long pieces of drawing paper, creating a continuous roll for his typewriter.