You do not want to be in the mad torrent of my mind right now. If my brain were a river, it has stopped its steady pulse and plunged into white-water rapids, churning and spitting froth.
I've been brainstorming.
I feel like a mad scientist, throwing chemicals together that exploded into purple smoke. I feel like an artist in a fevor grip, oblivious to the world. I feel like a kid in a library grabbing every book off the shelf, determined to read all of them at the same time.
What I don't feel is particularily productive.
In the real world, I have laundry to do, dinner to cook, emails to send, dogs to walk, jobs to find, bills piling up, and I am supposed to get them done. It seems irresponsible to shove my nagging to-do list aside in order to indulge my whims.
Yet if I don't take this crucial step, my writing will suffer later.
What's frustrating is that it doesn't seem like I have a finished product. Not even a full draft. All I have is horrible scribbles in my notebook.
26 pages of messy blue ink.
Plus 3 more pages of typed.
Seems like I spent the whole week being lazy.
* * *
I was lazy this week. I felt lazy on Monday, when I spent the whole day reading half of Jewels: A Secret History and about a third of A Taste of Conquest: The Rise and Fall of Three Great Cities of Spice. I was lazy on Tuesday, when all I did was watch Dr. Who, in one long marathon.
Then I got less lazy. Wednesday I had a subbing job and was not lazy. Thursday I cleaned, volunteered, and did critiques. Friday I brainstormed The Originals and worked on my blog. Throughout the whole week, I brainstormed for Counterfeit Diamond, the novel I hope to write in April. I have all of March to figure out what to write.
I was pretty disciplined and consistent throughout most of January and February, but these last few weeks seem to have broke that up, allowing for the deluge of laziness and procrastination to break loose.
I think part of that break is feeling overwhelmed by everything I have to do, from the little tasks that nibble away the minutes of my day, to the knotty plans I have no idea how to execute. January and February I worked hard on Three Floating Coffins. Now, I need to figure out Diamond and work on the Originals. My schedule says, I still have to produce a chapter of the Coffins every two weeks, but I'm starting to get bored of re-writing the same thing over and over. I want to work on something new.
And that's only one part of my life.
All right, this is getting too long. I'll end it. But let me just add that last weekend, I took a trip to the Cerritos Library on Saturday and the Bowers Museum on Sunday, so be on the lookout for those travelogues coming up soon.
Showing posts with label brainstorming. Show all posts
Showing posts with label brainstorming. Show all posts
Friday, March 6, 2015
Sunday, June 2, 2013
Brainstorming, Part 4: "I Have Nothing to Work With"
Previously...
For the last three weeks, we've looked at ways a writer might get stuck and how to use brainstorming to get un-stuck. Two weeks ago, we discussed how to find your problem and last week we looked at ways to come up with a solution. Where can we go from here? Well...
The Problem
You don't really have a problem. A problem implies elements of your story aren't cooperating. You don't have those elements to begin with. You have nothing: a pristine notebook and a white flickering word document.
Solutions
At this stage, you need to gather as many ideas as you can and find ways to integrate them into your story. Ideas can come from anywhere. Whenever you learn or play or think or feel--that's when an idea is ready to hatch--and I encourage you to search for your own sources of inspiration. Below are some of the methods that have worked for me.
Define Your Aspirations
What kind of story do you want to write?
A good story, you reply.
Well, what's in a good story? There are, of course, the broad strokes: fascinating characters, a compelling plot, tight prose. But this is about the specifics? What elements do you like? Romance? Family drama? Dragons? What gets you excited? What makes you want to keep reading?
On the reverse end, what do you absolutely hate in a story? Predictable prophecies? Magic that's overly powerful? Damsels in distress? Do the exact opposite. For example, I really hate stupid heroes who impulsively charge into danger and triumph because the story gods say they must. My heroes are usually smart and thoughtful, they tend to be cautious, and they make lots of mistakes.
When you define your aspirations, you define what you want your story to be. This creates a rough map to guide the direction where your writing will or will not go.
