Thanks for your thoughts and comments last week. Loved seeing your excitement about getting into a brainstorming group. It really can be a blessing unlike any other. So how do you go about getting started? Well, first, let’s take a look at the ground rules for effective brainstorming. There are several of them, so this week we’ll consider the first three:
1. Steep your sessions in prayer.
Say it with me now: The most powerful thing I can do is pray. Drives me crazy when I hear people say things like, “Well, I guess all I can do is pray for you.” Hel-lo! There’s no more powerful action than prayer! So when you’re ready to jump into this world of brainstorming, the place to start is…you guessed it: with prayer.
From the beginning, Brandilyn Collins (who had the idea for our group) covered every step in prayer. As did we all when we joined. Submit your desire for brainstorming and fellowshipping to God. Ask Him to guide you to the right brainstorming partners. I have no doubt that each of the women in our group was chosen not by us, but by God. There’s just no other explanation for the amazing blending of personalities and hearts we share now. And be open when a name comes up and your response is, “Really?” God knows who we need far better than we do.
When your group is set, bathe the sessions and preparations in prayer. We start each session with someone sharing a devotion and a prayer. There is always such wisdom in those devotions. But let me say this: be open to God changing your mind about what you’ll share! Gayle DeSalles, one of our brainstorming group is probably the most prepared person I know. She’d been working on her devotion for the group for weeks, maybe even months. But the morning she was scheduled to share, she sat down and said that God had told her to share something different. And what she shared was stunning. The truth and power of her words struck us all, leaving us in tears. You’d better believe our focus was on God from the get-go, all because Gayle was open to God’s leading.
Be open to Him. Submit every step to His guidance and blessing. And oh! How wondrously present He’ll been during your times together!
2. Trust is essential.
Say it with me, now: No one is here to steal my story. In point of fact, they’re there to know your story inside and out, and to help you refine and strengthen it! I know that building trust takes time, and that many of us who enter into brainstorming sessions do so with people they don’t know well. That was the case with me when I started with this group. I knew a few of the writers well, but others I met for the first time when we gathered. I was okay with that, though, because I knew and trusted Brandilyn—and because it was so clear to me that this was where God wanted me.
Starting out, your trust isn’t in the people in your group. It’s in the God who draws you to the group. The longer you’re together, the deeper your trust will grow.
3. Check your ego at the door.
Say it with me: Ego has no place in a brainstorming session. If your focus is on yourself and your ideas, on whether or not someone accepts your ideas or listens to you as much as everyone else, then it’s misplaced. And you need to “step away from the session.” When you go into a brainstorming session, your focus must be on (a) the One who has breathed creativity into you, and (b) the person whose story you’re brainstorming. In other words, focus outside your self. This isn’t a popularity contest, it’s a place to give of your ideas, to share with a heart of service. Yes, sometimes, your idea will be the one that makes all the difference. And sometimes none of your ideas will strike a chord. Either way, just be willing to share and give, and leave the results to God and the other writer.
This also means if you throw an idea out there and no one seems to click with it, just let it go. Move on to the next idea. And the next. Now is not the time to get married to your own creative genius. Instead, it’s the time to just open the spigot and let it flow. As one of our group said, “Give, give, give—but have no ownership of your ideas.” They’re not for you, they’re for the others.
Are you sensing a theme here? If not, I guess I need to call my brainstorming sisters and ask them how to be more clear! In case you missed it, here’s the theme:
Brainstorming isn’t about being served, but about serving.
When we come to the table ready to share with abandon, ready to trust the God who has drawn us to the group, ready to give without ownership, amazing things will happen. Blessings beyond just writing books. Give it a try, and you’ll see!
Next week, we’ll look at the last three ground rules. Then I’ll share how we structure our brainstorming retreats. Can’t wait to see what you all think!
Good morning. Wow. Here I am the first to respond. Thank you for letting us in on the “secret”. I appreciate your honesty. You call it brainstorming but it sounds more like God storming. We want…no we need….to be in His perfect, pleasing and acceptable will. Like the missionaries of old we learn that in the obeying the adventure begins. We, the body of Christ, move in unison with Him – we are not alone so let us as writers, Christ Writers, come together as a body moving, breathing and praising Him in what we write. Writing is His idea anyway.
