Brainstorming: Building on The Idea

Let's pretend you have an idea. Don't be alarmed! It happens to the best of us.

Walk it off.

As I've pointed out before, sometimes you can't shake the idea off. It sticks to you. It won't go away. It keeps you up at night, like a dryer that squeals because it's lost that little felt ring that stops the metal drum from rubbing against the housing as it goes around and around and around squeaking and squealing intermittently until you jUSt cAn'T TAkE iT aNy mO.... ahem.

So. There's that. What do you do with the idea once you have it and it won't go away? What if, and this is a big if, What if you like the idea? As in, cute little kitten or puppy "like" the idea? I've found one of the best things to do in that case is to hide around a corner until it sticks out it's little head and then BASH IT IN with a crowbar!

The idea!!!! Not the puppy or kitten!!! NEVER the puppy or kitten!!!! You MONSTER!!!!

Now that you've subdued the idea, it's time to shape it into what you want it to be. Whether that's a soul-stretching, heart-wrenching, teary-eyed horror novel, or a pulse-pounding, hair-raising, can't-sleep-without-the-lights-on romance comedy, or any other sort of compound-modifying hyphenated-verbing, run-on-sentencing goodness... is entirely up to you. It's your idea to inflict upon the world.

Let's dig into the meat on how you could go about the exercise of expanding and improving on that idea.

To be fair, some of these processes will work better for Outliners than they will for Pantsers. Others should work just as well for anyone. I'm not covering how to build your entire story, only how to go about brainstorming a single idea. Of course, that idea could be a character, plot point, scene, world, what have you.

The key to story brainstorming is to ask questions, and then keep on asking questions. The same principle questions we were all taught in Primary School. Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How. Take your idea and expand it by asking those questions. As for where you get the answers, there are a few avenues you can take. In all cases though, you should always consider looking past the first and obvious answer for a deeper, less expected answer.

And make notes (while you brainstorm, not while you read this post... unless you want to)! This is where I usually break out Scapple if I have my MacBook, or Google Keep if all I have is my phone.

Research
I used to think research was boring. Ok. In so many cases it still is. However! I've found that researching a topic that I'm genuinely interested in can be exciting. So much so that I've lost entire weeks worth of writing time digging into actual, real-live history research! I passed history in high-school with a 51%, exactly what I needed to never do it again!

That said, history isn't the only subject you can research. There's plenty of science, psychology, economics, and so many other things. I urge you to find reputable sources of information for any research you do. It's great to dig into something on the black hole that is Wikipedia, but make sure you source anything you intend to use. I'm not saying you need to put a bibliography at the end of your work (ugh). Just be warned that if you do put something that is both real and inaccurate into your story, people will call you on it.

Remember to take whatever you find and expand upon it even further by asking the principle questions, not only for how they fit the subject of the research, but for how it fits into your story.

Discussion
It never hurts to talk it out. I use this one all the time. My wife and kids hear about sticking points and ideas in my stories constantly. Often they don't even have to respond. Simply throwing it at them seems to help. That said, no one will find gaps or flaws you need to fix in an idea faster than someone who doesn't have a whole lot of context.

Try it. If they're paying attention, I guarantee no matter how much you explain it, they'll have some of those principle questions at the end. Those questions can be the grease that keeps your wheels turning.

A small caveat: One experiment I've tried that you may, or may not, want to avoid is picking a subject of debate and choosing a fixed and intentionally contrary point of view to present to people. Without proper framing and context, this can lead to some very heated arguments (which can still be good). Chances are you want the person you're discussing your idea with to still talk to you afterward.

Theft
Last week I covered some methods of kick-starting your idea engine (oooh, idea engines... sounds cool! I'm going to write that down). One of those methods involved theft. Theft is a fantastic way to expand upon an idea, but here you have to be careful, especially if you stole the idea in the first place. But as I always say: A little larceny is good for the soul. So let's work with theft.

You've got your idea. Find things that have something similar to that idea in it. If you stole the idea and you aren't intending to write fan fiction (and there's NOTHING wrong with writing fan fiction, it's a great way to exercise your writerly muscles), you should really look for similarities in something unrelated to your original source.

That doesn't mean you can't use the same source, but you're only making your work harder on yourself than it has to be. Oh! And comic books or adaptations/sources count as the SAME source, so no you can't claim that the Serenity comics are a different source than Firefly or the Serenity movie.

So, once you've found your source, dig in. Ingest a bunch of it, just like you did for finding the idea. Unlike that searching process, take notes on the ideas and tropes that flow through it. But try to stick to the points that directly relate to your idea, you don't want to steal more than you have to, or you're going to let someone else build your playground for you. You don't want that for an original work.

Then walk away from it and try to think of everything you loved and hated about it and write it down, but in this try to be non-specific.

For example: I've been watching a lot of Buffy and Angel on Netflix lately (I'm not justifying that here, Whedon is a master!). Taking the idea of "My main character is a monster hunter." my following lists could work for one or both.