Browse
It goes without saying that if your story's main idea for includes a very tangible point, i.e., a scientific idea, a specific setting, etc., you really ought to research it. But while you're out hitting the libraries for books on genetic engineering or Prohabition era New York, keep your eye out for any other books catch your eye. These books might appear to have nothing to do with your story, but for some reason, they call to you.
Listen to their siren voices.
Pick them up. Scan them. Read them.
When your mind is in brainstorming mode, your subconscious will act as a compost heap. It's not picky; it will accept almost anything organic. If you think what you're reading has nothing to do with your story and cannot be integrated in any way, you've seriously underestimated the power of your brain to make connections.
I used research on 19th century pre-Meiji Japan to develop a character for my novel. I used a psychology books on family secrets for an Inception-like short story. Information on Byzantine Greece found its way into a children's fairy tale novel.
Everything is up for grab. And the more counterintuitive the source, the more original the idea will seem.
Travel
Traveling to Japan midway through my junior semester in college inspired me like nothing else and transformed the way I wrote. Living in a foreign country shattered my assumptions on what was normal. I had to communicate on a primal level and observe the world with new sensitivity. In the first two months, I wrote pages and pages of description. In the second two months, I learned to hone in on only the most necessary details.
Now, obviously, if you have enough money to travel to a foreign country or find yourself with an opportunity to go abroad, lucky you. If not, perhaps you can go on a local trip or find some way to make the same old place a new experience. The point is to step out of your comfort zone. Trigger that fear and excitement. Observe with all your senses. Learn not from a book but from an experience.
A few caveats. First of all, be sure to immerse yourself in the process as much as possible. Don't go to Yosemite and spend the whole time on a tour bus. Get out and hike.
Second, be mindful and sensitive to everything you experience. Especially, the negatives. I distinctly recall the feeling of getting lost in a foreign country, over and over again. It became a plot point in my novel.
But don't just rely on your memory. Write it down. Keep messy journals and take lots of photos. While you're in the moment, experience it fully. When you get home (or to your hotel), be prepared to commit to you've just lived onto paper.
The third caveat is that the trip might not yield immediate results. Your brain needs time to stew. It may take a month. It may take a year. That's what journals are for. Once your brain figures out how to use your experience in your story, you can refer back to your previous notes to fill in some of those fuzzy details.
Make a Commitment
In brainstorming, as with everything in life, the greater the committed, the more you get out of it. If you consistently pledge a certain amount of time and space to brainstorming, ideas will come steadily, because your mind will be always thinking of where to go and what to do.
This is not to say you should do nothing but brainstorm until you have every detail plotted out. At some point, you'll have to start writing, ready or not. I usually insert a deadline. Otherwise, human nature takes over and I find myself going in circles.
The month before I committed to National Novel Writing Month last November, I spent all of October brainstorming. I wrote 500 words a day (about 1-2 pages) for five days a week, four weeks. Most of the time, I noted interesting things I'd read or seen and tried to find a way to link it to my story or else I'd muse over a problem I had. After a month, I had enough ideas to get me through all of NaNoWriMo without losing steam.
Another, less intensive way to commit is to set aside a week every couple of months to brainstorm the next major chunk of the story. If a week is too long, at least spend two days: Day 1 to clear all the useless stuff out of your head and Day 2 to uncover the good stuff.
Whether the commitment is short or long, I find that attaching goals to your brainstorming session is very helpful. They can be vague. Before NaNoWriMo, my goal was come up with 10 exciting events to write about in more detail later on. Other times, my goal might be to discover the antagonists' motivation or figure out how magic works or come up with a backstory. Break elements apart and tackle them piece by piece.
* * *
With that, I end this very long, 4-parted entry on the many types and uses of brainstorming. Writing is a personalized experience, so feel free to take the strategies that work and adapt them to your own style. Discard all the rest.
For the last three weeks, we've looked at ways a writer might get stuck and how to use brainstorming to get un-stuck. Two weeks ago, we discussed how to find your problem and last week we looked at ways to come up with a solution. Where can we go from here? Well...
The Problem
You don't really have a problem. A problem implies elements of your story aren't cooperating. You don't have those elements to begin with. You have nothing: a pristine notebook and a white flickering word document.
