#writer brainstorm

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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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