BRAINSTORMING FOR ONE
There's nothing like a bunch of writers brainstorming an idea together. And the thought of being one of three or four gathered in a remote cabin while we hammer out a plot gives me goosebumps. Alas. Such is not my life. I'm stuck at home trying to brainstorm on my own. However I've learned there are ways I can do it successfully. I like the following quote. "The good ideas are all hammered out in agony by individuals, not spewed out by groups." Charles Brower
What is brainstorming? Wikipedia says, "Brainstorming is an organized approach for producing ideas by letting the mind think without interruption. Brainstorming can be done either individually or in a group ....The key to brainstorming is not to interrupt the thought process. As ideas come to the mind, they are captured and stimulate the development of better ideas. Brainstorming is used for enhancing creativity in order to generate a broad selection of ideas in leading to a unique and improved concept."
Another web site defined it this way. "Brainstorming is the act of defining a problem or idea and coming up with anything related to the topic - no matter how remote a suggestion may sound. All of these ideas are recorded and evaluated only after the brainstorming is completed."
Still another said this. "Brainstorming is a process for developing creative solutions to problems. It works by focusing on a problem, and then deliberately coming up with as many solutions as possible and by pushing the ideas as far as possible. One of the reasons it is so effective is that the brainstormers not only come up with new ideas in a session, but also spark off from associations with other people's ideas by developing and refining them."
There is one simple rule: Do not pass judgment on ideas until the completion of the brainstorming session. Do not eliminate any idea, critique it, or evaluate it. It is especially important to remember this as you work alone because you will find yourself automatically discarding ideas instead of adding them to the list. Resist the temptation. All ideas are valuable at this point. The goal of brainstorming is to generate as many ideas as possible. Quantity, not quality. Let your mind go in any direction it chooses. Chase rabbit trails. Allow associations to develop. Save your assessment until you're done.
Here are some methods I've tried and found helpful for coming up with ideas when I'm a brainstorming group of one:
1. Just for fun make a list of title ideas. At least 3 is essential, lots more is better.
Need help? Glance through catalogues (I'm thinking specialty gift ones especially). Here are some ideas I gleaned. After The Storm. Navajo Pearls. Reaching For the Sun. Wisps in The Wind.
2. Listen to music. I am not a Country and Western music fan but I cannot listen to it for very long without triggering ideas. Here are a couple from five minutes of listening to a radio station. Keep The Flowers From Dying. A Blanket of Stars. Wishing Never Came True.
3. Wander through bookstores (or catalogues) looking for titles that jump out and twist in your brain. Chicken Little becomes Chicken Run becomes Chicken's Last Run. Silly stuff like that. And sometimes not so silly. I created a series out of the words of a song that a seemed stuck in my head one day. Yesterday's Gone, Tomorrow Be Mine and One Day At A Time.
4. Take clichs and turn them into a title. The early bird gets the worm can become Early Birds and an idea might be triggered.
5. Come up with high concept ideas.
Take two movies, two fairy tales, two book titles, two popular characters. Shake them together, mix them up and combine them into a new high concept idea. Pretty Woman Meets Wuthering Heights. Dirty Harry meets Pollyanna. You can have a lot of fun with this process. In fact, it's a good idea to keep copies of movie guides, list favorite or well-known fairy tales, and do the same with characters. Play what if. Or simply take a TV movie guide, or reviews of movies and brainstorm from them. An excellent source for movie ideas is www.imdb.com Change characters between movies. Change the genre. Change the setting. Now let the high concept spark ideas for a story.
6. Come up with first lines.
Remember this is a way to FIND an idea, not to force a story into an opening line. In my opiniontake it or leave as simply that first lines need to be somewhat flexible until the story is complete so I do not fall in love with first lines, no matter how wonderful, that in the end might not be appropriate. So with no story in mind, create stunning first lines. They might trigger a story idea. Off the top of my head, with no story in mind, I think of these two. The trail to true love is not supposed to be so rocky and The moon rose, big, orange and harvest-full; shone its bright light on the pale, motionless body outside her window. I can do a bunch of these until something captures my attention and makes me want to develop the idea BEHIND that sentence.
