In this week's Quick Tips we're tackling brainstorming and writing creativity.
Tip 1: You are what you eat so consume good content.
Tip 2: Capture and expand on your ideas.
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Welcome to the Author Wheel podcast. I'm Megan Haskell, award-winning fantasy author of the Signoria Chronicles and the Rise of Lilith series.
Speaker 2:
And I'm Greta Boras, USA Today bestselling author of the Morticia Murders and the soon-to-be-released Almost True Crime series. Together, we are the Author Wheel. Our goal is to help you overcome your writing roadblocks so you can keep your stories rolling. Today, we're gonna dive deep into brainstorming.
Speaker 1:
One of the most common questions writers are asked is how do you come up with all of your ideas? I can't even begin to say how many times I don't think I could count how many times I've heard that question from non-writers.
Speaker 2:
Yeah me either.
Speaker 1:
And it's really hard to answer because we don't usually know. But what we do know is that allowing ourselves the space and the time to be creative and run free is critical to that creative process. So, greta, what is your first tip this week?
Speaker 2:
Well, my first tip is you are what you eat. I think that was a book a long time ago. So our tip is actually consume content. Right, watch YouTube videos, watch TV, watch movies, read books, lots of books. Now, consumption doesn't necessarily need to be in your genre, although you definitely should be consuming your genre, like you should know what is the hot topics, what's the hot goss going on in, whatever your genre is. But go outside your genre too, because we can get great ideas from other genres and those things might make your work more unique and more interesting. Um, a quick thought that just came to me uh, is that one of the things that inspired my mortician series, which really is a paranormal mystery, is the tv show I zombie, which is not a paranormal mystery, very far from it. Right, it's kind of like a comedy, horror and but that main character in that show.
Speaker 1:
Would you call it a cozy horror, greta sure I like that.
Speaker 2:
A cozy whore, absolutely so. The main character in that TV show if you haven't seen it, she's hysterical, the actress is outstanding. Anyway, she becomes a zombie and nobody knows it and she gets a job working in the coroner's office because, as all zombies do, office. Because, as all zombies do, and she only eats brains. But when she does eat the brain of a person she actually kind of almost channels that person for like 24, 48 hours and she's so funny because she's this pretty little blonde. And then she'll eat a brain of you know some dirty old man and she'll act like a dirty old man for the whole episode while they solve the mystery of who killed the dirty old man you know, and I just thought that was kind of fun.
Speaker 2:
So that helped to inspire my mortician books. So you see, you can get ideas which have, by the way, is one of the reviewers called weird in the best possible way, so they're not your normal fare in the cozy mystery. So, all that to be said, consuming content really does spark your creative brain and if you're feeling dry, especially if you've got that writer's block thing going on, read, watch, listen. We had Paula Judith Johnson on. She's a romance writer. It was season five. Episode six went out on February 12th 2024. She got writer's block for some personal reasons. Things went on in her life and she just couldn't write. What she finally did was make the time to read other people's books and that's what got her creative juices flowing again and got her going. Yes, so that is tip number one.
Speaker 1:
Absolutely. But tip number two is that once you have those ideas, you have to capture them in a way that both retains and expands on the initial idea. So my personal favorite tool is the mind map. I have this huge whiteboard in my office that I draw on practically every day and I start with a single element. It could be a character, it could be a piece of the magic system, it could be a trope, whatever it is. But I start with a single concept, a single element, and then I start connecting ideas in bubbles around that main concept. And there's no judgment here, anything goes. I ask questions, I write down the answers or possible answers. Maybe that's not the final thing, but maybe that would work. I don't know. Oh, maybe that would work. And that all goes down on the board. I make new connections, I draw diagrams, I draw symbols for my magic systems, whatever it takes to keep those ideas flowing. And then, when I'm done or when the board is full, I take a picture on my camera or on my phone and I file it away in an album on my phone for easy reference in the future. And if it's particularly good or relevant, I can import it into my writing software and I use Scrivener for that, so you can just import the image and put it right in your research folders that it's just right there whenever you need to go back to it. That one's especially good for the magic stuff when you are trying to, you know, stay consistent over time.
Speaker 1:
But mind maps and whiteboards aren't the only way of capturing and expanding on your ideas. You can use a journal. You can create a vision board, either in real life or like on Pinterest or something like that. You can write character essays. Whatever works for you and for your brain is great, just so long as it both retains and expands on the information in your head. You don't want to lose any of that, and no idea is ever wasted. Even if it doesn't get into this current book, it might make it into a future one. So hang on to that stuff Now. If you'd like more ideas about you know, brainstorming and planning your novel, or if you want to see my mind maps in action, you can check out our course Layering your Story World, or pick up the companion book, the Author Wheel Quick Guide to Planning a Novel and if you're enjoying this podcast, please consider supporting the show.
Speaker 2:
At the bottom of each episode's show notes is a link where you can throw us a couple of bucks. You would be surprised. Your support just even a couple of bucks a month really will help us cover the ongoing expenses, like hosting and editing, that are critical to the creation of this podcast. And not only can you pat yourself on the back and feel like a good citizen for supporting us, we will also give you a shout out and you get to hear your name on the air, which is obviously going to be the thrill of your day. But if money's tight and that's not a possibility, another way to support the show is to leave us a five-star review and then share your favorite episode with a writer friend. Until next time, keep your stories rolling.