Solutions
At this stage, you need to gather as many ideas as you can and find ways to integrate them into your story. Ideas can come from anywhere. Whenever you learn or play or think or feel--that's when an idea is ready to hatch--and I encourage you to search for your own sources of inspiration. Below are some of the methods that have worked for me.
What kind of story do you want to write?
A good story, you reply.
Well, what's in a good story? There are, of course, the broad strokes: fascinating characters, a compelling plot, tight prose. But this is about the specifics? What elements do you like? Romance? Family drama? Dragons? What gets you excited? What makes you want to keep reading?
On the reverse end, what do you absolutely hate in a story? Predictable prophecies? Magic that's overly powerful? Damsels in distress? Do the exact opposite. For example, I really hate stupid heroes who impulsively charge into danger and triumph because the story gods say they must. My heroes are usually smart and thoughtful, they tend to be cautious, and they make lots of mistakes.
When you define your aspirations, you define what you want your story to be. This creates a rough map to guide the direction where your writing will or will not go.
It goes without saying that if your story's main idea for includes a very tangible point, i.e., a scientific idea, a specific setting, etc., you really ought to research it. But while you're out hitting the libraries for books on genetic engineering or Prohabition era New York, keep your eye out for any other books catch your eye. These books might appear to have nothing to do with your story, but for some reason, they call to you.
Listen to their siren voices.
Pick them up. Scan them. Read them.
When your mind is in brainstorming mode, your subconscious will act as a compost heap. It's not picky; it will accept almost anything organic. If you think what you're reading has nothing to do with your story and cannot be integrated in any way, you've seriously underestimated the power of your brain to make connections.
I used research on 19th century pre-Meiji Japan to develop a character for my novel. I used a psychology books on family secrets for an Inception-like short story. Information on Byzantine Greece found its way into a children's fairy tale novel.
Everything is up for grab. And the more counterintuitive the source, the more original the idea will seem.
Traveling to Japan midway through my junior semester in college inspired me like nothing else and transformed the way I wrote. Living in a foreign country shattered my assumptions on what was normal. I had to communicate on a primal level and observe the world with new sensitivity. In the first two months, I wrote pages and pages of description. In the second two months, I learned to hone in on only the most necessary details.
Now, obviously, if you have enough money to travel to a foreign country or find yourself with an opportunity to go abroad, lucky you. If not, perhaps you can go on a local trip or find some way to make the same old place a new experience. The point is to step out of your comfort zone. Trigger that fear and excitement. Observe with all your senses. Learn not from a book but from an experience.
A few caveats. First of all, be sure to immerse yourself in the process as much as possible. Don't go to Yosemite and spend the whole time on a tour bus. Get out and hike.
Second, be mindful and sensitive to everything you experience. Especially, the negatives. I distinctly recall the feeling of getting lost in a foreign country, over and over again. It became a plot point in my novel.
But don't just rely on your memory. Write it down. Keep messy journals and take lots of photos. While you're in the moment, experience it fully. When you get home (or to your hotel), be prepared to commit to you've just lived onto paper.
The third caveat is that the trip might not yield immediate results. Your brain needs time to stew. It may take a month. It may take a year. That's what journals are for. Once your brain figures out how to use your experience in your story, you can refer back to your previous notes to fill in some of those fuzzy details.
In brainstorming, as with everything in life, the greater the committed, the more you get out of it. If you consistently pledge a certain amount of time and space to brainstorming, ideas will come steadily, because your mind will be always thinking of where to go and what to do.
This is not to say you should do nothing but brainstorm until you have every detail plotted out. At some point, you'll have to start writing, ready or not. I usually insert a deadline. Otherwise, human nature takes over and I find myself going in circles.
The month before I committed to National Novel Writing Month last November, I spent all of October brainstorming. I wrote 500 words a day (about 1-2 pages) for five days a week, four weeks. Most of the time, I noted interesting things I'd read or seen and tried to find a way to link it to my story or else I'd muse over a problem I had. After a month, I had enough ideas to get me through all of NaNoWriMo without losing steam.
