How to Brainstorm for NaNoWriMo Shaelins Top Tips

How to Brainstorm for NaNoWriMo Shaelins Top Tips How to Brainstorm for NaNoWriMo: Shaelin's Top Tips Shaelin Bishop is a writer, YouTuber, and a member of the team here at Reedsy. She’s also a veteran of the 30-day novel writing competition NaNoWriMo, having taken part in it for three years. In this lightly edited transcript of her video, she'll show you how to brainstorm for NaNoWriMo. Check out these #NaNoWriMo brainstorming tips from @shaelinbishop As a writer, there will be so many times when you might need to brainstorm. But specifically with NaNoWriMo approaching, there might be a few final things that you still have to work out in your book - things that might require some heavy-duty brainstorming sessions.We already have a video on how to get short story ideas. If you're trying to build an idea from scratch, you can check that out. Today is about brainstorming practices you can use to help you work through issues you're having, or develop the beginning of an idea.Tip 1: Treat brainstorming just like a writing sessionJust as you might block off time to write, cordon off your schedule to brainstorm and treat it as you would a drafting session. It's easy to rely on ideas that come in your head naturally as you're going about your day. That is how a lot of brainstorming happens, but it usually won't fulfill all your brainstorming need. Sometimes you'll hit a snag with your story and find that it's just not working naturally. You're going to have to sit through and work through it, so block off some time (even a few hours) to solve this problem.Just as you might have a daily word goal to reach when you sit down to draft your book, set goals for your brainstorming sessions. What problem do you want to solve when you're sitting down to brainstorm? Tip 2: Review and organize what you already haveA lot of the time, I find that just reading through all my notes will start to jog my mind and help me think of solutions without actively doing any brainstorming. So much fleshing-out of ideas happens for when I'm just reading through my notes. I realize something else I need to add - and then I see that there's something else I need to add. Suddenly, I've added so much more just by reading through my notes.If you have any questions, thoughts, or tips on brainstorming for a novel, please share them in the comments below.