#brainstorm book

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Brainstorming ideas for your book is a huge, albeit first, stepping stone. Before I considered I might need to, well, actually plot my plots, my stories always tangled into nonsense or, worse, wound to a close without saying anything much. Why? Because my story brainstorming was off. I would come up with a vague idea and launch into writing; inevitably, the resulting stories lacked sense and depth.

[ ~ through the dark, through the door ~ ]

Although it’s tempting to skip to your favorite part of the process—the writing—you’ll get better results if you decide on a few key elements first. And considering the ease, and speed, with which I wrote my most recent short stories, I’m now convinced this 5-step method is a vital part of the process.

1. Genre

I seem to get into a pickle very quickly if I don’t choose a genre first, because as I write the endless possibilities of plot direction become overwhelming. Genre narrows your options, and that works in your favour.

Writers usually suggest you begin by writing in the genre you read most, and that’s good advice. Occasionally though, by choosing a genre we’re less well-versed in (assuming we read widely in other areas) we can end up bringing a fresh perspective. I don’t read a lot of horror-genre books, so when I wrote my short story Doll’s House, for example, it ended up having a romance-twist that works quite well.

2. Truth

Some people would refer to this step as “theme” but I don’t think that’s clear. Sure, you might be writing a story about a man who collects snails that’s really about the theme of love, but what is it precisely you want to say about the nature of love?

The truth you want to get across could be something detailed as how you think people should behave in an argument or expansive as what you believe happens after we die. It doesn’t matter; what’s important is your truth is something you believe will give the reader something to ponder beyond the action of your story.

Ordinarily, you’ll communicate this idea by the protagonist learning it at some point along their inner journey. In my short story Bitter Lemon, for example, the truth explored is that you don’t have to stay trapped in an unhappy situation: there’s always another way—but only if you’re brave enough to take it.

3. Character

If your protagonist is compelling, your readers will be interested in following their story; that holds true whether they’ve stayed home in a moth-eaten dressing gown for 5 years or they’re travelling the world, expensive leather suitcases in tow.

But what makes a character compelling? Complexity and inner turmoil catch the reader’s attention, because that’s something everyone can relate to.

You can obviously do a deep-dive into your characters by asking yourself everything from their favourite foods to their bedtime, but if you want to work quickly and still make them compelling, ask yourself these 3 questions:

What does your protagonist desire? (This is the thing they think they want or believe will make them happy.)

What are they afraid of? (I.e. what is standing in the way of them achieving their desire.)

What is their misbelief? (What about life or the world do they not yet understand.)

This last point should be the opposite of your truth and will give you the opportunity to explore it by taking your protagonist (or even antagonist) on a journey of self-discovery.

I’m currently writing a short story, for example, where the protagonist desires to be independent after the death of her husband but is afraid of facing the world without him. Her misbelief is that he was the “important one” and that’s she’s nothing without him, but through the story she’ll realise the truth was very far from what it always seemed.

4. Location

Always choose and research a location to anchor your plot ideas; it will literally ground your story.

When I wrote the short story Doll’s House, I spent a lot of time pondering the location: a pair of isolated cabins in remote Scottish woodland. I thought about what birds might be around, what the weather would be like, how cold it might be during the winter season, how the sky would look. Considering this before I started writing helped the story flow.

You could also find collecting images and research about your story location in on place, like for example Pinterest, helps spark inspiration.

5. Mood

Possibly the most delicious step of the process is deciding on a mood for your story. The quickest way to do this is to just pick a few words that you want to characterize the story’s vibe.

This will typically tie in with step 1, genre, but it’s also a chance to experiment. Your contemporary thriller could be tense, exciting and fast-paced but it could also be funny, romantic or heart-warming.

As with location, this is another great opportunity to make a mood board that expresses the feeling of your story. I often even scroll YouTube for an ambient soundtrack that captures my story’s mood.

Some people believe creativity should be unhampered by structure, but I’ve experienced the opposite. Structures like this 5-step brainstorming process provide a framework that helps our ideas flow and, more importantly, ensures they have depth.

