Whether you have a brainstorm partner or not, or a crit group, you can find successful ways to brainstorm a story. I’ve brainstormed with Susie for years, and it began after the Dallas ’06 ACFW conference. Christine Lynxwiler and I started talking in the hotel lobby as her husband waited in the van with their daughter to drive home.

Then Susie met up with us, and next thing we knew, we were in my Presidential suite, brainstorming our books. Chris’s husband graciously took the girls shopping, then sat in the suite living room watching TV as Susie, Chris and I duked out our stories.

It was fun. Adrenaline. And a pattern was formed.

The next year, we purposefully stayed over Sunday to brainstorm. That year, Annalisa Daughty stayed with us. We brainstormed 4 books in 7 hours. Annalisa was awarded a Barbour contract a year later in Minneapolis for her story! Woot!

I’ve brainstormed with Mark Mynheir, Cindy Woodsmall, Tracey Bateman, Amy Wallace, Leanna Ellis, dozens of My Book Therapy clients, as well as Debbie Macomber and Karen Young.

Here are a few tips I’ve learned along the way. If you are the brainstormee, meaning the one who’s story is being brainstormed, consider these things:

1. Come with a beginning, middle and end. Have a one line pitch ready. Nail down as many details as you can. What you think might be the protagonist(s) goals and journey. The story question. A possible black moment. A likely ending. Even if some of it is cliche, come with clay to be molded.

2. Be open! I’ve brainstormed with people who just didn’t want to change their story. Doesn’t work. They get defensive and it’s like the brainstorm team is telling the author “they stink.” Not true. The brainstorm team is seeing what you don’t see. They bring their creativity, wisdom, and experience to the table. Listen to them. While brainstorming with author Mark Mynheir, I suggested he change a male sniper to female. He wrinkled his face at me, thinking, then said, “Wow, that works.” The more we talked about making this dark, mysterious character a woman, the more exciting the story became. It meant another character had to change genders too, but we realized the female protagonist best fit what he was trying to accomplish.

3. Ask questions. Don’t just take an idea and lay into your story. Ask what the brainstormer means. Ask if it could work this way instead of that. In other words, brainstorm back.

4. Speak up. When we were brainstorming with Annalisa — Chris, Susie and Me — poor girl, nearly never had a chance. She had to speak up and tell us it was her story and this is what she wanted to do with it. Then we worked within those parameters. Like, if I suggested her heroine dive out of an airplane, she had to say, “No, she wouldn’t do that.”

5. Take lots of notes. Have a scribe writing down as much detail as possible. I’ve used a tape recorder before, but found the  notes to be most helpful.

6. Go home, let this brainstorming session digest. Begin to write a long synopsis based on the notes. Let the story breathe and evolve. You’ll find you’ve missed elements (even though you tried to cover all bases.)

If you’re the brainstormer:

1. Listen! Let the brainstormee tell his/her story without interrupting them. Hear them out. Be kind and courteous.

2. Ask questions. What’s the protags secret desire, greatest fear? What’s the lie he/she believes? What do you see as the theme or take away from this story?

3. Offer suggestions. Don’t demand. Don’t insult. Don’t over talk, over ride, over bear. Depending on how well you know each other, these session can get heated. With Susie, Chris and me, we’d say, “What? That’s stupid. Why would he do that?” We thrived on the energy, but some people might be wounded to hear “that’s stupid” in response to a story point.

4. Challenge. Why does he do that? Why do you want to have that thread/angle in the story. While brainstorming with Karen Young, I’d say, “Karen, let me ask you a question.” After a few of those she said, “Rachel, I just hate when you say that because you’re going to make me work.” But she loved how we were able to deepen her story by digging a bit deeper.

5. Everything of offer is a suggestion. Let the writer do with it what they will.

6. As the “hearer” of the story, trying to find pieces you relate to, and turn them upside  down. How can you take an ordinary plot point and make it extraordinary. Is there anything in your life or something you know about that can help the writer improve the story and the characters?

Running a brainstorming session:

Take the number of participants and divide it by the number of hours you have together. The Sunday in Dallas four of us brainstormed, we had about an hour and half each. But Annalisa got a bit more time because she was just starting out. The one who had most of her story done went last.

When I brainstormed with Debbie and Karen not to long ago, we had three days, one for each. Between breakfast, lunch and dinner, we each got about 6 hours. It was fun, and we’d often share lingering thoughts during the evening.

When it’s “that person’s time,” no one else butts in with her story. Focus on the writer. Clip short casual conversation. Don’t go down rabbit trails. Stay on task.

Assign a scribe. I found this really helpful if one person took notes for the writer. Obviously, the writer can take notes too, but having someone else focus on the task frees up the brainstormee to focus on the story and what others are saying.

Be open. Be honest. Be real. NO idea is perfect from the start. I’ve had Susie tell me a few times. “That’s already been done.” When I wrote my first synopsis for Lost In Nashvegas, I used a roller coaster analogy. I’d never used that before so I thought I was being fun and fresh. Nope! My agent turned it back to me. So I went to Susie for help. She informed me the roller coaster analogy indeed was cliche and overdone. Then she put me in the mind of the chick lits of the day and we started out my protagonist with a “list” of things she’d rather do than sing on stage. Ta-da. It sold.

Don’t accept, “Good enough.” Keep digging. When you return to work after brainstorming, keep working and digging. There’s more. But the pump has been primed.