Loved:
Tight-knit group of friends
Witty banter
Kick-ass fights (yes, they're cheesy, but fun)
Protagonist who just wants to be normal fighting against insurmountable odds
Real-life complications

Hated:
Chosen one
Destiny/Fate overtones
Whiny protagonist
Dumb predictable villains
Same old monsters

From that I get some pretty nice launching points that come back to the principle questions.

• Who are their friends?
• Where did they meet?
• Do their friends know what they do?
• What sort of conflict do these friendships create for the protagonist?
• What do they talk about?
• How do they fight? 
• Where did they learn to fight?
• Are they good at fighting?
• What do they want to do with their life if it's not fighting monsters?
• What sort of hobbies do they have?
• If they're not a "chosen one" how did they end up a monster hunter?
• Why do they do it?
• Why don't they stop?
• What kind of monsters are they fighting?
• What special methods are needed to fight those monsters?
• Are they killing the monsters or trapping them?
• What do they do with them once they're killed/caught?

And so on.

Last but not least...

Blending
This is one of my personal favourites. Take two ideas from wherever it is you hide them, and mash them together to see how they taste. Without such a genius method of creation we wouldn't have the wonders of Dark Chocolate covered Pretzels, Dinobots, Firefly, Star Wars, or Jim Butcher's Codex Alera.

The ideas don't even need to be similar to be made into something fantastic. The total can absolutely be greater than the sum of its parts. It may take some work to get two (or more) things to fit together, and all things likely won't fit together without getting a little bit creative. But you're a writer. That's what you do.

I use some or all of the above methods to build on things before I start writing, while I'm writing, and sometimes just for fun. Whatever methods you use, always chase the answers deeper. That's how you make a unique and compelling story.

Let me know what methods you use to expand upon your ideas down in the comments.

-Alex

This is the third entry in a series of posts about my evolving writing process.

The Idea: Something from nothing.

It all starts with an idea. For me that means it can be a character, a scene, a theme, a line of dialog. You name it. That idea can be just about anything and can occur at any time. Which means it's usually in the shower, or while I'm driving, or in the wee hours of the morning when I'm supposed to be sleeping.

That idea is like a piece of sand caught by a clam... except I don't want to be a clam... how about the piece of grit at the heart of a raindrop... no, again, starting with dirt. It's like a random beautiful word, found in the heart of a dictionary, or one of those "word of the day" calendars... wow... NERD ALERT!

Anyway, it nags at me and needs me to do SOMETHING about it. So I'll turn it over in my head until I can write it down (where or how I write it down is very dependant on where I am and what I have available, see The tools I (mis)use).

Ok, so not all ideas are like that, but after it's written down I have one of two choices, dig into it now, or shelve it for later. The deciding factor is supposed to be whether or not I'm in the middle of writing something else. What it often ends up actually being is whether or not I can find some way to fit it into what I'm writing.

That's a key thing for me with "the idea". It doesn't wait for a decent time to show up. It doesn't wait for me to be sitting idly, daydreaming and wondering "What should I do next?". No. The idea is the drunken friend that calls me in the middle of the night, or shows up wearing nothing but a bathrobe and 3 days of unshaven, unwashed growth on their face smelling of stale beer and old cheese. The idea is inconsiderate of what I'm doing. It doesn't care whether or not now is a good time.

Basically, ideas are bastards. But they're my bastards, and I'll take them whenever and wherever they show up. Which is to say, often. I'll take them often. Because they never stop coming.

I'm never one to want for ideas. Writers block as it's depicted in movies and TV will likely never be my problem. Staying on track and moving forward with a single project to completion is... and not getting too caught up on my own insecurities is... but those are other stories.

However, if you're someone who struggles with finding an idea, there are a number of solutions. Want some suggestions?

Boredom!
You'd be amazed what going unplugged or simply letting your mind wander can do. Go primitive for a bit. No Twitter. No Facebook. No Wikipedia/Youtube/Tumblr black holes. Walk away from whatever is on those screens and get BORED. Let your mind wander. You'd be amazed what you can come up with.

Another option?
Theft!
It worked for Shakespeare! Even Star Wars (the original trilogy) is largely stolen from The Seven Samurai (which itself is based loosely on Japanese folklore), which of course also spawned The Magnificent Seven and about a bajillion other stories. Retellings are EVERYWHERE, and how obvious they are all depends on how good of a job the writer performing the retelling does at filing off the serial numbers and making it their own.

Chuck Palahniuk claims that Fight Club (the book) is a retelling of The Great Gatsby, and as someone who's read both, I certainly couldn't tell.

The key point to stealing an idea is to make it your own. Steal just the idea, not the entire plot, or cast of characters, or setting. You can steal the nuances of all of them to one degree or another, but the more you twist the original into your own thing, the better it will be for both you as a writer, and for your audience. But that's getting into brainstorming.