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve's Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

This book has a pretty simple origin - I wanted to write about my Brainstorm Book technique.

In short, for awhile I'd been keeping what I called a Brainstorm Book. I used this notebook to write down ideas, think them over, save them, or action them. It's pretty simple stuff, but I'd built a system around it, and that system worked. I had found a way to keep my inspirations going, analyze them, and bring them to life effectively.

(I still fondly recall a gentleman who brought his kids to a con I spoke at, and then heard me, and used my idea not for writing, but for security reviews).

I'd done some blog posts about my Brainstorm Book system, but had updated it over time, and figured it was best as a book. That's what I'd like to talk about.

Here's why I figured my Brainstorm Book techniques fit, well, a book.

THE BOOK STRUCTURE FIT: The way a book is organized just fit the system I had. Sometimes things are just best as a book (print or otherwise, for sale or otherwise).

IT FORCED ME TO ORGANIZE MY THOUGHTS: This was a side effect. I figured the structure of a book fit, then I realized how I had to organize my thoughts better.

A BOOK WAS ACCESSIBLE: I had enough information and ideas to share, and these were concepts that people would want to review over and over. A book encourages review and re-review, and I didn't want people to have to come back to my blog.

IT FIT MY OTHER WRITING: I had been writing about creativity, so this book was perfect for the series. Plus it encouraged people who looked at my other works to check out this system and get ideas.

I'm pretty happy with the book. People can get access to my ideas in a useful form, and apply things that helped me. Sure, it's not my bestseller, but that's not the point.

If you have something in another form - blogs, videos, etc. consider what other forms it could be in. Sometimes a good idea is best realized in something other than its original media. In this case, the Brainstorm Book was a good example of that.

Steven Savage

www.StevenSavage.com

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve's Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

Let's catch up on my projects!   It's been a lot of "more of the same."

So what have I done the last week(s)?

A Bridge To The Quiet Planet: The print copy  is out and you can check out this free world guide - and I've been working on various marketing setups.  More of that to come.

Agile Creativity: I'm working on a print copy of the book!

Way With Worlds: The city book continues to be written!

Brainstorm Book: The Brainstorm Book is out! - and it's got wide distribution!

Seventh Sanctum: I've worked on some updates that should come soon.

What's next?

A Bridge To The Quiet Planet: Contacting plenty of reviewers.  Then a break probably.

Agile Creativity: I hope to sign off on the book this week!

Way With Worlds: Still writing of course!

Seventh Sanctum: Deploy a new generator and a few more updates.

Steven Savage

www.StevenSavage.com

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve's Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

My Brainstorm Book posts are done - for now - as of this post. I wanted to explain a bit about how they were part of a larger project.

Lately, I wondered about what I call "bookblogging." Taking a subject, exploring it in blog posts, and using that as a way to draft out parts of a book. This way I get feedback, I get insight, I share things over time, and thus can ensure the ideas become a more effective book.

Also if it turns out my idea is awful or not suited, well, I learn that too!

My Agile Creativity was the first experiment to do this deliberately (Way With Worlds was a kind of afterthought), and as that book approaches launch, it seems to have worked out. The Brainstorm Book posts here, rewritten and expanded with what I've learned, will be another book in a month or two.

I'm not sure if this'll work, if it's a good idea, or what, but it's going to be a fun experiment. I'll probably be posting more thoughts on what I learned.

- Steve

www.StevenSavage.com

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve's Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

We're talking how to solve your creative challenges with a Brainstorm book!  Last time I discussed how to record your ideas and track them.

Of course I assume you’re actually getting things done during this time by whatever method of productivity you choose. So let’s talk what to do to follow up once you get things done.

Signoff

Make sure you have a way to look at one of your projects and say “yeah, that’s done at least for now.” This way you can confidently say you’ve completed what you set out to do. This could be something as solid as a published book, or as ephemeral as a website update you know you’ll change tomorrow. Learn how to say “this is done.”

Defining “Done” means you can complete work. You can evaluate. You can deliver a product. You can relax. “Done” is vitally important to define – so do it as early as possible, including as early as possible when you’re maintaining your lists of all these ideas.

