Brainstorm
Embrace the joy of brainstorming. It's a process I love, filled with cool ideas that may not all work out, but some are definitely keepers. And even the ones that don't stick around forever can lead to even more fantastic ideas. It's a constant process, and I encourage you to enjoy it as much as I do. Never fix your story in concrete so that it cannot morph. A new and better idea is always around the corner or waiting for you at 2:00 in the morning when you wake up with that idea you never expected.
I love working in my head. It’s much easier than working on paper. The ideas don’t even need to make sense, but when they come to you, something about them has a germ of truth. Write them down. Keep them. Think about them. They may lead to something even more impressive if they aren’t what you need (even though you don’t know it at the time). Embrace brainstorming throughout the entire process of writing and rewriting a project.
Brainstorming, by its very nature, is a liberating process. It's a boiling chaos that eventually leads to clarity, much like walking out of the fog. Enjoy this freedom. It's like the daydreaming I did in school when I should have listened to my teacher. Ideas float in from nowhere. Little things that happen during the day cause ideas to emerge that seem to have no relationship or bearing, yet from deep down in the subconscious, they do. Write them down before you forget them. Whether you think you need them now or not, write them down. The moment of getting a brainstormed idea is not the time to judge it. That will come later.
It's crucial to capture your ideas. While a thought may seem vivid to you now, I assure you that twenty minutes from now, you’ll lose part of it and its relevance, and it won’t be as shiny as it was when you first thought about it. I get snippets of things in my head, as you do. It is essential to write them down as they come, but then later, put them in a single file so you know where everything is related to this project. If you don’t, you’ll have a messy mess of Post-it notes and backs of gas station receipts that you will lose, forget about, throw away, or put in a box, never to see them again. I guarantee if you don’t put them in some orderly file, once again, you will forget them. Too many ideas are swirling in your head to rely on memory. Write them down. If you don’t write them down immediately, I promise you will never remember them. They come to you like a dream, and, like dreams, we rarely remember them in the morning.
I find, as an active writer, that I’m constantly brainstorming. Sometimes I can’t turn it off. I brainstorm about the project I am working on, which I think I have figured out, but now I have a better idea. I brainstorm about a project I hope to work on later. Inspiration hits, and I brainstorm about a project I’d never thought about but suddenly see clearly in some way or another. I’m constantly juggling. These things are like mosquitoes on a damp, Southern night. They come from everywhere. You’ve had this, too. It’s 3:00 A.M., and you went to bed at 10:00 P.M. You never go to sleep because these ideas keep coming; you keep writing them down on the tablet that you always keep them beside your bed. Do not try to remember them. You’ll forget them, and they’ll be lost forever. The only thing to do is turn on the light and write them down or practice writing in the dark. And the ideas you get? Much more important than sleep. Don’t fret about the lack of sleep. Just keep soaking up these ideas, grabbing them like fireflies, and putting them in your jar when they circle by you.
I’ve had projects I’ve got files for that I’ve been working on for years, and I’m still brainstorming them. Some of them, I’ll forget are even projects. Then I’ll get an idea and remember that potential story idea, and I’ll have to add that new thought to the folder. It never stops. The brain is incredible, especially that dark sea that flows beneath what appears to be the solid land of our consciousness.
And remember, as you brainstorm, that nothing is set in stone. You can always change your mind. Brainstorming for me is like when I paint with oils. I’m an amateur painter, and I love oils because they don’t dry like acrylic or watercolor. For days even, you can go back, change the brushstrokes, remove that section with a palette knife, or, if it is dry, cover it over with something else and bury the less-than-stellar presentation, even changing the brush strokes so that what was underneath is permanently replaced by a better idea as some brainstorming ideas are only the foyer to a room full of gold. Brainstorm, change constantly, evaluate, stand back and look at it, brainstorm some more, leave it for a few days, brainstorm some more, and through the process, you will find you have created a masterpiece worthy of any museum. The important thing, though, is as you get an idea, write it down. If you don’t, I’ll bet money that the idea’s vitality or memory will be lost forever. In those crazy ideas, there are diamonds. Keep them all.
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