Brainstorming Your Writing
How’s your writing going? Hope you’re getting some words down and that the creative juices are flowing.
I’m almost at the end of my novella draft – which is a good thing since I have a January 31 deadline. As mentioned a few posts back, I’ve never written a novella before so it’s certainly been a huge learning curve. Condensing a whole plot down to a third of its usual size means you have to make sure the story moves at a quick pace, and that the characterisation is a lot more concise than usual. Using a short time period for the events to take place and minimising backstory have helped with both these tasks.
Apart from the craft lessons, it’s gotten me back into a regular writing habit. While I’m still cutting it fine, the pages I’ve revised slightly as I’ve gone along and I’m always more confident about my revision skills than my ability to come up with a plot. So next week’s revision schedule doesn’t get my stomach rolling as much as the thought of finishing the draft.
One thing that’s been soooooo helpful this week has been brainstorming my plot with my writing buddies. I’m fortunate to be in a wonderful writing group – The Inkwell – with a bunch of supportive women writers, and last weekend we had our yearly kick-start retreat. I didn’t have any pages ready to share so I ran through my plot points. We discussed how to fill the holes, and came up with some new ideas to incorporate into the storyline. While it did mean going back and changing a few things I’d already written, it’s made writing the last section so much easier and has also reassured me that it’s not as bad as I thought it was!
Brainstorming with fellow writers and talking through plot points is a fantastic way to get the story straight in your head, iron out kinks and check in to see if some of those crazy ideas you’ve come up with actually fly. You still have to be prepared to share your story – which can be nerve-wracking in itself - but if you’re doing this a trusted friend (or friends) who is also a writer, it can be really inspiring.
The great thing about brainstorming is you can do it in person, on the phone, or on zoom. But remember to have a notebook handy, or even record the conversation - I can't tell you how many times I've walked away from a session thinking I could hold all the information in my head and then promptly forgot!
How do you go about sorting through a messy plot? Is brainstorming part of your writing repertoire? Would love to hear your thoughts in the comments.Have a great writing week.
PS: If you're looking for ways to get readers turning the page places are now open for my Turn Up the Tension online course starting March 1st. I'm really excited about the way this course is shaping up and can't wait to share it with writers as I know how game-changing an injection of tension can be. Find all the details here on my website