When you do decide something is “Done” have your Brainstorm Book handy – that “Done” will probably inspire other ideas.

Plus you get the peace of mind of something being over.

Retrospectives

It’s important to have a regular Retrospective – a review of how things have gone. I recommend two times to do them – in fact, I recommend both:

First, do a retrospective after any big project completes.

Second, do one after a period of work. For instance if you plan things out by month, then review every month.

On a Retrospective review the following:

What went well?

What did you have problems with?

What work took more effort to do than expected and what work did you miss?

After this review, you should actually ask what concrete actions will you take in the future to make things run better. This could be doing things you did right more, it could be fixing things, it could be staying aware of issues.

Retrospectives help you understand how you brought ideas to life, and how work went from a scrawl in a Brainstorm Book to being real. They spawn new ideas and help you understand your creative process.

Plus each time, you get better.

Success List

Finally, keep an success list. Every month list out what you achieved that month to move your plans forward. That should include:

Any major achievements and successes in your plans.

Making distinct progress in one of your projects.

The completion of a project.

Anything you’re particularly proud of.

Reviewing your successess helps you see the results of your actions, appreciate them – and provides you reminders that you can get these things done. It builds habit of self-reinforcement.

All those ideas in your Brainstorm Book? This is when you see that you can make your dreams real.

You’re Not Done Until After You’re Done

Always remember that your brilliant ideas aren’t done when they finish. You want to take time to figure out how to end them, how to review them, and how to learn. That helps tie together all you did and all you learn and all you do at the end.

It’s important to have these kind of closing rituals to know you’ve ended things correctly. And of course, you’ll come up with new things to do or tweak my ideas – good.

Keep learning because even though things are done, creativity doesn’t end . . .

- Steve

www.StevenSavage.com

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve's Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

We're talking how to solve your creative challenges with a Brainstorm book!  Last time I discussed how to review it - so new we talk getting active and using all those notes.

You’ve got a Brainstorm Book, you put ideas in it, then sorted them into various groups. You have your Archives, Incubator, Backlog, and Current Backlog. So, now what?

First, with the Current Backlog is self-explanatory – you’re doing that now. That’s your “getting things done in the near future” thing – and if you don’t have a system to do that, I have a free book for you.

But let’s talk the rest of the lists.

Using The Archives

The Archives are where you put ideas you like, but aren’t sure if you want to do. Of course, what do you do with them since they kinda sit there.

As you add to them in each Review, consider the following:

Are any of your files, documents, piles of ideas getting too large? Then take the time to purge them and cut out things you no longer care anymore.

Does anything look like it’s worthy of promoting to the Incubator? If so, go ahead (it’s not like you can’t remove it later).

Do you care anymore about a given set of ideas or interests? If not, find a place to just store old files in case, or outright delete them.

The rule I use with Archives is “is there any value in keeping this?” When there’s not, get rid of it somehow.

After awhile, you may find these things getting overlarge and need to do a review. Do this every six months, and set a timebox to an hour.

Using The Incubator

The Incubator is your “want-to-do-but-not-sure-when” box. It’s things you haven’t yet put on your schedule but are sure you’ll probably want to do.

Review the Incubator once a month for an hour – if you want, you can do it as part of one of your regular Brainstorm book reviews. While reviewing it do the following:

Reorder it. As you insert new items into it, or just go over it, see if you want to change any priorities.

Remove items. If something seems relevant to you, then delete it – I wouldn’t even put it in the Archives. If it was important enough to put here but you lost interest, you probably won’t care again.

Move an item to the Backlog. If an item is something you’re sure you want to do, move it into your Backlog – and put it in the proper order.

Move an item to your Current Backlog. If something seems ragingly important, you may want to have it on your short-term to-do list. I don’t recommend this unless there’s a good reason.

Do it and get it over with. If it was real simple and can be done in a few minutes, do it. In fact, you probably should have done it before.

As always, keep the Incubator in order of priority – with nothing of equal importance. That forcing-the-issue will really help you keep track of what you want to do and set your priorities.

