Brainstorming

and the idea virus

Brainstorming

Most people find brainstorming interesting, especially as a non-participant. For some, it may be awesome to see a team come up with an idea like they do with rewrites at Disney or wherever. If you are part of a writer’s group (online or face-to-face) and have no issues with sharing ideas then this section may just be a refresher for you.

I don't have the luxury of hanging out with other writers. My work schedule does not allow much free time. I start at eight in the morning and finish at nine at night and the weekends are super busy at work. I do have gaps in my teaching schedule that allows me some time to pen a few words. Like now.

Before we can work on brainstorming. Something really important must happen first. You must make a decision: What type of book do you want to write? I'm talking genre here. I work in the SF Horror field usually mixing the genres. Occasionally I write in one genre. For my next project (that this "how to" book is based) I chose horror.

Here is a list of genres you might want to consider, or if you have a preferred genre to write in, go for it. It does not have to be a horror to follow this guide.

Horror

Science fiction

Romance

Spec Fic

Fantasy

Thriller

Mystery

Urban Fiction

Westerns

Crime / Detective

Paranormal Romance

Dark Fantasy

And of course, all these genres (and I probably missed a few) have subcategories. But we are not going to get into that now. I'm going to leave that up to you. If you want to know all the subcategories, please do a Wikipedia search.

The idea virus is an automatic journey you take as the subconscious (or universe or God or whatever) builds the story in the back of your mind. As you fill in the details, the idea virus flows and you may be surprised with what you end up with.

As with all viruses, they can't start on their own. They need a catalyst. Read on...

Next up: Let's give this a working title. All novels need a name and yes we probably will change it. My previous book was titled, Revelation Times. Two years later during another round of edits and rewrites, the title (although it fit) didn't sound right. So, I changed it to After the Bombs. A working title is something to name the story and it is usually close to the type of story you're thinking about.

I have decided on a werewolf story. I have called it Wolf.

Solo brainstorming is not the easiest thing to learn or master. I learned it by spending years as a writer. I don't have complete ideas flow out of me every time I sneeze, like Koontz. So, I do as most other writers do. Work it out as I go. Pantser. It's time to change that.

With brainstorming, the entire idea is to think outside the box. The what / the where / the why. These are important questions and there are many types of techniques one can use to access the subconscious mind (or the universe or whatever takes your fancy).

Mind Map free is a good program that I used a long time ago. I gave up on though as I don't think logically most of the time, especially when it comes to Story. The hierarchical tree is not for this writer, but it very well could work for you. I know a mystery writer who plots using the method above. It works well for him and he has shown me the long printed-out tree.

SWOT analysis is another good way for business-minded people. This could open you to ideas you may not have been aware of before.

Brain Writing (also called Brainswarming) is with a group of people. This is what Apple does (or did). The idea is to collect a bunch of random ideas, throw them on the table, and see what can trigger other ideas.

Reverse Thinking. Think about what other (normal) people would do and do the opposite. You see this in horror movies, the actor goes where no normal person would. "Don't open that door, idiot!" But they do. If they did the normal thing and walked away, you have no horror story.

Forces. Think about the driving forces to move forward in a situation. What are the forces acting against you? Then magnify that a hundredfold.

What's next? This is Neil Gaiman's technique. He's used it many times -- or at least spoken about it many times. He says to ask yourself, "And then what happened?" Basic but it works. I used it a few times when discovery writing. He has a quote that I love:

"Fairy tales are more than true:

not because they tell us that dragons exist,

but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten."

One more idea for your brainstorming. This works well.

Meditation. Focus on the millions of thoughts running through your head, and pick one. Think about it. Usually best in a dark room alone (writing is a solitary lifestyle). Or go to a park and ponder the idea.

Bonus: This is a technique I used to use a lot when needing to come up with a story idea, a short story usually. Often, I was asked to write a story for XX anthology or an opening for XX anthology. I call it Free Thinking. I would open up a blank word processor page in MS Word and type a bunch of random words. I didn't think about what I was writing. I typed words that popped into my head. After twenty or thirty words I would look at the monitor, and read the words. Every single time, I discovered a sentence that sparked an idea and I ran with it. For reference, check out my 'one-offs' (aka short stories) at Amazon. Most of them started this way. 

This is where we need to think about the overall arch’s big story. A guy gets bitten by a werewolf. Okay, that's a start. Now, it's time to ask some questions. Remember we're writing stuff on a notepad, don't type anything up yet.

Remember the first rule of brainstorming: Enumerate don't evaluate. That means writing them all down and don't judge them nor organize them. Just get them down on paper.

Having an idea of the type of story you want to write with (oftentimes) gives you the questions you need to ask yourself in the brainstorming session.

For example, imagine you want to write a love story. The questions that first pop to mind are: Who is the POI (person of interest)? What is the POV, male or female (this is needed to set up a bunch of other questions)? Are there any flaws? Lack of self-belief? What is different about the MC to set this love tale apart from the rest? Why does she like him? Is it just the money? Can she believe she can change the bad boy? Three points of conflict. And so on and so on.

Questions for the taking:

Who gets bitten?

Where does he get bitten?

What's he doing there?

Why was he bitten? (Just because / wrong place, wrong time / or alternative motive)

What's the family situation? This could be an important question if you're writing a YA or NA (Young Adult / New Adult -- over 18 under 21).

How old is the protagonist?

Setting. Where will the story take place? Take some photos of the place or find some pics online. This makes it easier to describe the setting.

You may notice these questions are not typical in writing advice books. That's because I don't believe in those things. These are basic questions. The 6 W's. Who / What / Where / When / Why / How.

Brainstorm these and you'll come up with something. There are no interviews with any characters. You can if you want, or you could get to the writing.

In this brainstorming session, there is one goal and one only: The basics of the story. For me, I came up with: a handicapped teenager, and his solo mother moved from NZL to Alaska to start a new life. They stay with her sister's family.

This instantly leads to another question: Why Alaska? I've never been to Alaska (though I do want to visit one day), but Google has been to Alaska, and Google Earth can show me satellite images deep in the woods. 

I don't know why Alaska popped into my head. But it did and it did for a reason that I am still unaware of. I'm positive that the answer will show itself once I dive deep into the general idea.

Support my endeavors, the substack of how to write a book is free. Writing it takes a lot of time and research. Feel free to flick me a few dollars at: paypal.me/thrillerNZ

I also have free short stories over at https://vocal.media/authors/lee-pletzers