Brainstorming to Story Building

Got words on a page? You do? Well, that qualifies you as a writer.

Promotional photo from the 1940 film His Girl Friday featuring Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, and Ralph Bellamy.

But I’ll admit, the writer’s game drives me kind of cuckoo. There’s so much advice out there about overcoming writer’s block and finding inspiration, but little on how to construct a solid story. Even reading the best advice of bestselling authors, you’ll find more on overcoming resistance than a blueprint for how an actual author—actually writes.

“Have you had enough motivation and inspiration?
Maybe you need useful tools to help you structure and organize the ideas you’ve already written. ”

I don’t know about you, but I don’t need any more damn inspiration. I’ve got ideas for fiction stories, three memoirs, a one-act play, a series of how-to guides, and more travel articles than I have money to take trips.

Screw the writing prompts and timed free writes. I’ve got creativity crawling out of my ears. And I’ve had to just say no to the motivational movements of producing more, more, more.

What I learned I needed most—and what you may need, too—are useful tools to help you structure and organize the ideas you’ve already written.

So, where do you find that kind of magical mojo?

You may be well beyond your English 101 lectures, but did you retain everything from your school days? Should you crack open those dusty, old textbooks and try to regain some insight on building a 5-paragraph essay and using the present perfect tense?

No? I didn’t think so.

As a new high school English teacher, I scribbled “tried and true” advice in the margins of student papers.

“Show, Don’t Tell” or “Use Active Voice” screamed out to my kids in red ink. The problem was I gave no clear directives. Shame on me.

Are you hearing that same guidance from well-meaning critique group members or your circle of amateur editor friends? They may be encouraging your writing without giving you any specific direction on how to make their suggestions stick. It wasn’t until I became a developmental editor (after years of research) that I learned how to give my writing some revisionary might.

That’s why I created the Naked Page. I was damned determined to break down all the components of the writing process. From brainstorming beginnings to a finished, publishable work, I aim to get us all on the right—write—track!  

So how in the world are you supposed to take all those ideas from journals, scraps of paper, or your smartphone and structure them into a full manuscript? And once you do that, how do you turn a rough draft into a publishable memoir?

Ask and you shall receive.

Open sesame.

Any more idioms we need to add?

First things first.

Let’s establish where you are in the writing process. This is key.

If you’ve never, ever put any writing down on paper or on your computer, you need to learn how to be creative without editing yourself first. This is phase one of the writing process.

Back in 2013 when I started my career as an editor, I was also working with LGBT youth. I met and mentored Bobby who loved all things Disney. My greatest teacher to date, Bobby introduced me to a style of brainstorming used by Disney Imagineers called the Blue Sky Process.

I’ll give you the gist. The goal is to not limit your ideas. Think: the sky’s the limit.

I’ll add to it:

• Convince yourself that nothing’s off the table. Write down anything you think or feel, no matter how unworthy or bizarre it seems. Give yourself permission to get all your ideas down.

• Writing is fine, and so are doodling, coloring, and graphs. Use any method that will unleash your imagination.

• Going solo works well as does a multi-person brainstorming session. Stay open to the ideas of others.

• Walking away when you get tired can actually be effective. Take a nap. That time between sleep and wakefulness can be the catalyst for some of your best creations.

If you’re brand spankin’ new to writing, you can start with this open-ended brainstorm where you let your creativity burst forth in any way it so desires.

Or you can sign up for NaNoWriMo in November and try your hand at writing 50,000 words without editing.

“Don’t stay in this primary phase too long. That’s the biggest mistake a writer can make. ”

This phase may be your primo creativo— see, it’s got me speaking in Italian for no good reason! But this introductory phase of pumping out ideas must move you to the next level. Without advancing your craft, you’ll never shape any of that stuff into fully developed stories.

I see it every day in one of my online writing groups. There’s a swirl of what sounds like sage advice prompting you to produce more and more content. It’s like Farmville on speed. Grow. Grow. GROW! Your writing.

It’s inspiring, it’s addictive… it’s… a dog chasing its tail.

Unless you find a way to make your writing work for you, you’ll be drowning in ideas.

Many writers believe all you need to be a real writer is unbridled creativity. Or they think their job is to free-write and let someone else edit for them. As if the rest of the writing process is technical, not creative.

Nonsense.

The structuring of your words is where real creativity meets necessity. And we all know who’s the mother of that figure of speech.

Ask yourself: what are you looking to invent with your creativity?

Just getting a bunch of free-flowing ideas down is fine. But if you refuse to organize them, their only job will be to harbor dust at the bottom of your desk drawer. Or to take up space on your computer.

“Creativity needs containment.”

Say it loud and say it proud.

At some point, you’ll need to move that brainstorm into a structured story. This organization is essential.

I can’t tell you what kind of story you should write, but I can point you in the right direction.

While I never fancied myself much of a fiction writer—I like real-life stuff—some ideas are just better placed within the context of make-believe.

For instance, a bullfighter kept showing up in my brainstorming sessions. No matter what I wrote, he wouldn’t let go of me. He was a perfect metaphor for the grotesque and chaotic aspects of life. He didn’t belong in my memoir, so he wound up as the protagonist of his own short story.

This happened again when I was working for the airlines as a flight attendant. I was so broke, I often didn’t have enough money to eat. A married couple materialized—starving farmers in a post-apocalyptic world trying to survive after all their crops died. Despite never envisioning myself as a playwright, these characters were craving a one-act container. I had studied the structure of plays as a theatre student. The format fit. And the play nearly wrote itself.

“Writing is like having kids. You have to parent each project differently. ”

If you’ve got no idea what genre you want to write, consider how close you’d like to be to your material.