Using The Backlog

The Backlog is where you keep your definitely-going-to-do items. Again, in order of importance – however there’s an important difference. By the time something gets to the Backlog, you’re probably already thinking of how to break it down into pieces of work. If you’re not, you should, because a lot of great ideas take time to do, so you don’t do them all at once.

So remember, as you keep your Backlog and polish it, feel free to start prioritizing the parts of things you want to do. Maybe make the priority also reflect chronological order. Maybe think of what’s the most important stuff you can do first.

EXAMPLE: You really want to write and publish a short story. That can be broken down into several “stories” on their own – writing out the plot, doing the story, editing, etc. By the time that story idea hits the Backlog, you can break it down, in order, and maybe even have an idea of when you want to do things (which also affects order).

Review your Backlog once a month, and whenever you think you should. I usually find I look at it once to three times a month as I get new ideas, or review my Brainstorm Book, or get new feedback. Your Backlog is your roadmap to the future – take it seriously.

When reviewing consider:

Do I even care about this item? Some items may not be worth doing after awhile. You can send it to the Incubator, but usually if you put something into the Backlog and then stop caring, you’ll never do it. You learned how much you really want to do it by saying “not now.”

Should I move this item up or down in priority? Remember, if you’ve already broken an item down you might just shuffle parts of it. But either way, as you review, things may suddenly seem more important – though as you get used to a Backlog, I find that changes less.

Should I move anything into my Current Backlog? Maybe it’s time to start doing something now. So do it.

Do it now. Again, sometimes you just get it over with.

Using The Current Backlog

Well, this is the list of stuff you’re trying to do right now so you’re probably looking at it daily. I’ll assume you’re fine here.

As You Review . . .

So you’ll find yourself reviewing your past brainstorms, you’ll most likely find that you’re having new ideas as well. Which is good, but kind of annoying as you’re busy.

This is of course great because, hey, new ideas – plus you see that your imagination is working away. But again, you’re busy.

What I do is take these ideas and put them in my Brainstorm Book so I don’t get distracted, unless the idea is so absolutely stunning it must go in my documents. You have to make the judgement call, but I’d say err on the side of caution and jot it down for later.

Why Actively Managing Your Documents Matters

You’re now regularly reviewing the documents that are . . . created from your Brainstorm Book reviews. So why do these matter to you?

You’re able to re-review your ideas. This keeps them in mind and helps you appreciate them, analyze them, prioritize them, and reassess them.

You’re able to polish a long-term plan in increments. Instead of developing some huge, doubtlessly unlikely-to-succeed plan all at once, a plan to realize your ideas emerges over time. Its’ more likely to succeed.

Because you review your ideas, you now see that, yes, you actually have good ideas. This builds confidence in your imagination and helps you overcome fears of being creatively blocked.

Since you’re re-prioritizing all the time, you’re keeping yourself from being overwhelmed with ideas. In time, these documents will grow, and you’ll not just see how imaginative you really are, you’ll use them to keep yourself from going overboard.

Finally, looking at past ideas will inspire you with even more ideas. Which you will, of course, review . . .

By now you have a Brainstorm Book system. However, I have a few more ideas for you.

- Steve

www.StevenSavage.com

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve's Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

We're talking how to solve your creative challenges with a Brainstorm book!

Now that you have a Brainstorm Book and are filling it with ideas, you need to review it. When you review it, you'll go through the contents, go over your ideas, and figure what to do with them. That means coming up with a review schedule - but also coming up with a way to organize these ideas.

Your Review Schedule

First, set up a time to review your Brainstorm Book. You want to find a schedule that's going to work best for you and not drive you up a wall. I recommend one of the following two choices:

Do it every 2 weeks regularly.

Do it twice a month on regular times that makes things roughly equal distance. (I recommend the 5th and the 20th).

Now it's OK to, now and then move the time around a bit, but don't get too radical. Good, solid, regular review should become a habit so you make the time to do it.

But what do you do? Well, when you review you need to set a few things up in your notes. Let's get ready for a review.

Preparing for a Brainstorm Book Review

Remember, set this up before your review begins.

