by Jerry Curtis

Created on: July 18, 2010

At the risk of torturing a metaphor, one could say that brainstorming is the best way to "blow away" writer’s block. Brainstorming is rather like an internal conference where the writer throws out ideas that lay undeveloped, but nevertheless are jotted down, captured and allowed to grow. Here are some tips that have helped me through my times when my “writer’s well” seemed dry. They are presented in no particular order, because brainstorming is a rather disorderly process:

Preventing the “false start.”

Use brainstorming as a way to scratch the itch that urges you to “get on with it.” The “false start” is nothing more than an attempt to arrive at a finished writing product well before your ideas or thesis are developed. Writers know that there is something salutary (and even cathartic) about seeing the ideas in the imagination morph to the printed word, even if the ideas die at birth in the wadded up paper next to your typewriter or printer.

So the advice here is simple. Engage in brainstorming for its own sake. It is a time saver and rounds up all your ideas, even the ones that are off-track.

Let chaos reign.

You may have attended group brainstorming sessions when a moderator stands in front of the group and writes down every idea that is thrown out, no matter how ridiculous or off point. Comedy writers do this for a living. Also, jurors who are contemplating the guilt or innocence of an accused use brainstorming with especially serious consequences and using the chaotic process that somehow comes together with the best verdict they can produce.

When brainstorming for writing, then, use a process I like to call “chaotic focus.” The chaos is the product of ruling out nothing; the focus comes from knowing your subject based on your own experience, research, and your own unique perspective. Perspective, in the end, is what makes writing your own and welcomes your reader to your world.

Write it down and use pen and paper!

Whether you’re a “bubble head”, a “bullet freak,” or an anal-oriented outliner, you’ll need to write those ideas as fast as they arrive. “Good” ideas are like fireworks: We get them and have an “aha!” moment, but if we don’t jot them down right away, they become lost or blurred. (Some writers carry a notebook with them constantly.)

The advice here is to actually use a (gasp!) pencil or pen and actually write

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