Feeling Stuck in Your Story? Embrace the Power of Ideation
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
All writers know the feeling (I had it this morning). You get to the end of the scene you planned, and then...
What?
You don’t know.
What are your characters supposed to do now? What should happen next?
Even if you’re a Plotter and not a Pantser, this can be a problem. Even if you have an Inside Outline, you might still get stuck. Maybe the scene you just wrote deviated from the plan. Maybe what you thought would come next is feeling stale and boring. Or maybe you are just making it up as you go along.
In my scene, the main character has to take on all the baking responsibilities after the real pastry chef falls and breaks a hip. And I know she has to come up with a killer idea for a baking contest. But what comes between? No clue.
Last week I wrote about concepts from Designing Your Life, and another that is applicable to writing (or any creative process) is what designers call ideation. Designers are always figuring out stuff from scratch. They have a problem, and they have to figure out how to solve it. There’s usually no map to tell them where to go, or how to get there. Sound familiar, writers?
Even if something worked for a previous book or a previous scene, that doesn’t mean it will work now. Ideation is the process of coming up with ideas – lots and lots of ideas – to hit on one you’d like to try that you think might work.
I love this approach because it allows a ton of flexibility and freedom. It's easy to get stuck on the idea that there will be One Perfect Idea, and if only we can come up with it, all our problems will be solved. If we don’t come up with The Perfect Idea, we fear we’ll somehow ruin the book, or at least not make it as good as it could be.
If we’re at the first draft stage, there’s no harm in trying a new direction. Part of a messy first draft is trying ideas, and seeing what they add to the story.
If we’re revising, it can feel riskier. What will happen if I make a change now? I know this scene isn’t really working, but... I don’t want to have to rewrite a bunch of other scenes to make this one work. (News flash: You probably will have to rewrite some scenes. That’s what deep revision is.)
Bill Burnett and Dave Evans have two rules for Ideation:
You choose better when you have lots of good ideas to choose from.
You never choose your first solution to any problem.
It’s tempting to come up with a solution and say, “Aha! That’s it! I’ll go with that!” You think “first idea, best idea.” In reality, it’s probably the most clichéd idea. You can go deeper, and broader. Wild and crazy – why not? You just might get the breakthrough you need.
How to come up with all these amazing, wonderful ideas?
First, relax. Take a breath. Have faith that you will find an idea that excites you.
Then try one or more ways of generating ideas. The trick is - don’t censor yourself! Any ideas are fine, no matter how out-there they seem.
Make a list of 50 things that could happen next. Yes, 50. Your first bunch of ideas will be the obvious ones, the easy ones. Don’t be afraid to go wild here. “A cow walks into the room.” Okay, whatever. Next!
Set a timer and freewrite on it for 15 minutes. Do it longhand for best results, and don’t take your hand from the page. There’s something about that kinesthetic mind-body connection that sparks creativity. “I don’t know what to write when Maddie is left alone in the kitchen for the first time. She bakes, she bakes, she bakes. A bear breaks in. No, a guy. Should there be a guy? Who is he? He’s the handyman. Is that too cliché? Who cares? Next...”
Mind map. Mind mapping is a visual representation of all the ideas you come up with. It usually starts with your central question or statement in a circle in the middle of the page. Then you free-associate ideas, connecting them with lines leading out from the central idea. Any time a big idea comes up that has its own sub-ideas, circle that and keep working from there. See How to Make a Mind Map for some examples.
Explore new tropes. Try the Narrative Trope database, or Genre Tropes. What are tropes? They are storytelling devices that that the audience will recognize, but they aren’t (necessarily) cliches. They can be a great basis for fresh twists to a story. Understanding, and then cleverly subverting, tropes, is a great storytelling technique. There are tropes for setting, plot, and character. Besides, who doesn’t want to check out tropes like “Applied Phlebotinum” or “Hate Sink?” Pick a trope at random and sketch out a scene featuring that trope.
Try Story Dice. You can use this free online Story Dice program, or buy a set on Amazon, or download it as an app. This will be really random. You can challenge yourself to integrate whatever comes up into your story. If I combine my baker character with the romance story idea, and get a hamburger in the story dice, maybe I write a scene where she gets hungry and wanders out to the kitchen where the new chef makes her a “hamburger special.” Hearts start fluttering, google eyes ensue.
The point of all these of course, is to PLAY. Bring back your sense of fun and adventure, without pressure. You may or may not use anything you came up with in your story, but it might be a great springboard or clue that leads to that Aha moment.
I like the idea of adding a slow-burn romantic subplot to my story. There may not be a hamburger involved, but I got a fun idea for strawberry picking... and some poison ivy... or maybe that bear will make an appearance.
Poet Robert Frost said, “No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.” Taking the time to generate lots of ideas and play with them in bold new ways is exactly what you need when you’ve hit a creative wall.
Have you tried any of these? Are there other idea-generating activities you swear by? Let us know in the comments!
If you like this, head on over to the Contact Page and sign up to get my weekly email featuring tips on creativity, productivity, and the writer’s craft.