Another, less intensive way to commit is to set aside a week every couple of months to brainstorm the next major chunk of the story. If a week is too long, at least spend two days: Day 1 to clear all the useless stuff out of your head and Day 2 to uncover the good stuff.
Whether the commitment is short or long, I find that attaching goals to your brainstorming session is very helpful. They can be vague. Before NaNoWriMo, my goal was come up with 10 exciting events to write about in more detail later on. Other times, my goal might be to discover the antagonists' motivation or figure out how magic works or come up with a backstory. Break elements apart and tackle them piece by piece.
* * *
With that, I end this very long, 4-parted entry on the many types and uses of brainstorming. Writing is a personalized experience, so feel free to take the strategies that work and adapt them to your own style. Discard all the rest.
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Brainstorming, Part 3: "I Can Identify My Problem"
Previously...
Two weeks ago, we examined three manifestations of writer's block: being unable to identify the precise problem, identifying the problem but being unable to think of a solution, and just not having enough material to work with. Last week, we used brainstorming to get from mindless ranting to figuring out the trouble spots. Which brings us to this week.
The Problem
You can identify precisely where your story went wrong. Maybe your main character has made stupid decisions and you need to break him of that habit. Maybe your world-building isn't up to par. Maybe you can't figure out where or how to do the final confrontation. The point is, you know your headache. But how do you fix it?
Solutions
Half the times, simply stating the problem automatically leads you to a solution. For example, if you realize that the path to the capital is blocked by a battle, take your characters by a different route.
Other times, however, the solution is not obvious. Don't worry. As a writer, you are infinitely creative and resourceful. Given enough time and effort, you will find a way to solve your problem. The trick is to get your brain to be loose and flexible. And for that, I humbly offer these suggestions.
Throw Ideas Until Something Sticks
This is a very simple, but proven method. Take a piece of paper and a pencil (or a computer, if you prefer) and write down whatever pops into your head. Throw ideas around until you find one that makes you go, "Ah-ha!" or at least "Hm, maybe..." If nothing works, set your writing aside for a little while and look at it again with fresh eyes.
"Big deal," you say. "My first grade teacher taught me this method."
Fair enough. So let me offer my own insight. The difficulty here is not tossing out ideas, so much as it is shutting off the critical part of the brain. And how do you do that?
First of all, reassure yourself that, unlike those painful group brainstorming sessions in grade school, where your teacher assured you there are no stupid ideas while your laughing friends immediately contradicted her, here no one will ever read your writing. What happens in brainstorming, stays in brainstorming. There's no ridicule attached.
Second of all, as soon as the first stupid, obvious, unworkable, this-doesn't-even-count-as-an-idea idea pops into your head, WRITE IT DOWN. It generally opens the floodgates to more ideas. Maybe the new ideas are just as bad. Doesn't matter. Grit your teeth and commit them to paper. Bad ideas are better than nothing. You can work on bad ideas. You can't work with nothing.
Listen to Your Judgement
Now maybe during those painfully embarrassing brainstorming sessions, your elementary teacher proclaimed, "This is a judgement free zone." And if you can turn off your judgement, great. But personally, I can't always do that--it's part of my perfectionism. So instead of trying to suppress it, I use judgement as a brainstorming tool.
How?
First, I try to be fair and logical. Saying "This is stupid" helps no one. Saying "This is stupid, because...." can actually trigger more ideas. If I know the knight slaying the dragon is obvious and cliche, my brain might say, "All right, so what's original?" The princess slaying the dragon? The dragon having a heart attack? The dragon faking its death?
If you can't turn your judgement into a positive force, write down your judgement and move on. Give it no more space than the actual idea. Holding in your judgement gives it more power--writing it down deflates it a bit. As long as you don't wallow in your judgement, it should be fine.
Attack from the Sides
If your problem is plot, stop and take a look at the setting.
Elements of a story are linked together. Your character's decisions influence the plot; the events of the plot affects the character's mindset. Each added element is a new door into your story. You don't always have to go in through the front gate. Sometimes the back door is preferable.
