Tuesday, April 2, 2013

B is for Brainstorm


One of my favorite things about meeting other writers is learning their process. How much do they plan before they sit down and start pounding on the keys? Where do they do their best writing? What time does inspiration hit? 

So I thought it might be fun to talk about one of my favorite parts of the writing process: brainstorming.

There's something thrilling about coming up with new ideas. When I was a little girl, I used to love coloring books because I felt like I was bringing the page to life when I filled it all in with my crayons. And as an adult, I get the same rush when I plan a story. I love to see the possibilities as it comes to life. I love to see the shape and color that a story takes.

And as a fickle person, brainstorming is perfectly noncommittal. I can plot out a whole story, but I don't have to spend months writing and perfecting it unless it's truly the right one. Or... if I do fall in love with it, but don't have the time to write it right now, I always know that the idea isn't lost. I have it written down for some day in the future when the well runs dry.

It's hard to believe that the well will ever run dry. One of the best parts of brainstorming is finding inspiration in the every day. I love magazines like Discover and news programs on NPR for sparking those ideas that get me scribbling down ideas and filling up notebooks.

What's your favorite part of the writing process?

29 comments:

  1. I love brainstorming, too! It's part art, part science. There's definitely ways to streamline the brainstorming process, ways to make it more efficient. But I love brainstorming most when an idea comes out of the blue and I find myself scratching down ideas furiously.

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    1. Yes! It seems that the ideas that you don't have to go searching for are always the most fertile.

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  2. I seem to spend my life brainstorming! Even when I'm not sitting at the computer writing, some part of my brain is still with my characters and what they're going to do or say next!
    A-Z Challenge

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    1. Although sometimes it might be nice to be able to turn it off every once in a while, right?

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  3. I love editing! I think it appeals to my need to be the one who fixes everything. :) Debating word choice and grammar... I absolutely love it all!

    Happy Tuesday. ☺

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    1. I wish I was more of a fixer! I'm so lazy that I always wish I got it right the first time. Ha! Like that ever happens.

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  4. I like your take on brainstorming -- I'd never thought of it quite that way, so thank you!

    My favorite part of writing is revising. I do so much better when I have something to work with, something to improve.

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  5. We need to pair up. Revising is by far the most difficult part for me.

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  6. Interting ideas. I dont think I brainstorm as such, but I let the brain do its own working out then go with the flow.

    Happy AtoZing!

    Jemima at Jemima's blog

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  7. My favorite part is writing "the end" and the feeling of accomplishment I get. Sure, first drafts need a lot of revising, but if only for a few minutes, it's nice to have finished.

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    1. Can't argue there! There's nothing like the feeling of satisfaction when you finish a draft!!!!

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  8. I'm kind of revising my brainstorming process. I used to think I needed to write down the idea, and sketch out the plot before I began writing. This past November, however, I did NaNoWriMo with an idea in my head, and the barest of outlines on paper. And I finished a 70,000 word first draft without struggling over "what happens next." It just all flowed. Now, it needs editing and polishing (a part of the process I enjoy), and I'll probably need to add some things, but there's a lot of story there that will stay.

    So I'm beginning to wonder if I might actually be more productive if I let ideas stew in my head for a little while and then just start writing, as opposed to trying to write a plot structure.

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    1. I wish I had as much faith in my brain! I'm always too afraid that I'll forget something if I don't write it down. I've been known to have a great idea before bed, but it's lost by morning if I don't jot it down. You're lucky to have a better brain that I do :)

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    2. One of the things I'm curious about is whether this method will actually help to filter out the ideas that really don't work from the ones that are worth pursuing. If I still remember the idea, and it still excites me six months later, then perhaps I ought to write it. :)

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  9. Happy "B" day! I love brainstorming too and I love steeping ideas.

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  10. I hated brainstorming at first, but I'm growing to like it more and more. I often surprise myself at my plot twists, it's kinda fun :)

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  11. I love creating new characters and storylines. They're always there, rattling around in my head.

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  12. Great post, and I really like your blog! I'm a new follower from the A to Z Challenge. Nice to meet you.

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  13. I love the actual sitting down and writing new pages bit. Seeing the story come to life, weaving the characters into their places, adding action and conflict and painting the scenery.

    Brainstorming is a lot of fun as well, and since my husband is my brainstorming partner, it helps make long car trips go by super fast!

    I loved your coloring book analogy.

    Checking in from AtoZ: jenelleschmidt.com/blog

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    1. I do love drafting too (although it does feel like harder work). There's nothing like seeing a story grow.

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  14. I love this too, because the story still mostly makes perfect sense and it's in this perfectly contained small package that I can wrap my whole brain around.

    It's when I start adding thousands and thousands of words that things get scary.

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    1. You hit the nail on the head. While brainstorming, the story is still perfect. It's all possibility. I think that's one of the things I love so much!

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  15. I was just on the phone with a friend of mine brainstorming the other night. Sooooo fun

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  16. I love brainstorming! I have mainly used it for work, marketing and naming products and stuff, but it is soooo much fun to come up with good ideas after all the fluff. Great B post!

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  17. My favorite part is the thrilling, messy, all-over-the-place first draft. It's rarely when I'm sitting down to think up story ideas that a good one comes. Usually the idea surprises me when I'm not even looking for it.

    I'm glad I found your blog. Thanks for visiting mine:D

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    1. Yes, I love that first messy draft too. Revising... that's another story!

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  18. I love those moments when you're in the zone and everything is flowing, and it's almost like you're either not in yourself or you're so much yourself that when you "wake up," you see hours went by. :)

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    1. Yes! I do too. It's like an out of body experience.

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