THROWING IDEAS AT THE PAGE TO SEE WHAT STICKS
That sounds like an oxymoron, doesn’t it? It just doesn’t seem right to talk about rules for something that’s supposed to be a creative idea dump.
Yet, here we are.
I’ve never been much of a brainstormer. I like to wait for the muse to come to me. But sometimes, that can take a long time. So, we’re supposed to make the muse work on our schedule. We’re supposed to drag in the inspiration kicking and screaming. Sounds fun, right?
This week I decided to try two Brainstorming Rules—more like tips—I’ve heard in various writing classes and read in various articles. I won’t blame them on anybody in particular.
BRAINSTORMING RULE #1: BE MESSY ABOUT IT
I’ve heard a lot of advice about creative brainstorming that basically boils down to getting ideas on the page. Hello, nice to meet you, I’m a perfectionist who hates writing down something she wouldn’t want other people to read for fear it would make her look crazy, or worse, stupid.
But I took a deep breath this week and woke up my muse, who thought she was off the hook for a few months since I just finished cranking out the 45k-word first draft of another project.
I gave myself a week to come up with a premise, characters, and basic plot for this new book, heretofore referred to as The Book.
For the first few days, my idea well was dry. I had nothing. I sat down in front of a blank page and closed my eyes and waited.
Nothing.
I dug through old notebooks, looking for some spark of an idea that could lead to something bigger, but everything fell apart. To be fair, I had some pretty strict requirements for this book. After all, it is The Book.
The most amazing thing happened a few days into this brainstorming week. I finally threw a premise at the page and it stuck, and started growing. The locations I had been playing with—a secret passageway under a school, a public library, a summer camp—sort of fell away when I landed on this new premise.
I think it started with a line of dialogue: “Well, I’m staying.” I imagined it was said by one kid as a challenge to the others. Irresistible. A perfect point of no return. Now, if only I had context.
But the context came flowing in. I filled pages with the ideas as they came to me. Here’s a sample:
Okay so: bus breaks down, long wait, kids go off exploring in the trees, group finds something weird, called to go back to the bus, ‘I’m staying’ bit. Throw in character-building flashbacks. Later they can find abandoned camp cabins…
Turning this worldbuilding into a stream of consciousness was extremely helpful. I didn’t have to work in chronological order. I just wrote the bits of The Story and structure down like I was talking to myself.
And it worked.
BRAINSTORMING RULE #2: CARRY A NOTEBOOK EVERYWHERE TO WRITE DOWN IDEAS AS THEY COME
Now, I have to admit: as much as I love the romantic idea of a writer walking around with a little black leather-bound journal tucked under one arm and a pen behind the ear, it’s not exactly practical.
The notebook I chose for this rule is actually a section in the back of my bullet journal, which I’ve labeled “Write Anything.” I’ve found that just having a big chunk of pages with no rules is incredibly conducive to my creative musings. It gives me to permission to write, well, anything. It doesn’t have to be perfect, or even look nice on the page. It’s filled with random notes and scenes and ideas and I love it.
However…it’s not always easily accessible. Sometimes it’s at the bottom of my backpack or purse, or out in my car. So, I also made notes on my phone. I know there are some apps out there that people swear by, but I haven’t discovered any that I particularly like. I ended up transferring all my Phone Notes to paper, just so everything was in one spot.
The verdict? I found that it didn’t really matter what medium I had available to record my ideas, as long as I got them out of my head and onto something tangible. I wrote down everything that came to mind—the whole stream of consciousness thing we already covered.
I think the main takeaway from this week of brainstorming, though, is that I can make my muse work on my timeline. It was a mindset. Every time my mind wandered throughout the day, I would aim my train of thought toward the right side of my brain. I told myself I needed The Book’s story by the end of the week, and after a rusty start, the ideas started flowing out of necessity.
So, I guess it is possible. Noted.
Next week I’ll be taking all the ideas from my week of brainstorming and organizing them into a recognizable plot structure. What are some rules of story organization and planning you’ve tried or want to try? Let me know in the comments below.