One of my favorite tricks is to take a deep look into the motivations, backgrounds, and secrets of minor characters. That worn-out innkeeper your hero talked to on page 11 might have been a rebel fighter in his youth. Maybe he still keeps a list of all his compatriots and stockpiles weapons in the basement.
Look around. You never know what you'll find.
Break Taboos
Do you ever find yourself thinking like this?
Poor Stable Boy has great chemistry with Witty Bar Maid, but he's supposed to end up with Beautiful Princess.
My heroes must take the Black Fortress by Midsummer's Eve, but I can't seem to get them there on time.
The Fizzy Fairy won't appear until Chapter 32, but she has the Amulet of Truth my White Knight needs to defeat the Black Wizard on Chapter 27.
Supposed to. Must. Won't. Pay attention to these words in your writing. They indicate the taboos you have secretly erected in your mind.
Long ago, you came up with an idea you thought would fit. Three drafts later, that wispy thought has calcified into a stone pillar. You think removing it would cause the whole story to tumble down on your head.
Try it and see.
Breaking taboos can radically shift the way you think about your story. Destroy something that has become sacred and see where it takes you. How does it affect other pieces of the story? What could you replace it with? What are the consequences of removing it?
Map out the trail of destruction.
I'm not saying you should actually throw out every portion of your writing that gives you problems. You're not changing your manuscript; you're merely speculating. Sometimes, you find that the pillar you thought was a vital support structure is merely decorative. You can take it out and the story will stand.
Other times you realize you really, really want this element to stay--losing it would drain some of the life out of your story. By all means, keep it. One of the points of this exercise is to clarify what's absolutely essential and what's not.
But the interesting thing is, by threatening your taboos, your mind is forced to move in a completely different direction, which may in turn provide you with all sorts of new ideas. Take the new ideas, stitch them with the old, and watch the patchwork transform into something original and beautiful.
Ignore It
Not every problem needs solving.
If it's a little thing, no one may even notice. Sometimes that critical part of your brain zeroes in and nitpicks on minor flaws. These obsessions suck up valuable time. Be efficient. Just move on.
Sometimes I find that when I go forward the solution just magically appears. When you move from looking at a single detail to the whole landscape, your perspective shifts. You understand where the piece fits into the larger picture and a solution arrives in a flash of insight.
Hindsight is 20/20--make it work for you!
* * *
Next week, I'll continue with the final installment of "Brainstorming Strategies," which is using brainstorming to think up entirely new material. See you next time.
Two weeks ago, we examined three manifestations of writer's block: being unable to identify the precise problem, identifying the problem but being unable to think of a solution, and just not having enough material to work with. Last week, we used brainstorming to get from mindless ranting to figuring out the trouble spots. Which brings us to this week.
The Problem
You can identify precisely where your story went wrong. Maybe your main character has made stupid decisions and you need to break him of that habit. Maybe your world-building isn't up to par. Maybe you can't figure out where or how to do the final confrontation. The point is, you know your headache. But how do you fix it?
Solutions
Half the times, simply stating the problem automatically leads you to a solution. For example, if you realize that the path to the capital is blocked by a battle, take your characters by a different route.
Other times, however, the solution is not obvious. Don't worry. As a writer, you are infinitely creative and resourceful. Given enough time and effort, you will find a way to solve your problem. The trick is to get your brain to be loose and flexible. And for that, I humbly offer these suggestions.
This is a very simple, but proven method. Take a piece of paper and a pencil (or a computer, if you prefer) and write down whatever pops into your head. Throw ideas around until you find one that makes you go, "Ah-ha!" or at least "Hm, maybe..." If nothing works, set your writing aside for a little while and look at it again with fresh eyes.
"Big deal," you say. "My first grade teacher taught me this method."
Fair enough. So let me offer my own insight. The difficulty here is not tossing out ideas, so much as it is shutting off the critical part of the brain. And how do you do that?
First of all, reassure yourself that, unlike those painful group brainstorming sessions in grade school, where your teacher assured you there are no stupid ideas while your laughing friends immediately contradicted her, here no one will ever read your writing. What happens in brainstorming, stays in brainstorming. There's no ridicule attached.
