by Alton Gansky
brain·storm·ing
noun \-ˌstȯr-miŋ\Interesting word: brainstorming. When it was first used in the 1820s it described a mental aberration, a brain that wasn't working right, as in a stormy brain. Today it has a much better connotation. In business, brainstorming involves a group applying their knowledge and experience to some problem or goal. Writers usually do this alone.
That's not to say that talking an idea over is a bad thing. On several occasions I've turned to my novelist friend Jack Cavanaugh to help me think things through, but even then, the responsibility for the idea remains with me.
Writers brainstorm as part of their craft. It's a skill as necessary as the writing itself. Sometimes we brainstorm to come up with a story idea, or an angle on an article. At times, an e-mail arrives from an editor that reads, "Need an idea for ________. Whatcha got?" Professional writers need to be able to come up with an answer.
So how does one seed the clouds of creative thinking? How to we set the lightening bolts flashing?
1. Avoid creative constipation. Fear often ends the storm of ideas before it has a chance to begin. "What if they don't like it? What if I can't come up with an idea?" Push those thoughts aside. They just get in the way. Your brain is a magnificent creation. Set it free to do its work.
2. Generate enough ideas to throw away. Start with the first thing the comes to mind. Write it down. It doesn't matter if it's good. You're planning on tossing most of the early ideas anyway. This will get the juices flowing. Years ago, I was asked for a short list of titles for a novel I did. The working title just wasn't cutting it. The book's protagonist was a medical doctor and much of the action occurred in a hospital. My first idea? Bedpan to Oblivion. Was I serious? Nope. I followed that with Gurney Ride to Death. Still not serious. I was limbering up my brain. The final title became A Small Dose of Murder. I got there by allowing myself the privilege of being silly. Once I did that, the serious ideas felt comfortable coming out to play.
3. Expect the unexpected (at anytime). I was struggling with a plot problem some years back and my brainstorming was producing Spam when I needed steak. I let the brainstorming continue in the back of my mind as I drove to Bible study one night. As my truck went bump-bump over the railroad crossing something fell from one of the shelves in my mind. "Of course." I said that aloud. The answer came when I was preoccupied with driving. Ideas and answers don't care about the time of day. They show up when they're good and ready to.
4. Train your brain. Brainstorming takes practice. The more you do it, the better you become at it.
5. Write ideas down. The act of putting an idea (no matter how bad) on paper or the computer screen often opens the floodgates.
6. Be open to different expressions from your brain. The answer may not come as a sentence, or a well-crafted thought; it might arrive as an image. I often see a scene or a concept first and have no clue about it's meaning. That's when I go exploring. That's when I play the detective.
How do you brainstorm? Share your technique with us.
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