If you are struggling for inspiration in your writing then simply let your imagination take over. By brainstorming, you can let your random thoughts run wild and see what comes out.

Simply pick a general subject and write down the first things that come to mind. After exhausting your brain, go back to the page and find out what you wrote, you should find something inspiring to work with.

In this guide, we will ask; what is brainstorming in writing? We will also look at how to use brainstorming in writing, how brainstorming could improve your writing, and where you may have experience brainstorming before.

What Is Brainstorming In Writing?

Brainstorming is a version of free writing that can be ideal when you need inspiration. If you have a general idea of what you want to write about then brainstorm it and it should help narrow down your ideas.

This can be in a stream of consciousness so your ideas flow out onto a page and you can pick which ones to chase. Every single idea could be acceptable and the idea with brainstorming is to let them all out. 

How To Use Brainstorming In Writing

Once you have noted down all your ideas from brainstorming, it is time to make sense of them. Take the time to look over your ideas and try to organize them to, in effect, sort them out.

They were once random thoughts but now you can create something constructive. You could end up crossing the most outlandish ideas out to go with the ones that make the most sense and the ones that will be the easiest to flesh out.

You will need to choose a general subject or key concept to get you going and that could be a theme that you are struggling to develop.

Whatever it is, it should be one word or statement that you should write down clearly on a page or on the screen. Highlight it to make it stand out then focus on the word for a few seconds, even minutes.

Once you are ready, let the ideas flow out of your brain and write (or type) them down in a flurry.

Once you have exhausted all the ideas from your brain, look at what you have come up with. Some of these ideas can be further developed in prewriting where you can use a more specific prompt and then brainstorm that into something useful and more focused.

You could come up with a series of questions related to the one general subject that can help you delve deeper into it. Make sure that you edit your brainstorm as not all of the ideas that have come out may prove to be useful and it can be about quality control.  

Where You May Have Experienced Brainstorming Before

If you have not tried brainstorming for writing, you may have already experienced it before. The technique can be used in a business meeting to come up with inspiring ideas.

You may have even seen a whiteboard covered with statements in a film or television show. Perhaps an episode of Mad Men where the marketing team is trying to come up with new ideas for a particular product to impress Don Draper.

It could be on a whiteboard or it could be on a flip chart where ideas are noted down on each page. 

How Brainstorming Could Improve Your Writing

As a preliminary step in any writing project, you should try brainstorming. It could help bring out all the possibilities and ideas that you can work with before you begin to flesh it out.

Remember that the alternative is to start writing in earnest and hoping that what you write works. 

After a few pages, you could realize that it is not quite working the way you want it to and have to start again. If you find that your writing is heading into a rut, take a step back and try to use brainstorming as inspiration.

Once you have some fruitful ideas, work with them, and see where it takes your writing.

Final Thoughts

Brainstorming can be a really useful tool to use when you need some inspiration in your writing. Perhaps you need some new ideas or prompts and brainstorming them out can help writers to work out what they need to focus on in their project.

To make the process more useful, try not to think too much about it and note down everything that pops into your mind.

It may not feel particularly serious or useful at that point but once you look back on it, whatever you have put out could be further developed into something you truly value in your writing.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why Is Brainstorming Considered So Important In Writing?

Every writer can suffer from writer’s block from time to time and it is important to step back from the page and get inspired again.

The act of brainstorming can aid writers to generate a plethora of ideas before they begin to put pen to paper or type out some more words.

This is a useful technique to help lessen the effects of writing anxiety, especially with an upcoming deadline. If you need to focus your attention on a certain topic or subject then brainstorm it out and pick the most appropriate prompts or ideas.

What Are Some General Tips For How To Make Brainstorming Work?

In order for brainstorming to work, you have to use the technique properly. That should be just acting and not thinking as you should be going with your gut to find some helpful ideas and prompts.

Concentrate on the quantity first as you will revisit your ideas to edit them for what works after you have finished and it should loosen you up creatively.

Finally, do not take it personally if some ideas get shot down as there should still be some good ones remaining in there.