Second of all, as soon as the first stupid, obvious, unworkable, this-doesn't-even-count-as-an-idea idea pops into your head, WRITE IT DOWN. It generally opens the floodgates to more ideas. Maybe the new ideas are just as bad. Doesn't matter. Grit your teeth and commit them to paper. Bad ideas are better than nothing. You can work on bad ideas. You can't work with nothing.
Now maybe during those painfully embarrassing brainstorming sessions, your elementary teacher proclaimed, "This is a judgement free zone." And if you can turn off your judgement, great. But personally, I can't always do that--it's part of my perfectionism. So instead of trying to suppress it, I use judgement as a brainstorming tool.
How?
First, I try to be fair and logical. Saying "This is stupid" helps no one. Saying "This is stupid, because...." can actually trigger more ideas. If I know the knight slaying the dragon is obvious and cliche, my brain might say, "All right, so what's original?" The princess slaying the dragon? The dragon having a heart attack? The dragon faking its death?
If you can't turn your judgement into a positive force, write down your judgement and move on. Give it no more space than the actual idea. Holding in your judgement gives it more power--writing it down deflates it a bit. As long as you don't wallow in your judgement, it should be fine.
Attack from the Sides
If your problem is plot, stop and take a look at the setting.
Elements of a story are linked together. Your character's decisions influence the plot; the events of the plot affects the character's mindset. Each added element is a new door into your story. You don't always have to go in through the front gate. Sometimes the back door is preferable.
One of my favorite tricks is to take a deep look into the motivations, backgrounds, and secrets of minor characters. That worn-out innkeeper your hero talked to on page 11 might have been a rebel fighter in his youth. Maybe he still keeps a list of all his compatriots and stockpiles weapons in the basement.
Look around. You never know what you'll find.
Do you ever find yourself thinking like this?
Poor Stable Boy has great chemistry with Witty Bar Maid, but he's supposed to end up with Beautiful Princess.
My heroes must take the Black Fortress by Midsummer's Eve, but I can't seem to get them there on time.
The Fizzy Fairy won't appear until Chapter 32, but she has the Amulet of Truth my White Knight needs to defeat the Black Wizard on Chapter 27.
Supposed to. Must. Won't. Pay attention to these words in your writing. They indicate the taboos you have secretly erected in your mind.
Long ago, you came up with an idea you thought would fit. Three drafts later, that wispy thought has calcified into a stone pillar. You think removing it would cause the whole story to tumble down on your head.
Try it and see.
Breaking taboos can radically shift the way you think about your story. Destroy something that has become sacred and see where it takes you. How does it affect other pieces of the story? What could you replace it with? What are the consequences of removing it?
Map out the trail of destruction.
I'm not saying you should actually throw out every portion of your writing that gives you problems. You're not changing your manuscript; you're merely speculating. Sometimes, you find that the pillar you thought was a vital support structure is merely decorative. You can take it out and the story will stand.
Other times you realize you really, really want this element to stay--losing it would drain some of the life out of your story. By all means, keep it. One of the points of this exercise is to clarify what's absolutely essential and what's not.
But the interesting thing is, by threatening your taboos, your mind is forced to move in a completely different direction, which may in turn provide you with all sorts of new ideas. Take the new ideas, stitch them with the old, and watch the patchwork transform into something original and beautiful.
Not every problem needs solving.
If it's a little thing, no one may even notice. Sometimes that critical part of your brain zeroes in and nitpicks on minor flaws. These obsessions suck up valuable time. Be efficient. Just move on.
Sometimes I find that when I go forward the solution just magically appears. When you move from looking at a single detail to the whole landscape, your perspective shifts. You understand where the piece fits into the larger picture and a solution arrives in a flash of insight.
Hindsight is 20/20--make it work for you!
* * *
Next week, I'll continue with the final installment of "Brainstorming Strategies," which is using brainstorming to think up entirely new material. See you next time.
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Brainstorming, Part 2: "I Can't Identify My Problem"
Previously...
