If you don’t do it, you probably have some kind of secret idea generator in your brain. I, for one, welcome our brainstorming robot overlords. But if you’re like the rest of us and sometimes you just have no idea what to write about or how to write about it, don’t give up. Here are my favorite 5 ways to brainstorm.
1. Idea Webs (a.k.a. Concept Mapping)
Remember creating idea webs in elementary school? You start with a main idea and create branches into other ideas. You can then branch off from those topics and create as many sub-ideas as you want (or your paper can hold). I used idea webs well into high school. I even used them in my Writing & Rhetoric class last semester.
The old-fashioned way to make idea webs is to just draw them on a sheet of paper. Purists will argue that this is the best way to do it, but if you're a technology-addicted millennial like me, you came into this post wanting software. I won't disappoint you.
Idea Web software:
2. Word Scrambling
Sometimes the best ideas come out of total nonsense. Randomness might inspire you to come up with a masterpiece. Just ask Dadaist or surrealists. You can throw darts at a magazine article, or, if you don't want to put somebody's eye out, use these tools.
- Cut-Up Machine
- Naque for Names (which I've written about before in this post)
- That Can Be My Next Tweet (you can use anyone's Twitter handle, not just your own)
- Internet Anagram Server
3. Index Cards
When I was stuck for ideas while working on the outline for my current project, I wrote down several ideas on notecards, set them aside, and kept writing. I went back later and picked out the idea that made the most sense, challenged the characters the most, or that I just liked the best.
If you really can't pick between two ideas, you could flip a coin. If you don't have a coin, random.org does. You can flip up to 200 of basically every coin on the planet. No excuses for stalling on decisions now!
If you forgot your index cards and don't feel like getting up to find them, here are some online index cards. You can even print them out. But it would probably be easier to get the real ones.
If you forgot your index cards and don't feel like getting up to find them, here are some online index cards. You can even print them out. But it would probably be easier to get the real ones.
4. Other Writers
Other writers are the best people to bounce ideas off-- they know what you're going through and are probably weird enough to know what your story needs. They can help you at all stages of the writing process, even the ones before you actually start writing.
Text, email, PM, whatever, just talk to a writer friend for the best advice for your story. You can make tons of writer friends if you write fanfic or participate in writing contests. NaNoWriMo (and Camp NaNo) have groups (or cabins) where you can write together with like-minded people. The NaNo forums are fairly active all year round, so be sure to check them out.
Text, email, PM, whatever, just talk to a writer friend for the best advice for your story. You can make tons of writer friends if you write fanfic or participate in writing contests. NaNoWriMo (and Camp NaNo) have groups (or cabins) where you can write together with like-minded people. The NaNo forums are fairly active all year round, so be sure to check them out.
- National Novel Writing Month (requires free account)
- The Writers Community on Dreamwidth (requires free account)
- Wridea (requires free account)
5. Freewriting
Ah, freewriting. The thing your inner editor hates. Letting your ideas flow straight onto the page (screen, whatever) without changing anything or even stopping to fix typos. It's intimidating and exhilarating all at once.
The best way to freewrite is to reassure your inner editor that you can change everything later. You don't have to keep anything you freewrite, actually. You can delete the whole thing as soon as you're done if it's too embarrassing. The idea is just to get your mind in a state of flow and free your ideas.
So what's the best way to freewrite? Well, don't let yourself get distracted. Set a kitchen timer (or the timer on your phone) for ten minutes and don't do anything but write. It's easy to do this if you use a notebook and pen to write everything manually. But for the screen-addicted, check out these distraction-free writing tools:
- Writer (freemium, cloud)
- Quabel (freemium, cloud)
- Write.app (free, cloud)
- FocusWriter (free, OSX/Windows/Linux)
- My Writing Spot (free; cloud, iOS, and Android)
- PenZen (free, cloud)
If you don't feel like registering or downloading anything, you can even set Notepad or TextEdit to fullscreen for a distraction-free writing experience.
Did I miss any of your favorite brainstorming tactics? Have a favorite program you want me to know about? Share them in the comments!
Did I miss any of your favorite brainstorming tactics? Have a favorite program you want me to know about? Share them in the comments!
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