The terms loop writing and looping have two comon understandings and describe two slightly different techniques. Both can be used with benefit at early stages of the writing process.

Loop writing is a term coined by Peter Elbow in Writing with Power. He lists and describes a number of strategies that help a writer discover what he already knows at the outset of his engagement with the subject at hand. Some of these are "instant version," "scenes," "portraits," "vary the audience," "lies," and "vary the writer." Suppose a student comes to the writing center stumped about how to proceed with the topic of the Viet Nam War. It may be the professor-audience that intimidates him. So, if the student changes the audience and writes about the war to his younger sibling or his grandmother or his girlfriend, he can discover that he has things to say.

The techniques that Elbow advocates work amazingly well when a writer feels blocked and unable to get started.  They are segues into exciting fluency. Some material generated by means of the loop writing techniques can actually be incorporated into later drafts of the finished product.

The term looping is used by Toby Fulwiler to describe a second level of freewriting, a way to help refine, limit, and narrow the focus of the writing assignment. After a student has done freewriting, encourage him to identify an idea that stands out from the writing he has generated. Once this main focus has been identified, the student should write it on paper or on the computer and freewrite again for a set amount of time. After another round of producing more ideas and thoughts, the student then identifies those ideas that are most central, most important to the initial topic. This looping can continue as long as is helpful for the student until a sense of purpose and focus have been revealed.