7. Mind mapping (there are several names for this).
Pick an idea, character or title that appeals. Put it in the middle of a large page so you can create lots of ideas. I use big sheets of newsprint and cover my desk top. Now start writing ideas about the word, and ideas about those ideas. Draw lines that connect the branching ideas. Don't stop. Explore every idea. Keep branching out. Keep at it until the page is full. Then take a deep breath. Go get a cup of coffee and come back and stare at the page as the ideas take root in your brain. This is an exercise that requires you just let go and then trust your monkey mind to grab the things that work. It's a fun way to find ideas and you will get better at it the more often you do it. For me, the last step is to create something organized out of this web. I create an outline of sorts. You may want to...or not. Whatever works for you.
8. List making
Somewhat similar to mind mapping except a little more focused. Say you want a scene. You know it's about the hero and heroine and two little boys who are going to get into mischief that will somehow force the hero and heroine to cooperate. Start listing what might happen. Aim for 20 things. Don't stop at the first thing that might work. Don't stop until you've achieved 20. Then analyze which ones will work. You notice I say ones because what I often find happens is three or four good ideas create a powerful scene.
9. Find your character.
Want to learn more about your character? Do some creative brainstorming focused on him or her. Create a photo album of their life using magazine pictures or even left over photos from your own collection. This is fun and becomes useful when writing as it creates a visual of the character. Do a character interview. Alice Orr's in her book No More Rejections has one that is especially good. I recommend you get her book and check it out. In fact, collect charts to fill out. Besides the Alice Orr's questions, I use many others. Go online and find charts, outlines, questionnaires. Read how-to books and note the ones that have charts or questionnaires that might work for you. But you can create your own interview. This works especially well if you have a specific area to address. I like to pretend I'm actually conducting an interview. I prepare my notes then invite my character to join me for coffee, perhaps outside under the sprawling Mayday tree or at the local coffee shop (though I have to be careful I don't actually talk out loud if I'm in public by myself).
10. Go on a hunt for ideas.
Open your closet and pull out something from the back. Pretend it isn't yours. Whose is it? Why is it hidden in your closet? Go to a caf or coffee shop (the airport is one of the best places to do this) and watch the people. Make up stories for each of them. Is that harried housewife living her dream or feeling trapped? How did she get to this place? What is she going to do about it? Or imagine she's waiting for someone. Who is it? A blind date? An old flame? Is he/she going to show up? What happens if they do or don't? Create details. Go to a museum and imagine the people who used the items displayed. What made them happy, sad, or discouraged? Browse bookstores. Read the titles. Think of the sort of story it would be if you wrote it.
11. Play what if.
What if you hear a noise outside and go to investigate. What is it? What if there is a secret behind your closet door. What is it? What if you're at the bus station intending to go somewhere. The door opens. Who is standing there? Do you want to see this person or is he/she the last person in the world you want to see? Why?
After a bit of practice you can play what if in all kinds of places.
12. Odds and ends of unsolicited advice.
Don't waste your best brainstorming time. For me, for some perverse reason, that is the middle of the night. So I always keep a pad of paper and a pen beside my bed. I've even found a pen that has a light in the tip so I can write in the dark. Alice Orr suggests writing ideas for a few minutes every morning as soon as you wake up. Perhaps your best time is right after lunch (yawn for me). Learn your most creative time and use it.
I throw out this quote for your consideration. It's from the brainstorming site www.JPB.com, "Don't watch TV. Experiments performed by the JPB Creative Laboratory show that watching TV causes your brain to slowly trickle out your ears and/or nose. It's not pretty, but it happens."
And remember, practice counts. The more you push yourself to create, the easier it becomes and hopefully the better. "Creative thinking is not a talent, it is a skill that can be learnt." Edward De Bono.
13. A word of encouragement.
This might sound airy fairy. Real ethereal. And sometimes it is. That's the magic time. But it doesn't have to be all goosebumpy in order to work. You can be very mechanical about it. Give your creative subconscious something to work on and it does whether or not you feel the magic.
And lest you feel sorry for yourself because you have to do it alone you might be interested in a surprising discovery my research turned up. Most of the brainstorming information pointed out the advantages of brainstorming alone. Yes, the advantages. One internet site says, "When you brainstorm on your own you will tend to produce a wider range of ideas than with group brainstorming - you do not have to worry about other people's egos or opinions, and can therefore be more freely creative. You may not, however, develop ideas as effectively as you do not have the experience of a group to help you." So there's an upside as well as a downside. But remember one thing, your brain is a powerful tool that you can learn to use more effectively. Brains, like bodies, need exercise to keep fit. If you don't exercise your brain, it will get flabby and useless. Consider this as brain exercise.
|