When you review a Brainstorm Book, you’ll sort ideas into four separate files. Now that may sound like a lot, but bear with me. Here’s the four ways I keep ideas.

Archives - A collection of files that are things written down that you might refer to one day. One file can be enough, though you may want to divide them into general lists (stories, cooking, etc.)

The Incubator - This is my list of things you want to do some day, but aren’t sure when. Keep them in a list in order of importance – and no item can be of equal importance to another.

Backlog – Things you are definitely going to do. These should also be listed in order of priority. In many cases you’ll start breaking down work here because you know it well enough.

Current Backlog - What you're committed too now. As an example I plan my work in monthly increments, so it’s a month of things to do.

Yeah, it sounds like a lot, but I keep the Incubator, Backlog, and Monthly backlog in the same spreadsheet.

If you're familiar with Agile methods, specifically Scrum, some of this may look familiar - that's because it comes from a mix of my own experience, Scrum, and the Getting Things Done method of David Allen. I sum this up more in the next chapter but to give you an idea:

I use my personal version of Scrum, where I plan work monthly. Every month I determine what I can do (from my regular tasks and Backlog) and then commit to that. Then at the end of the month I re-evaluate.

(You can also get a detailed guide here)

Now you know what you have toset up, let's talk about how we use the review.

Reviewing Your Brainstorm Book

When you sit down to to a Brainstorm Book review, commit to taking one hour to do it. You may not use all of the time – but sometimes you will. You may also find yourself needing to go over, which is fine, but if it’s a habit you may want to get more efficient.

With that time set aside, do the following:

First you take your Brainstorm book, and go to the latest page that needs revieweed (I mark pages as I review them). You look at the idea or ideas there and decide what to do with each:

Ignore It - The idea may not be worth it or isn't as great in retrospect or you weren't sure what you wrote down.

Archive It - It may be something you want to write down but there's no place for it. Put it in an Archive file.

Incubate It - If it's an idea that you really see value in, really want to do, then put it in the Incubator. However the Incubator is ranked in order of priority as noted - so you have to put the idea at the right priority. You might reshuffle the entire list (this is why you may need an hour)

Backlog It - If an idea is really important, really must-do, put it in your Backlog - and again, put it in order of priority. If the idea is maturing, take some time to flesh it out more - you may break it into parts – another reason you may need that hour.

Current Backlog - If an idea is that important, that necessary (or that awesome) put it in your current backlog so you get to it soon.

Do it now - If it’s going to take a few minutes, why not just get it over with?

Simple, isn't it? You look at ideas and determine how important they are, then put them in the proper areas. It's intended to be simple because we don't want to overcomplicate this. Next chapter, we'll talk how to use these gatherings of ideas in more detail.

Why The Review Matters

Now that you've started to do your reviews, why are they helpful? Well, first after a review or two you'll see why they matter, but heres a quick summary:

You don't loose ideas or worry about losing ideas. You record them twice over to make sure you have them.

By seeing your inspiration you'll be able to trust it to help you. Even if there are problems in being inspired, you now can see them, address them - and know when they've worked.

Analyzing your inspiration helps you understand how you think. You may find ideas repeat, or that certain days are better than others.

You can get re-inspired. When you look at your ideas, they don't just come back to you, new ideas form. This further helps you understand how you think and have confidence in your imagination.

Reviewing them like this is the start of deciding what to focus on. By sorting items into different lists (or discarding them) you start prioritizing already.

This prioritization helps you get ready for long-term planning to bring your ideas to life. In fact, that's the next chapter.

- Steve

www.StevenSavage.com

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve's Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

Last time I discussed the many creative challenges we face - and how I solve it with a Brainstorm Book.

At it’s simplest the idea of the Brainstorm Book is that you have something you write ideas in, and then extract them at a later time. I’ve got specific methods and ways of doing this that make it extremely effective.

But before we get to those methods let’s get to the Book

Finding Your Brainstorm Book

For your Brainstorm Book, find one that is a reasonable size, that you can easily carry around in your pack/pocket/purse, and that you can attach, clip, or stick a pen in. You want something you can get to at a moment’s notice and start writing.