The last suggestion?
What if?
Simply put, take a situation, or technology, or existing story and ask the question What if...? I LOVED Marvel's What If? comics growing up. They took my favourite superheroes and asked often ridiculous questions. What if Spider-Man was more spider than man? What if certain heroes had been villains? etc. Many of their "What if?" scenarios intrigued them so much that they eventually became Marvel canon (Bruce Banner's brain in the Hulk's body...).

There are a few ways to go about this yourself. A technique I'd recommend, is to ingest a lot of information about something. Whether it's by reading a bunch of books (fiction or non-fiction), digging into some articles about new tech, binge watching a TV series, or reading an entire comic book run.

Whatever you do, just pack in a bunch of something if you can. Then ask the question: What if?
What if the heroes lost?
What if this technology was exploited for the best possible reasons?
What if this technology was exploited for the worst possible reasons?
What if this technology/product/cure was extremely effective/ineffective cheap/expensive safe/dangerous?
What if the government had made this ruling?
What if Indiana Jones had been a woman?
What if the radioactive spider had bitten Gwen Stacey instead of Peter Parker?
What if the apes/spiders/cats/tree frogs tried to rise up and take over the world?

Some of the BEST stories come out of that simple question. And it's a question you should continue to ask throughout the writing and revision process.

These are by no means the ONLY methods of generating ideas. They're just a starting point. But, you get the idea...

What are your techniques for generating ideas? Let me know in the comments.

- Alex

This is the second entry in a series of posts about my evolving writing process.

Fixed(ish)!

Alright, the cliche referred to in my last blog post has been corrected.  The offending text has been surgically removed from the story and replaced with something superior that actually fulfills the role of building character considerably better.  It'll need a good bit of polish and cleaning up before I consider it "done" but it's fixed nonetheless.

Speaking of which, I went back and touched up a few spots on the Outline for BookB.  That's right, it's not a static document set it stone, along with revising the actual story text the outline is frequently revised.

I've spoken with a few other writers (and by spoken I mean in an IRC channel online) and they say they detest the entire idea of using an outline.  That it sucks the very soul out of their writing, making something organic become mechanical.

I don't know if I'm unique in my views on outlining, but I've never seen it that way.  To me the outline is simply another organic piece of the whole, a skeleton if you will, waiting for the muscle, organs, and other tissue to build up around it.  You can change that skeleton, provided you're willing to rework everything else to fit it, which to me is what revision is all about.

My outline has become vastly different and incredibly detailed as part of this writing process, which admittedly I'm figuring out as I go along.  Who knows, maybe my way is "broken", it would certainly seem so if I ever listened to my English teachers (except Mr. Oliver, he was a different cat altogether).  They seemed to think an outline was a concrete foundation upon which to build.

Well, if I have to stick to a construction metaphor to get through to them, then I'd have to point them in the direction of Howl's Moving Castle, or Hogwarts moving staircases.  Sometimes, to get where you want to go, you simply have to change the surrounding structure.

The replacement chapter written tonight actually combined a few elements I'd been trying to work in, but couldn't wrap my head around until I'd gone back to the outline.  Of course, this one structural change in the outline of the chapter means I'll have to revisit some of the earlier sections and rework them, but that's something to panic about another day.  For now, I'll just be content that this effort seems to have paid off.

- Grimm

Tropes and Cliches in (my) Writing.

Tonight was a pretty good night for writing.  I had a good two hours of dedicated writing time, headsets on, music playing.  Too bad most of it will have to be cut up and rewritten tomorrow.

You see, for the chapter I'm working on currently I only had one short sentence in my outline.  It didn't exist in the last draft, but it's very much needed in this one.  That's right, it's one of THOSE bits.  The between-the-action-character-relationship-building bits, which I apparently don't outline that well.  So rather than spend most of my limited time this evening outlining it, I figured I'd take a stab at pantsing it.

When I work from an outline I tend to do a fair bit of research and digging to make sure I'm not getting so wrapped up in layered tropes of a particular genre or stereotyping.  When I'm discovery writing I just let it flow and worry about it afterwards.  

Well, after an hour and a half I took a quick break, then came back and re-read what I'd written.  The voice is fantastic, there's a bit of humour in there that clicks with the character.  However, it follows a fairly typical trope and has strong potential to run itself in a direction destined for a good deal more.

Tropes are not bad per-se, some are quite enjoyable, but as a new and aspiring writer I'm trying desperately to avoid them.  Otherwise I'll use them as crutches to cheat my way to the end of my book, which would somewhat defeat the purpose since this first book is meant primarily to be a learning experience.  (That's not to say that if I'm happy with it I won't try to solicit it to agents etc.)

So tomorrow it gets surgery.  I'm going to hammer out an outline for the chapter that's more detailed than the one line I've got.  Hopefully I can preserve some of the tone and lose some of the "we've been here before and this should happen next" essence.  That's not to say that more experienced and better hands at writing can't pull off exactly that sort of trope and get away with it, making it feel fresh and funny and new.  I just don't think I'm anywhere near there yet.

That said, I think I'll snip it out and put it in a side document to look over later, to analyze how I got there and why the funny worked.  

Every word I write and every word I delete should teach me something.

- Grimm