Brainstorming in Bits and Pieces

Brainstorming doesn't always have to generate entire stories. In fact, I believe it's the bits and pieces of brainstorming that lead us to the bigger stories.  The following brainstorming activities will generate Bits and Pieces. They may not generate a whole story, but the bits and pieces may spark something that could turn into a story. 

Homophones

http://www.homophone.com/

Use this website to find homophones that could be used for catchy titles that involve word play.   For example:

Ball and Bawl  (Cinderella’s Bawl)

I and eye 

Ate and eight

Pain and pane   (The Window’s Pain)

Go through the list of homophones and write down an entire list of some that could be possibilities.

What other titles could you come up with?

More Word Play

For more wordplay titles try thinking of  fairy tale or familiar phrases.

Then change one of the words in the title or phrase that sounds the same.

For example:

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Goldilocks and the Three Chairs

Goldilocks and the Three Hairs (Haha..did she lose all her golden locks?)

Goldilocks and the Three Hares

Goldilocks and the Three Bewares

More Fairy Tale Remakes

We know if we write these, they have to be truly original with a fresh take or spin and not simply a retelling of the same story.  So consider what could make it different.

Character-  Giving the character a different want.

Instead of Cinderella wanting the prince and the ball, maybe she wants to be a rock star instead.

Or instead of Cinderella being a girl, how would it change if she were a boy?  Or a goat? Or a dinosaur? Or a pirate?

Setting- What would Goldilocks and the Three Bears be like if it were set in NYC?

What else could you change about the fairy tale to make it original?

Concrete Nouns

Brainstorm a list of 50 things that interest you. However make sure the things are concrete and not abstract. For example (daisy, salamander, sunshine, shadows, pink nail polish, glazed donuts).  This exercise is to get you thinking concretely. But also to see what it is that you like. And one thing might spark an idea for a story or character. Try putting several of them together and see where it takes you.

First Lines

Brainstorm  a list of 10 first lines. They don’t  have to have a story and they don’t have to make sense. Just close your eyes and write.  By freeing yourself from the obligation or commitment of figuring out an entire story you are free to discover anything.

Here are a few examples: (Although they may not all be picture book worthy.)

http://webs.anokaramsey.edu/wrobel/2241/Exercise%20Mats/firstlinesfrompaststudents_examples.htm

Random Word Collecting

Open up a dictionary and just for fun write down words that you find concrete or fun or interesting. This may not lead you anywhere, but then again you never know.

Word Web or Focused Word Collecting

This is actually one of my favorite things to do.  If I know I want to write a story about, let’s say Monsters, but I really have no idea what the story is…I will start by word webbing (or word collecting) by using a thesaurus.  So I would start writing down as many words as I could think of that are related to the monster: (It’s best to use all parts of speech: nouns, verbs, adjectives etc…) 

Monster

Scary

Ugly

Wart

Hairy

Roar

And then, I would take my thesaurus and start looking up those words.

Monster – Huge, Giant, Monstrous, Gigantic, Ogre, Beast, Brute, Freak

Scary- frightening, creepy, chilling, terrifying

Ugly- horrible, unpleasant, dreadful, horrid

Wart- lump, growth, mole

Hairy- bushy, bearded, furry

Roar- rumble, thunder, crash, snarl, boom, growl, grumble

Then continue looking up synonyms to the synonyms. 

This is a great exercise for adults but also for students. It gets them thinking about words that they could use in their writing that they may have never thought of.   And it also exposes them to lots of vocabulary in a very authentic way.

Digging Up Dialogue

It’s great to collect snatches of dialogue you hear, especially from children.  But you may not have the opportunity to be around children.  If you are, I would sit and simply write down anything funny or creative or off the wall they say. Sit and listen to them and just write.

But if you can’t, what can you do?  You could watch kids cartoons and randomly write down funny lines you hear.  This may spark an idea for a character.

Or- go to pinterest like I talked about before and go to some of the inspirational character boards.

For each one, just think of one line of dialogue for each character you see. Think: what would this character being saying now?  What would they say in school? In a grocery store? In a toy store? At recess? Etc…

Most of the exercises on this page were borrowed from this website:

http://webs.anokaramsey.edu/wrobel/2241/Exercise%20Mats/trigger_exercises.htm

There are many more to check out. It’s well worth it. 


Which ones do you think you will try out this week?