I've been reading books by Edward de Bono, a doctor and creative thinking guru, recently and thinking about the application of his techniques to writing. Lately I've been focussing on what he terms 'divergent thinking'.
Convergent thinking is logical problem-solving – using the facts to get to an answer. Divergent thinking, on the other hand, involves coming up with a large volume of ideas, not all necessarily good quality ones. It's another name for brainstorming and is a skill that can be practised and improved upon, for example by setting a timer for 90 seconds and seeing how many uses you can think of for a paper clip, or a brick. I've been working on this exercise and have found that I am getting better at thinking up more ideas, and more unique ideas, the more I practice.
At first glance, this kind of creative problem solving seems more applicable to business than to a children's book, but I've actually found it's helping me come up with more surprising and less predictable plots. When my character is faced with a problem – whether that's entering the impenetrable fortress, fighting off a crew of sky pirates singlehandedly with only a whistle and a net or rescuing a friend from a vicious cloud bear, using this quick technique to think of a large volume of potential solutions is a nice way to come up with an unexpected plot twist. And it's quick too! Why not give it a try?
Alex English's new middle-grade series SKY PIRATES launches in July 2020 with Simon & Schuster.
Her picture books Yuck said the Yak, Pirates Don't Drive Diggers and Mine Mine Mine said the Porcupine are published by Maverick Arts Publishing. More of her picture books are forthcoming in 2021/2022.
www.alexenglish.co.uk
www.twitter.com/alexthepink
5 comments:
Interesting idea - going to try this!
If this activity brings you ideas as interesting as your picture books look, it must certainly be worth sitting with a while. Thanks, Alex.
Thanks both! It's a bit of a weird one, but it is definitely helping me!
That's the sort of thing I usually avoid, thinking I'm not clever enough - but I shall give it a try!
Very surprised to see Edward de Bono showing up here. Long ago, I got part way into one of his books. I found it dry as dust, and mentally consigned it to.... "Phew, if I read more of this, I think I'll roll over and die..".
However, if it works....
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