5 Creative Brainstorming Techniques for Worldbuilders

Creative brainstorming techniques are something that everyone talks about. But have you noticed that no one ever gives you practical instructions? So how do you actually do it?

Well, in this blog, we’ll share 5 tried and tested techniques for creative brainstorming, helping you solve problems and come up with ideas in a hurry! And they’re tailored especially for worldbuilders, authors, and gamers.

How do you start a creative brainstorm session?

To get started with brainstorming… start with what you know!

There are two main reasons to brainstorm:

You’re trying to solve a creative problem – like a plothole, a worldbuilding problem or a character issue
You’re trying to come up with something new!

Start brainstorming to write something new

If you’re trying to start a brand new story, worldbuilding setting or a RPG adventure, start by writing down things you’re interested in!

That might be genres, tropes, ideas, periods in history, or just things you think are cool. You can add other criteria too – should this story be set in a world you’ve already created, or a new one? Your last adventure was a heist, so should this one be a mystery?

This works because our brains are connection and pattern recognition machines. Writing down ingredients helps our brains make connections between them, and start forming ideas.

It also stops you drowning in “blank page syndrome”, because endless possibilities are endlessly intimidating. By writing down these “things you know” you’re making creative criteria – narrowing down your creation, so you don’t get blocked!

How to start brainstorming to solve a creative problem

And if you’re brainstorming to solve a problem, start by writing down what the problem is! It’s amazing how often simply stating a problem in words can lead you to finding a solution. At the very least, it clarifies what the issue ACTUALLY is, which cuts through confusion.

For example:

“I don’t know how to get my character out of prison!”
I don’t know what the secret treasure of my heist is
My character needs to get from A to B somehow…
My BBEG has no motivation right now!
I have no idea what force powers my technology!
My characters are succeeding too easily

By the way, these are all storytelling issues I have personally solved with brainstorming.

Once you have your core issue, dig deeper

Great job – you’re already closer than you were! So, given what you now know about your issue, it’s time to play game we call “If this, then what”. Fans of scifi and fantasy will be no stranger to this – it’s literally how a lot of speculative fiction is born. Essentially we say “if this is true, what are the possibilities?”

For example:

IF your character needs to get from A to B, THEN WHAT vehicles exist in your world? Who could they hitch a ride with?
IF you want to create an Enemies to Lovers setup for your story, THEN WHAT is the reason the characters hate each other?
IF you want to write a heist adventure, THEN WHAT are your ideas for the macguffin – the valuable item at the centre of it?
IF you need to get your character out of prison THEN WHAT are some ways they could escape? Or who could come rescue them?
IF your characters are succeeding too easily, THEN WHAT obstacles or conflicts could you put in their way?

If you have a lot of “things that are true” don’t let them derail you! Take them one by one.

Again, sometimes simply phrasing the question as IF… THEN WHAT is enough to get yourself unstuck.

If you’re still left with questions, it’s time for the next step – stream of consciousness brainstorming!

Time for “traditional” long-listing… with a difference!

Now you’re on a roll…. it’s time to write a long list of ideas! This is what most people mean when they say “brainstorm”, but without the previous steps, it’s easy for decision paralysis or blank page syndrome to creep in.

As it sounds, you’re going to make a long list of ideas using bullet points – this can be on a piece of paper, your worldbuilding notebook or your novel writing software (I usually align-right and bold-underline brainstorms so I can spot them!) Just make sure you save it somewhere – they can be useful to come back to!

Here’s an example:

What obstacles/conflicts could get in the way of my characters?

A statue
A sentient statue!
A trap
A pit
A rockfall
A door
A locked door
A trapped door
A trapped door that when triggered drops them down into a basement!
An enemy
They run out of food/water
FILTHY BETRAYAL

Remember, there are no bad ideas at this long-listing stage, so take your fingers off the delete key! Aim for at least 20 options. You might find the solution sooner, but if not, go onto the next step.

Also, you see how the ideas evolve line-by-line in the above example? This is totally normal and part of the process. Your brain is getting in flow and building on ideas its already had. That means its working!

But what about if you’ve brainstormed 20+ options and you don’t like any of them? Or you can’t even come up with 20?

“The mash up” aka “the Hollywood pitch”

If you’re still stuck, why not try a mash up? Mashups – that is mashing two ideas together – can be an incredibly inspiring creative brainstorming technique. It’s often called “the Hollywood Pitch”: think “Pride, Prejudice meets Zombies” or “Pokemon meets the Lost Roman Legion” which was famously Jim Butcher’s inspiration for Codex Alera.

Sometimes you don’t like a single thing on your list…. But what happens if you combine two of them together?

Lets say you thought of a sentient statue and a locked door to block the way. But you’ve used BOTH of those already. Why not combine them to create:

A locked door that’s sentient
A (sentient) statue that’s also a door!

Idea mashups can create some really unique things, and are a great way of pushing your creativity as well as solving problems.

Use randomisation to shift a block

But what about if you’re struggling with coming up with ANY ideas at all during your brainstorm? And yes, sometimes it does happen! In that case, use something random as a starting point, or to shift a block.

There are lots of ways to use randomisation. For example you could:

Open a book at a random page
Choose three words from the dictionary
Try WikiRoulette, which takes you to a random wikipedia page
Or choose a random worldbuilding prompt or writing prompts!

Noodle with the random element alone, or try it out with different items on your list to see how it might work together.

Create space for your brain – bonus tip!

Your brain is like a computer – some processes happen instantly, and some – like searching deep storage or solving complicated problems – take time. And if all else fails, it might be time to create some space for your brain.

Have you ever forgotten a word, then remembered it hours later? That’s because your brain keeps working on the problem, even when you’re not consciously focussed on it!

Which means that if you’re stuck on brainstorming, sometimes the best thing you can do is take a break! Go for a walk, cook a meal, take a shower or a nap! During that time, your brain is working in the background, and you’ll often find – with a bit of quiet time doing something else – your brain will pop up with a great solution all on its own!