Brainstorming
For the purposes of writing, brainstorming refers to generating possible ideas.
Brainstorming can be as simple as creating a dot jot list of ideas for a short story.
It can also refer to activities, such as those presented here, that help you to generate ideas for writing.
GET VERBAL
If the writing of ideas is hard for you (can't keep up, for example), try talking the ideas out. You could:
GETTING THE CREATIVITY BACK
If you are finding you have a hard time coming up with creative ideas, here are some suggestions:
Brainstorming can be as simple as creating a dot jot list of ideas for a short story.
It can also refer to activities, such as those presented here, that help you to generate ideas for writing.
GET VERBAL
If the writing of ideas is hard for you (can't keep up, for example), try talking the ideas out. You could:
- Have a friend/family member write your ideas down as you say them
- Record your ideas on your smartphone or other recording device, and get them onto paper later.
- Use an app/program that translates your voice into text, such as iPhone 4s, Dragon NaturallySpeaking, Dictation Pro and VoiceTranslator
GETTING THE CREATIVITY BACK
If you are finding you have a hard time coming up with creative ideas, here are some suggestions:
- Practice! If you write often... say, 5 minutes a day of just whatever comes into your head... you'll be surprised at how much creativity you can tap into.
- Take inspiration from the world around you. For example, if you are looking for story ideas, what can you do with 5 things you see out your window? Or use a photograph, painting, illustration, poster etc. that you see as a starting point.
- Keep a mini journal. Inspiration can strike anytime, but by the time you get to a pad and paper, it may evaporate. Keep a little notebook with you to record the wild and wacky ideas you have as you live your day. Then turn to your own journal for ideas when the need arises.
- Give your brain chunks to work on. Create lists as starting points, such as "5 characters," "5 places," "5 personality traits for the main character" etc.
- Begin with the end in mind. Do you have a killer plot twist for a story? Work backwards from there. Or if you have a point you want to prove in an essay, use that as your jumping-off point and make a list of possible reasons/proofs.
- Do some free-writing. If you have one part of an idea or story, start with that and just write for 5 minutes, anything that comes into your head, no matter where it goes. You may be surprised at the interesting places you end up!
- Begin with Who,What, Where, When and Why and just start answering the questions.
- Be someone else. Start with: "If I were ____, what ideas would I have?" Insert the name of a famous person, a friend, a family member, an aquaintance, a job title etc.
- Start with a word. Open a book to a random page (try a dictionary or thesaurus) and, with your eyes closed, plunk your finger onto the page. Start with the word you are pointing at and write a sentence with your word. Use your sentence as a starting point.
- Start "creativity jars." Put 20 nouns, 20 verbs, 20 adjectives (you can keep going with this... places, things, character names...) in each jar. Every time you need a starter, pull one slip of paper out of each jar.
DID YOU KNOW? In groups, brainWRITING before discussing aloud, is a good idea. Otherwise, early, possibly mediocre ideas, tend to take over in everyone's minds, and the group never gets to the really creative ideas.
It might help to have everyone bring their ideas (or BEGIN by writing their ideas) on sticky notes. Then they can all be posted and everyone can look over all the ideas before beginning to evaluate them.
It might help to have everyone bring their ideas (or BEGIN by writing their ideas) on sticky notes. Then they can all be posted and everyone can look over all the ideas before beginning to evaluate them.