How do I think this "stuff" up? - Part 1

I expect every author gets asked one question more than any other: Where do your ideas come from?

I wanted to post about the creative process for that very reason, everyone wants to know about it.  The problem is, naturally, that to encapsulate the entire process into a single blog post seems an impossible task.  But since I never shirk from the impossible, I'm going to change the rules and make it happen.  As the title of this post implies, this won't be a single blog post, but a short series of posts, in which I attempt to explain my creative process.

Today's post is not so much about the overall process, as it is about a very important piece of the process that occurs over and over while shaping a character, a plot, a setting... any part of the story.  It's a technique and the rules around it's application come straight out the business world: Brainstorming

Yes, storytellers were probably using this method to craft their fireside entertainment since the beginning of spoken language, many millennia before it found its way to a conference room, but that's where many of us have heard this term.  The lucky ones were taught to use it in school.

What do I mean by brainstorming?  It means simply letting ideas flow without judgment.  Notice the words without judgment.  If after every idea popped into my head, the next thought was that's stupid, I'd never get anywhere.  Are some ideas stupid... well, sort of.  Maybe stupid isn't the right word.  Let's say that not all ideas are usable.  That's more like it.  But might the next idea that was actually a twist off of the original idea be usable?  The only way to know, is to let it flow!

Example: When I was crafting a particular character for the book I'm currently writing, I already knew a lot about him but not all of it made sense at the beginning.  I already knew that he'd left home for school and then stayed away to work and that it was, at least in part, to get away from his family.  But I didn't know why.  I also knew that he didn't own a car; he used public transportation.  Nothing wrong with any of it, but why?

Then, I had this unexplained idea about him in my head, he talks to trees.  Stupid idea, right?  Well, let's see.  As I thought about it, I realized that he doesn't talk to them all the time while walking down the street with people around, and he certainly isn't expecting an answer.  He just likes to get some of his stress out by talking to the trees in his backyard.

After I heard the monologue in my head, this guy to his tree, he suddenly started to round out a little and gain some depth.  His family background started to take shape.  The family is in the lumber business and that explains why he left home to work, he doesn't agree with what they do for a living.  He's an environmentalist, although that's not his profession.  Now I know why he doesn't own a car!  If I had shut down this idea of talking to trees, I don't know that he'd ever have made any sense.  I might have even scrapped him and tried to start over.

That one idea, unusable at the beginning, became a definition for this character and his past.  (I promise he doesn't spend the entire book talking to trees in his backyard.)

All because I didn't say no to the idea immediately.

If you're a writer and having problems with any pieces of your story, I can't recommend brainstorming enough.  Do it by yourself... on paper... into a recording device... with a trusted friend (who will play by the no judgment rule)... in a group... on a walk... listening to music... in silence...

So, where do I start my brainstorming?  I'll write about that in part 2.  

For now, give yourself the gift of judgment free brainstorming and tell me how it's working for you.