The Problem
At this point, you don't even want to look at your writing. You're frustrated, you're suffering from soul-tearing angst, you have a bad case of writer's block. You'll happily brainstorm if it means not having to actually write (or look at) your manuscript. In short, you can't actually identify what's wrong with your writing, but you know you're stuck and would like to get out of the bog as soon as possible.
Solutions
Take a deep breath. Put on calming music. Have a snack. Get yourself into a relaxed state of mind and then get ready to confront the problem head-on. These are some strategies for brainstorming your way back into that old excitement--or at the very least, a tolerable level of writer's angst.
Strategy #1: Rant
Get out a notebook and a freshly sharpened pencil or pen. Now write down everything you absolutely hate about your manuscript. Rip it apart like a film critic slashing away at a B movie. Don't stop writing if you start losing steam. Be thorough. If you can't fill a minimum of three pages, you aren't really trying.
All done?
Good. Now, hopefully, in the process you should have either:
a. started to identify the underlying problems of your manuscript
b. discovered the story isn't half as bad as you thought
c. realized some of the psychological issues holding you back
d. burned off negative emotion and come to a calmer state
If none of the above has happened, keep on ranting until it does.
Strategy #2: Play the "Why?" Game
The "Why?" Game is what children play to drive their parents crazy. But did you know the opposite is true? You can talk yourself back into sanity by constantly asking questions. Hey, it worked for Socrates. It can work for you. So try it out. Let the crazy, frustrated part of your psyche hold a dialogue with the calm, rational, question-asking fragment of your brain.
Here's how such a conversation might look.
Crazy Writer: (gnashing teeth and pulling hair) "I hate myself! I'm a horrible, horrible writer!"
Sane Writer: "Why?"
Crazy Writer: "Because my story sucks."
Sane Writer: "Why?"
Crazy Writer: "Well, for starters, my main character is boring and stupid and I hate her."
Sane Writer: "Why?"
Crazy Writer: (Slowly starting to regain sanity) "Because she's become very one-dimensional. She started off as very active, but now it seems like she's just letting everything happen to her. And when she does make decisions they're stupid."
Sane Writer: (Nodding wisely) "So if you know these decisions are stupid why do you let her make them?"
Not-so-Crazy Writer: "Well, I feel like the plot has to go in a certain direction. If she doesn't make these decisions, the plot won't work."
Wise Writer: "Then what can we do to either justify her decision or otherwise slightly alter the situations without changing the whole plot?"
And suddenly we're getting somewhere.
Strategy #3: Read Your Writing
It sounds obvious, I know, but if you are in the throes of frustration, this may be the last thing you want to do. You avoid looking at your previous work, because you can't bear its awfulness. The thing is, half the time the so-called "awfulness" is hype and pre-mature judgement. So face your fears. Print out a copy of a chapter (so you aren't tempted to change it). Choose a time and space where you feel relaxed. And get to reading.
I tend to read each of my chapters twice. The first time, I just do a quick skim, just to remind myself wat's happening and see what I can and cannot understand. The second time I go through, page by page, and write down all the things I like and all the things I dislike. I try to do this as objectively as possible, like a reader in a critique group. This means, and I cannot emphasize this enough, WRITE DOWN THE GOOD STUFF!
While it's nice to know what you need to improve upon, it's also important to identify the strongest points of your writing, the cornerstones upon which can erect new structures. As a bonus, this will help to salvage some of your self-esteem and save your passion for writing.
Strategy #4: Seek Advice
If ever you get to the point where you can no longer see the good in your work or critique your writing in a (mostly) objective way, your best bet may be to get someone else to give you their honest opinion. Seek an editor, a mentor, a critique group, or maybe even a #1 fan who'll throw their love at your story unconditionally.
Information is also key, when the problem is building up a particular skill. For example, in high school, I knew that my prose work and description were not up to par, but I had no idea how to bring my writing up another level. Taking classes and reading books helped me develop these skills. Knowledge in general can give you confidence to trust your insticts. Eventually, you'll be able to figure out what works for you and what doesn't.
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That's all for Part 2. Next time: Now that you know exactly what the problem is, how do you find a solution? Read Part 3 to find out.
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Brainstorming, Part 1: Finding Where You're At
Brainstorming Strategies for Any Writing Problem!
