One of the most herculean tasks of writing a novel is coming up with an idea i.e. brainstorming. The market for authors is truly huge and there is no space for small ideas. The publishing companies (if you are interested in traditional publishing) receive thousands of manuscripts every month and if you want to get your manuscript to turn into a published novel then you have to stand out in the thousands of manuscripts they receive. Fiction and non fiction both need to have big ideas and that is what makes this phase of writing a book very challenging. Well, I like this phase a lot because I feel we can bring out the creative person in us. We can just go off the limits and think our best for our book.
There are mainly two types of brainstorming for writing a book (both fiction and non-fiction). I don't name each type of brainstorming particularly but I feel they both themselves are effective in their own way
1. We usually get ideas on a daily basis. We have a toothbrush in our mouth and suddenly we do get an idea about something or we get various ideas when we are travelling in a bus or subway. My approach in this situation is to jot down the ideas in my phone on Google Docs as they will be accessible whenever I sit on my PC or laptop to check them. Just jotting them down wildly helps a lot later. There is no need to write sentences which are grammatically correct but they should be understandable. If you do not use phone for writing it, then I would suggest the use of a notepad to write it. I do a lot of brainstorming this way and then sit down a place later and analyse them down. Example : I am traveling in a subway and I get an idea that the protagonist should have a great sword with some inscriptions on it to look cool, then I just open my mobile phone and type " Hero cool with a great sword and inscription." in Google Docs and just forget about it. When I sit down to write my novel according to the daily schedule, I just open it and then just look at what I've written and then think about the idea and recollect it. I then write down my idea into the Outline document on my laptop. I do it this way and it has proven to be much effective for me. Ideas can just pop up anytime and make sure you can just jot them down into any writing device or a notebook and that will payoff later
2. The second way is a little bit different from the first one. In this way, what happens is when you go and sit at your writing space (your home, library or a coffee shop) to write your book, you want to get ideas for writing your book and you do get. As soon as you get some idea you just type it in your laptop or write it in a note book or a notepad. You literally think everything sitting in the same place and you do get some amazing ideas. I have followed this for a long time but I have shifted to the first method as I feel it is more comfortable for me. But it all depends on the individual on how he likes to brainstorm. the second way is a little bit stressing one and I felt it too. You sit down at the same place for like 3 to 4 hours thinking about the ideas and then drain yourself out. The best way to avoid this syndrome is to take regular breaks while you are brainstorming. I used to take a break after every hour. Go out and take a stroll or drink a cup of tree or coffee as that would increase your productivity. My advice would be not sitting for long hours brainstorming things as it would eventually decrease you productivity and would drain you.
These are the two types of brainstorming effectively according to me but there might be many other methods too which I am not aware. I now predominantly use the first method as I felt it is more comfortable and compelling for me but it all depends on you how you handle your brainstorming session. Any method you choose but it shouldn't be in a such a way that it would drain you completely and the only way to avoid draining yourself is by giving yourself regular breaks at regular intervals. The intervals also depends on yourself. Some people tend to have more breaks and others and it is completely fine until you are productive.
HAPPY
WRITING
