Ever felt like your creative well has run dry?
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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Episode Transcript
Welcome to the Author Wheel podcast.
I'm Megan Haskell,award-winning fantasy author of
the Signoria Chronicles and theRise of Lilith series.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
And I'm Greta Boras, USA Today bestselling author of
the Morticia Murders and thesoon-to-be-released Almost True
Crime series.
Together, we are the AuthorWheel.
Our goal is to help youovercome your writing roadblocks
so you can keep your storiesrolling.
Today, we're gonna dive deepinto brainstorming.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
One of the most common questions writers are
asked is how do you come up withall of your ideas?
I can't even begin to say howmany times I don't think I could
count how many times I've heardthat question from non-writers.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Yeah me either.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
And it's really hard to answer because we don't
usually know.
But what we do know is thatallowing ourselves the space and
the time to be creative and runfree is critical to that
creative process.
So, greta, what is your firsttip this week?
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Well, my first tip is you are what you eat.
I think that was a book a longtime ago.
So our tip is actually consumecontent.
Right, watch YouTube videos,watch TV, watch movies, read
books, lots of books.
Now, consumption doesn'tnecessarily need to be in your
(01:25):
genre, although you definitelyshould be consuming your genre,
like you should know what is thehot topics, what's the hot goss
going on in, whatever yourgenre is.
But go outside your genre too,because we can get great ideas
from other genres and thosethings might make your work more
(01:48):
unique and more interesting.
Um, a quick thought that justcame to me uh, is that one of
the things that inspired mymortician series, which really
is a paranormal mystery, is thetv show I zombie, which is not a
paranormal mystery, very farfrom it.
(02:11):
Right, it's kind of like acomedy, horror and but that main
character in that show.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Would you call it a cozy horror, greta sure I like
that.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
A cozy whore, absolutely so.
The main character in that TVshow if you haven't seen it,
she's hysterical, the actress isoutstanding.
Anyway, she becomes a zombieand nobody knows it and she gets
a job working in the coroner'soffice because, as all zombies
(02:42):
do, office.
Because, as all zombies do, andshe only eats brains.
But when she does eat the brainof a person she actually kind
of almost channels that personfor like 24, 48 hours and she's
so funny because she's thispretty little blonde.
And then she'll eat a brain ofyou know some dirty old man and
(03:06):
she'll act like a dirty old manfor the whole episode while they
solve the mystery of who killedthe dirty old man you know, and
I just thought that was kind offun.
So that helped to inspire mymortician books.
So you see, you can get ideaswhich have, by the way, is one
of the reviewers called weird inthe best possible way, so
(03:27):
they're not your normal fare inthe cozy mystery.
So, all that to be said,consuming content really does
spark your creative brain and ifyou're feeling dry, especially
if you've got that writer'sblock thing going on, read,
watch, listen.
We had Paula Judith Johnson on.
She's a romance writer.
It was season five.
(03:48):
Episode six went out onFebruary 12th 2024.
She got writer's block for somepersonal reasons.
Things went on in her life andshe just couldn't write.
What she finally did was makethe time to read other people's
books and that's what got hercreative juices flowing again
(04:09):
and got her going.
Yes, so that is tip number one.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Absolutely.
But tip number two is that onceyou have those ideas, you have
to capture them in a way thatboth retains and expands on the
initial idea.
So my personal favorite tool isthe mind map.
I have this huge whiteboard inmy office that I draw on
(04:36):
practically every day and Istart with a single element.
It could be a character, itcould be a piece of the magic
system, it could be a trope,whatever it is.
But I start with a singleconcept, a single element, and
then I start connecting ideas inbubbles around that main
concept.
And there's no judgment here,anything goes.
(04:56):
I ask questions, I write downthe answers or possible answers.
Maybe that's not the finalthing, but maybe that would work
.
I don't know.
Oh, maybe that would work.
And that all goes down on theboard.
I make new connections, I drawdiagrams, I draw symbols for my
magic systems, whatever it takesto keep those ideas flowing.
And then, when I'm done or whenthe board is full, I take a
(05:21):
picture on my camera or on myphone and I file it away in an
album on my phone for easyreference in the future.
And if it's particularly goodor relevant, I can import it
into my writing software and Iuse Scrivener for that, so you
can just import the image andput it right in your research
folders that it's just rightthere whenever you need to go
(05:41):
back to it.
That one's especially good forthe magic stuff when you are
trying to, you know, stayconsistent over time.
But mind maps and whiteboardsaren'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.
(06:02):
You can write character essays.
Whatever works for you and foryour brain is great, just so
long as it both retains andexpands on the information in
your head.
You don't want to lose any ofthat, and no idea is ever wasted
.
Even if it doesn't get intothis current book, it might make
it into a future one.
So hang on to that stuff Now.
(06:22):
If you'd like more ideas aboutyou know, brainstorming and
planning your novel, or if youwant to see my mind maps in
action, you can check out ourcourse Layering your Story World
, or pick up the companion book,the Author Wheel Quick Guide to
Planning a Novel and if you'reenjoying this podcast, please
consider supporting the show.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
At the bottom of each episode's show notes is a link
where you can throw us a coupleof bucks.
You would be surprised.
Your support just even a coupleof bucks a month really will
help us cover the ongoingexpenses, like hosting and
editing, that are critical tothe creation of this podcast.
And not only can you patyourself on the back and feel
(07:06):
like a good citizen forsupporting us, we will also give
you a shout out and you get tohear your name on the air, which
is obviously going to be thethrill of your day.
But if money's tight and that'snot a possibility, another way
to support the show is to leaveus a five-star review and then
share your favorite episode witha writer friend.
(07:26):
Until next time, keep yourstories rolling.
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