Usually, I go for books that are about 4” x 6” - they fit into anything but art still large enough to write in. You may find that other sizes and features fit you. However, for the first time don’t go waiting, go get a Brainstorm Book now.

You can always get a new one when this one is filled up – and it will be.

Note I only say one Brainstorm Book. In general, I avoid carrying more than one Brainstorm Book at a time so I have only the one book to go to. You may find that more than one is needed, but start with the one – I will discuss these cases later.

Let’s keep it simple.

Using The Brainstorm Book

So you’ve got this thing, now what do you do with it?

Keep the Brainstorm Book with you at all times if possible – and make sure a pen or other writing instrument is with you as well. If you have trouble doing this, find ways to keep it close -or think about a smaller book.

The reason you keep the Brainstorm Book with you is that as soon as you have a worthwhile idea, you do the following.

Put a date at the top of the page – so you know when you had an idea.

Jot the idea down immediately in the Brainstorm book. If you have several ideas it’s fine to put them on the same page if it’s the same date.

You don’t have to flesh the idea out in detail. The goal is not to explore it but to record enough information for you to reconstruct the idea in your head.

If you can’t write it down, take a note elsewhere, send yourself an email by phone, what ever you can do. Just get it back in the book as soon as is reasonable.

This is simple – you’re recording your ideas. But it raises two questions – what is worthwhile and what is enough information.

Deciding If An Idea Is Worthwhile

How do you know that the inspiration that just waltzed into your brain is worth putting into your Brainstorm Book? On some days we might be writing in our Brainstorm Book for hours, and we have stuff to do.

First and foremost, when in doubt, write it down – especially when starting out. Get the ideas out of your head because you’ll review them later. The habit of writing down ideas is important.

Secondly, most of the time you’ll just know an idea is good. You’ll feel something line in in your head, with your goals, with what you like. Some ideas just feel right – those should be written down.

Third, pause for a moment and ask if there’s any value to the idea – to yourself or others. An idea may need to be analyzed more before it’s value is apparent, or you’re not sure, or someone else may like it. If there’s something useful there, even if you’re unsure, record it.

In time, recording inspirations is something you’ll get better at. It’s a skill you develop.

But while recording them, we also ask just how much detail is needed.

Proper Level Of Detail In The Brainstorm Book

Next, you decide to record an idea – but how much do you write down? Some of us can get an idea and go on for ages with it. Some of us have.

I record the right amount of information I need to reconstruct the idea in my head – essentially to re-inspire me. That inspiration didn’t vanish when you wrote it down and went back to other things. That idea is still in your mind, you just find what words and phrases help bring it back into your mind.

Most essential wild ideas can be recorded in a sentence or two. “Color code our department workflow by skillset” and “Steampunk dragon fighters of the Old West” may be all you need to write down. Again, you’ll find what works for you personally – and on an individual basis for each idea.

If more detail is needed – or is present in your mind – go ahead and record what seems reasonable. However, there’s really no border between thinking over an idea and developing an idea. You can, easily, find yourself lost in your latest inpiration, creating pages of thoughs.

You need to make the call how far you have to go and should go – and how valuable the idea is. However I like to separate the “detailed fleshing out” from the “writing down the idea” so I can get back to whatever I was doing and not be distracted. Such an attitude also helps us get better at reconstructing deas.

Why The Brainstorm Book Matters

If you do this for a few weeks, you’ll probably notice some if not all of the following happening to you:

You worry less about not being inspired because you see your inspiration at work each time that book is opened.

You get more inspired because as you write ideas down – and see past ideas – more ideas come to mind.

You’ll worry less about losing ideas – because you’re writing them down.

You focus on what ideas are worth it early on – allowing you to find more inspirations or avoid distraction.

Because ideas are being recorded, you can get back to other things you were doing.

You gain a better understanding of how to record information so you can recall ideas later.

Just having this book helps removes many of the fears that plague creative people as noted earlier.

But it’s not just recording things. Next we’ll talk about how to review it.

- Steve

www.StevenSavage.com