Brainstorming
Brainstorming is essential for good writing. Research shows people who spend time
coming up with ideas always write better than those who take the plunge. Thus, I would
suggest using a specific brainstorm method. Try one of these:
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| Clustering is taking one central idea and coming up with any and
every thought about it without limitation. This is visual type of brainstorming, as you
would put your central idea in the center of your page, draw a circle around it, then
branch off from it with your different thoughts. When you run out of steam, you stop
writing and review what you have written. More often than not, you will find one idea has
more thoughts "clustered" around it than others. That would be the topic and
starting point of your essay because you have the most to say about it. Then when writing
your actual essay, you would refer to the cluster to keep your thoughts flowing.
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| Listing is the next type of brainstorming. Here you operate in the
same manner as the cluster, except you "list" all of your ideas as they come to
you, just like you might do with a grocery or things-to-do list. The object, again, is to
keep the ideas flowing. When you really think you have no more thoughts on the topic, you
review the list and try to come up with different categories, then put like ideas
together. Obviously if you spend adequate time on a list, you will see what you have the
most knowledge about. This will also help weed out the information that does not belong in
the essay.
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| Freewriting, commonly known as non-stop writing, another form of
brainstorming, requires that you sit for a certain amount of time, usually ten minutes,
and write everything you know about your topic. Again limiting your thoughts is not a good
idea. If it comes into your head, put it down. Do not worry about spelling, punctuation,
grammar or anything but capturing your thoughts! |
At first, if you are not used to brainstorming, this might seem like extra work, but I
guarantee you, writers who spend time in this stage of the writing process always produce
better essays with more ease than those who blindly rush in.
Also you might want to remember writing comes easier if you have something to say;
therefore, experiences that have changed your life in some way will be easier to write
about than what you did yesterday (unless of course you had one of those life changing
experiences.)
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