September 5, 2018- We’ve all heard of brainstorming and I’m confident that as writer’s, we tend to do this to a fault. I say to a fault because of how much time we spend brainstorming instead of writing, which is really what we should be doing instead.
Brainstorming, as we know, is where you start with a blank piece of paper in front of you and you’re supposed to come up with new ideas. There’s a problem with the rigidity of this. We think that we’re just supposed to write down ideas, single words, and we are encouraged to think laterally.
What if I told you there was a better way? Enter Stormwriting! Here’s how to do it:
- Gather writing materials
- Find a cozy place
- Write down your idea at the top of the page
- Write down EVERYTHING that has to do with your idea.
- Use Yes and What if as your guiding questions.
- Keep writing, don’t edit! Just get it on paper.
Let’s do an example from one of my own novels set to launch next year:
My Name is Jessica Westlake (is the title so I put this at the top of the page)
- Her name is Jessica Westlake, why is her name Jessica Westlake? Has this always been her name?
- She is blonde with blue eyes, tall, trim, married, no children, having an affair with her neighbour
- Her husband is a high profile lawyer, he cheats on Jessica with the mistress that works for him
- They are rich in money but poor in morals
- They have a big house, a maid, and nice cars
- Jessica grew up poor, her parents were horrible and they did things to her that are inexplicable
- They live in Boston in a very expensive neighbourhood
- Her husband is abusive and treats her like garbage
- What if the husband catches Jessica and the neighbour? What if he seeks vengeance for what they’ve done?
- What if things were more complicated? What if the neighbour was also cheating with the husband?
See what I mean? It’s pretty easy to go down the rabbit hole on this exercise, isn’t it?
Also, this contains ZERO spoilers for my next novel:) I wouldn’t ruin it for you! Now get stormwriting!
