Automatic writing

Automatic writing is the process of writing without thinking, usually with the intent of gaining insight into the mind of the automatic writer through their subconscious word choices.

One of the most famous automatic writers was Helen Smith, an early 20th century psychic who claimed that her automatic writing was actually the attempt of Martians to communicate with Earth. Fortunately, she could translate Martian into French.

The ideas of Helen Smith greatly influenced the Surrealist movement. The Surrealists dubbed her the Muse of Automatic Writing; in the surrealist deck of cards, Helen Smith is the "Genius of Knowledge." Automatic writing became a major part of the Surrealist's repertoire of games, and it soon developed into a number of other surrealist games that greatly influenced the movement, such as automatic drawing and a variety of marker-word games.

Automatic writing is used as a tool in Freudian psychology.