I’m finding the title of the post troubling. There are rules to brainstorming? I was always taught that brainstorming is where you are free to throw out your wildest ideas. When all my ideas are on paper and I go back through and analyze, I may realize some are counter to God. To me, that’s okay. It’s a process of getting the muck out as much as it is finding the diamond in the rough. (Unfortunately what spills forth from me isn’t always pure, I’m still being refined.)
So while, I love the idea of a group of writers coming together to help each other navigate the creative process, and, of course, I love the idea of prayer, as an artist, I need to suspend judgement and motive at times. That’s what (I thought) brainstorming was all about.
Jessica, I didn’t take Karen’s post as “rules” per se, more like guidelines that have proven successful to her and other esteemed people in the literary business over many years.
I agree that brainstorming is freedom to release the imagination and let ideas run wild (which is crazy fun) but personally speaking, I need guidelines because my imagination can leave the atmosphere and I need someone to say, “reel it in, sister, reel it in”.
For me the best line from the post is Brainstorming isn’t about being served, but about serving. I love talking story, and even greater pleasure is being a part of the process when “the idea(s)” click and is confirmed in prayer. High fives and fist bumps all around! Go team Jesus!
Love number 1. Someone asked me once why I choose to write *Christian* fiction. I told them it was because I couldn’t write a story where none of the characters use the most powerful tool they have even though it is right in front of them. If the characters in a story or a movie don’t look to the sky and call out to their Creator, I feel cheated, unfulfilled. Somehow, the story has less depth of meaning. Prayer is just that important and just that powerful. I also love the service focus of brainstorming.
Well said Connie. Completely agree.
Thanks for the post. I didn’t read the first one, and will need to, in order to read this one better in context. I couldn’t tell if this were a writers critique group. May I just say, however, that Gayle is a gifted writer, gifted helper of writers, and gifted intuitive, who takes God’s lead at every turn. She listens, and then she shares the wealth of all those insights He gives her through her own writing and personal encouragement. When her “brain storms,” I know personally that she showers blessings on all who know her.
Lynn Morrissey
What a great post, Karen. And I couldn’t agree more. God is the Giver of story. Before I brainstorm, I need to bring my heart and my desires before Him, lay them at His feet and ask for His guidance and leading for “my” story. Beginning in prayer makes a ton of sense. And having a mindset of serving rather than being served is wonderful.
Thanks Karen. Leaving the ego at the door is great advice for me. I am humbled by this section of the post. Bless you.
Love how you bathe your group and your sessions in prayer and ask God to guide and be at the center of it all. Great things have got to happen when God is guiding a brainstorming session!
Amen, sister, on the crazy part! Prayer is the very first action we should take as well as the most powerful. I love that the agency and the blog are centered on Christ and His will. Thanks for a great post.
Right now, my “group” consists of my partner (Gina Conroy) and I. And it’s long distance. We’re slowly developing a system to make this easier. We start by sharing our concept. Then we move on to the outline of the major plot points, then a scene outline. The hard part was agreeing on a system so we always understand what the other is talking about. It also means no more writing by the seat of our pants if we’re to have useful input from one another into the creative process. We’re just starting out new projects, so it remains to be seen how well it works out. At the very least, we can pick up the phone and call one another whenever we just want to toss around ideas. Kind of like a plot hotline.
I’ve never considered group brainstorming–but I will now.
Hey, all. Thanks for your comments!
Jessica, check out next week’s blog on brainstorming. That’s where you’ll find exactly what you’re talking about–ground rules for not stopping the creative flow. But there are absolutely “rules” for brainstorming in groups. We need boundaries that we all understand to enable us to trust and let the ideas flow wild and free.
Lynn, this isn’t about critique groups, but I guess the ground rules could apply there as well. Good thought.
Karen, your blogs inspire me to become a better writer. Thanks for all the excellent suggestions.
After I originally commented I appear to have clicked on the -Notify me when new comments are added- checkbox and now whenever a comment is added I get four
emails with the exact same comment. There has to be
a means you can remove me from that service? Many thanks!
c4e0eee6e423e24846508d39831bc595