Different moms use different parenting methods to make their lives easier. Some of my friends relish homeschooling and how it gives them a close connection to their children. I love my daughter, but I won’t lie. Her first day at pre-school made me want to blast George Michael’s Freedom ‘90. I was finally able to write more than a sentence without being interrupted. Plus, it made me happy to see my only child make friends and claim her independence.

There’s no right or wrong here. But you’ll need to decide how you’ll parent each creative project.

For example, writing a memoir in first person point-of-view and present tense is about as up-close and personal as you can get. We’re talking about running the movie of your life past you as if it’s happening in real-time. Can you handle that?

Of course, you can always get distance between yourself and a story by writing in the past tense. But will that take you out of the action and slow the story’s pace?

Maybe you’d prefer to fictionalize a factual account and write it in the third person POV to keep the material at arm’s length. Or vice versa, you could always detail a fictional story in the first person to take that made-up experience to a realistic level.

Pick one idea from your brainstorm and consider giving it some structure.

What verb tense might work best?

• Past: Writing as if the events have already happened.

• Present: Writing as if the events are happening now.

• Future: Truly a weird way to write, but it might work for you. (I’m currently on the hunt for a story written in the future tense.)

Choose a point of view:

• First Person: Using “I” statements.

• Second Person: Using “you” statements. An unusual choice, used for things like giving directions or recipes.

• Third Person Limited: Using “he, she, it” statements. The narrator is limited to the world of the main character

• Third Person Omniscient: Using “he, she, it” statements. The narrator has a Godlike perspective over the story, seeing and knowing everything.

• Unreliable Narrator: If you want to psychologically mess with your readers. Not really for memoir. Think Girl on A Train.

Consider a genre:

• Memoir: This is not an autobiography. We don’t need to know all the details of your childhood unless these moments inform the bigger theme. Think of a memoir as a slice of life. A significant event within a small scope of time usually inspires a memoir.

• Creative Non-Fiction: There’s controversy as to what constitutes this genre. But taking factual events and making them read like fiction is the basic premise. New journalism, personal narratives, and some self-help go here.

• Fiction: Do you have an experience that hits too close to the bone? Maybe shaping it into a fictionalized story where you can make up some elements is the ideal genre. (I include fiction because many writers who think they want to write memoir find fiction to be a better fit.)

After I brainstorm, my material gets thrown into one of two buckets. Later, I categorize each piece of writing from each bucket into more specific genres. You can do this, too.

Here’s an example with the subcategories defined:

Bucket #1: Real-Life Stuff About Me

(Non-Fiction)

• Short personal essays for magazine articles

• Travel writing pieces

• Book-length memoirs

• Interesting anecdotes to add to my biography & blog posts

Bucket #2: Big, Shiny Images & Metaphors, and Concepts about Other People

(Fiction)

• Short stories

• Plays

• Erotica

• Mysteries

• Historical fiction—writing about places I’ve traveled where I want to incorporate elements of history, but still have enough wiggle room to write without limitations.

If you’re just starting to build up a story, don’t underestimate categorizing your initial notes and free-writing as a useful tool.

“A Note on Undefinable Genres:
Do you want to be published?
If you’d like an audience to read your work, they must be able to find you.
This means a potential reader must be looking for a specific genre, theme, style, or similar author to locate your writing. Hybrid genres are fine, but if you consider your work too unique to be put into a category it may never find its audience.”

To more easily assess the containers needed for your writing, ask yourself some guiding questions:

• Is this a personal anecdote or am I trying to make meaning out of a bigger concept?

• Do I use the first-person point-of-view? For instance, do I use “I” statements when I’m describing things? Or does this story feel more like it should be told from someone else’s perspective in the third person POV?

• How close do I want to be to the material? Can I handle writing about my real life in real-time or do I need some distance?

• Where would I like to see my writing end up? And who can I envision reading my work?

• What keywords could I use to describe my writing?

Once you’ve placed some or all of your work into categories, you can dig deeper. This is a good time to think about your long-term plan for writing.

Do you want to build up your street cred by publishing smaller articles in trade journals and magazines before tackling a non-fiction, self-help book? Or do you like the idea of writing short fiction stories? Maybe you want to dive in now and write your memoir. Or maybe you should build up interest in a memoir by starting a blog first? What about using a platform like Patreon to release a fictional series over time?

I’d advocate for most writers to work on shorter pieces before building up to a hefty manuscript. Not only will this teach you solid story structure but having smaller pieces you can submit to publications means you can gain some interest in your author’s platform first.

“A place that can be a launching pad for learning storytelling is writing your author’s bio.”

Another place that often gets ignored, but can be a launching pad for learning storytelling is writing your author’s bio. Lots of people will farm this task out to a copywriter, but why? Your website and your author’s biography are great devices for showcasing your storytelling style.

Just keep in mind you aren’t rehashing your résumé here. Repeat. Your author’s bio shouldn’t read like some lifeless list of accomplishments. You’ve got to show off your craft to creatively build the story of your life.

An author’s bio might even be the first story your audience reads. So, treat it the same way you’d tackle any other piece of writing:  

• Brainstorm first

• Categorize it

• Build it up to a turning point or climax

• Revise it until it’s a well-told work of art

I’m a huge believer in the author’s bio. That’s why I’m in the process of creating a class on how to write your best one. These are not generic bio-writing lessons, this class is based on the documentary film Obit. We’ll examine how you can apply the skills of New York Times obituary writers to your own biography.

You haven’t lived until you learn How to Write a Killer Bio! Hang tight for more updates soon.