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Brainstorming
Submitted by Vylar Kaftan on December 30, 2007 - 10:32pm.
Any good story brainstorming tips? What do you do in order to make a blank page or screen less scary? How do you get out of that moment where you just can't think of anything? Talk to someone, let it rest, take a bath, make lists...?
I find researching like mad
I find researching like mad helps me. I read and read and read about something. Then I go do something else. Often enough, stuff just starts to connect up right before me, and then it locks into place and I've got a network of ideas to explore.
I also find that a nice hike up the mountain near where I live helps. (Old mountain, not very high, a little tough going in spots but not so hard that a fit grandma can't beat me up the slope.)
One of the useful things I learned at the workshop was that often, one idea by itself doesn't necessarily gain traction, but when you have two ideas layered, especially two ideas that seem like they wouldn't go together, you can find all kinds of neat linkages and a really worthwhile story can come out of that.
http://gordsellar.com
I'm also a big researcher.
I'm also a big researcher. I find that I research much more than goes into a story, but I don't regret the time. First, I usually find what I'm researching interesting. Second, even though the info doesn't go into the story, the background gives my writing a confidence I might not otherwise have.
Two ideas paired together
I definitely agree about pairing two ideas which seem unrelated. Discovering how they could fit together often inspires a story.
Vylar Kaftan
CW '04, Clarion West Forum Master
http://www.vylarkaftan.net
I definitely follow the
I definitely follow the paired/multiple ideas philosophy, too. As for research, I don't do anything focused enough to call it research at the idea-generating stage (that comes after I have at least a bit of an idea), but I find that browsing through the library, generally the science sections, is a great way to spark those two or three ideas that will then lead to research and from there to a story. Generally, I have a backlist of ideas that haven't found their spark yet, so new browsing can find a mate for those wayward ideas...and then I mix several metaphors together while trying to explain how that becomes a story.
When writing for Touched By
When writing for Touched By An Angel, our Exec. Prod. Martha Williamson would put three lists on the board. Two with storiy ideas and one with a location. The thought was to combine two story ideas and set them in an unusal location.
I do the idea combo thing in wirting my short stories as well.
Debbie