What Is Brainstorming?
Spitballing, note-taking, thinking outside the box. Brainstorming is taking time at the start of a project (or any other rough patch) to come up with new ideas and sort out which to use and how to apply them. Most of us have been subjected to this process since elementary school. We'd squish our desks together and try to come up with stuff that didn't get us laughed at, all the while a teacher circled the room, telling us there were no wrong ideas.
But in fiction-writing, more often than not, you're working alone. No teacher, no peer group. Just you and the blank page. You have a story to tell, but something keeps you from going forward. So you pull out a blank notebook and try to generate new ideas and solutions. This is brainstorming for the writer.
Simply put, brainstorming is daydreaming with a purpose.
Why Should I Brainstorm?
Let me tell you a secret. When I first began work on my epic fantasy novel, I refused to brainstorm. I thought it was a big waste of time. More than that, I didn't think it actually counted as writing. I was afraid I'd get caught in a note-taking trap and never actually write. So I diligently sat at my computer desk in 110 degree heat, typing and typing, no matter how often I got stuck or how little I had to say.
Eventually, I grew to hate my story.
I don't want that to happen to you. I want you to use every tool in your writer's kit to get your story working. And that's what brainstorming is, in the end: a wonderful tool. Whenever you get stuck, whenever you have a bad feeling in your gut thst something's wrong, whenever you feel lost, whenever you want to write but feel you have nothing to say--brainstorming is there for you.
More simply: Brainstorming is a cure for writer's block.
I have your attention again. Great.
But brainstorming is sort of a swiss army knife. There are many different parts and they all have their different uses. That's why I've come up with different strategies to help you brainstorm. Hopefully, these strategies will get your mental juices flowing and help you on your writing way.
What Are Good Brainstorming Strategies for Me?
Only you can figure out what really works for you. But it would be cheating if I left it at that.
In the ten years or so I've been working on my novel, failing to write, getting frustrated, wringing my hands, stomping through the yard, throwing papers aside, crying, screaming, calming down, and picking up my pencil once again, I've stumbled upon certain brainstorming strategies that work for me. Maybe they'll work for you. Who knows? Try it and see.
So what are these strategies?
Well, first things first. Where exactly are you in the writing process? Why do you feel the need to brainstorm? To find out, I've constructed a handy-dandy little quiz, to figure out what brainstorming frame of mind you're in.
Quiz! Quiz! Quiz!
1. How do you feel about your writing?
a. I hate, hate, hate it! I can't stand looking at it.
b. I like it in general, but this one aspect has been frustrating me.
c. I love it. It will be the most beautiful, fascinating, wonderful story... once I start writing it.
2. What is your biggest problem with your story?
a. The whole thing. It's stupid. Also, I suck as a writer.
b. ______________________________ (Fill in the blank.)
c. There's not enough of it yet.
3. Brainstorming is good for:
a. avoiding looking at my *@#& manuscript!
b. solving a problem.
c. figuring out what to write.
If you picked mostly As: I Can't Identify My Problem
Right now, your gut is telling you something is wrong with your writing. Unfortunately, you can't figure out where the problem lies so all your anger is spilling out as general (and generalized) frustration. The good news is that you have lots of passion. You just need to channel it into something more productive.
If you picked mostly Bs: I Can Identify My Problem
Congratulations! You know what the problem is--now all you need is help solving it. You clearly have a great deal of knowledge about your craft, and logic and analyzation are in your corner. If you can free up your creativity, you may find the solution to your problem in no time flat.
If you picked mostly Cs: I Have Nothing to Work With
You're just starting the writing process and that's okay! You're powered by enthusiasm and would dearly like to write... if only you knew where to go. Hang onto that excitement--you're going to need it in the days to come. Your brainstorming may be ongoing, but keep at it and you'll have plenty of substance for that story.
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In the upcoming sections, I'll discuss brainstorming strategies finely-tuned for each particular problem. Of course, you're free to use any strategy that works, willy-nilly of where your problem falls. Part of creativity is using whatever works. Try new things and adapt to whatever suits your needs.
Happy brainstorming.
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