Why Brainstorming Fails Writers

A Better Way to Develop Your Novel

Ever since I was an elementary school teacher, I’ve been a proponent of brainstorming as a way to develop writing ideas. I have been a fan of all the various types (webs, sticky notes, charts, free-writing, etc.) of brainstorming since, essentially, it involves thinking about the idea and its possibilities–during this process, no idea is a bad idea. And how can that be wrong? But what if the very process we rely on to spark innovation is, in fact, stifling it? For my next couple of posts, I will look at both why it’s not a helpful method for writers and why it is. I’m going to start with why it might not work well for writers.

The birth of brainstorming and the flawed promise

The concept of brainstorming was popularized in the 1940s by advertising executive Alex Osborn. His idea was simple: gather a group, suspend judgment, and let ideas flow freely. The belief was that collective, unfiltered thinking would yield more creative results than individuals working alone.

It sounded brilliant. Unfortunately, science has shown it doesn’t quite work that way (I’ll explain why later). But the deeper problem was that even if it did, brainstorming was designed for groups, not solo creators. Writers adopted it anyway, applying the same…