My novel, The Yellow Diamond Caper,
wasn't going anywhere. I couldn't get the sequence of the plot the
way I wanted it, and I was having trouble fitting in all the
technical information without doing an information dump. I stewed for
awhile and then enlisted my favorite critic, my husband.
I prepared for the brainstorming
session by writing a detailed plot summary. This helped with some of
the places where things weren't working right, but it wasn't there
yet. My husband is a wonderful, long suffering, collaborator. My next
step was to read him the plot summary. He identified the places where
it didn't work for him. Then we talked about how to fix them.
Two heads are definitely better than
one. It would have taken me a long time to see the gaps he
identified. I took notes while we talked and then rewrote parts of
the summary. Now I feel like I can move ahead.
If you plan to use the technique,
preparation is important. I couldn't have gotten good responses
without a very detailed plot summary. It's also good to have someone
who thinks slightly differently than you do. My husband understands
technology better than I do. He could easily point out areas where
what I was suggesting wasn't feasible. As soon as he pointed them
out. I knew he was right, but I wouldn't have seen them as quickly.
When we hit a place where neither of us
was quite sure how to procede, we talked about a variety of ideas,
listed them and then analyzed how they contributed to moving the plot
forward. The whole process took about two hours, but from my
standpoint it was worth every minute. I'm a firm believer in working
through most of the plot by yourself, but there comes a time when you
need help. The only caution is: Don't feel threatened by what your
collaborator suggests. Nothing is set in concrete. Feel free to
explore ideas and reject those that don't fit your image of the
story. After all, you are the one in charge.
