Exploring Writing - Gary Robert Muschla 2011

Exercise 1.4 Developing Ideas Using the Five Ws and How
Developing Ideas
Part 1. Finding and Developing Ideas for Writing

Ideas for writing hardly ever burst into a writer’s mind in complete form. In most cases, ideas are discovered and then must be explored, analyzed, and developed. Sometimes an idea gives rise to new ideas that become the focus of writing. Although developing ideas is hard work, there are steps you can take to make the process easier. These steps include identifying relationships, brainstorming, and researching.

One of the best strategies for developing ideas is to consider the five Ws and How: Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? Although each of these questions may not be helpful for every idea, they are useful for most.

Exercise 1.4 Developing Ideas Using the Five Ws and How

Think about how you might build a story from an idea about a lost puppy. Ask yourself the following questions and consider the answers:

✵ What? A puppy got lost.

✵ When? When did he get lost?

✵ Where? Where was he last seen?

✵ Who? Who are the people (and puppy) in this story?

✵ Why? Why did the puppy get lost? Did someone leave the gate of the fenced yard open?

✵ How? How was he found?

Using these questions will help you to expand your idea and build it into a story. The answers to each question lead naturally into more ideas and more questions. The questions serve as a blueprint that will guide you to building a story.

Another strategy for developing ideas is to look for relationships. Nothing exists alone. Everything is connected in some way to something else.

Here is an example. A honeybee visits a flower and takes some of its nectar. The bee returns to the hive, where the nectar is used to make honey. While the bee is on the flower, pollen necessary for plants to reproduce clings to the bee’s body. As the bee visits other flowers, some of the pollen rubs off, making the plant’s reproduction possible. This relationship helps both honeybees and flowers. Mature flowers are important not only for honeybees. They may serve as food for rabbits or deer, be a hiding place for small animals, or beautify the countryside or someone’s garden. Seeing relationships between both living and nonliving things is an important skill.

Relationships can be complex, but basic ones are easy to understand—for example, cause and effect (heavy rains cause floods), interdependence (honeybees and flowers), and parts to wholes (our solar system is a part of the Milky Way galaxy, which is a part of the universe). Learn to look for relationships.

Brainstorming is another strategy you can use to develop ideas for writing. Brainstorming is a mental exercise in which a person writes down as many ideas as he can about a topic. It can be a powerful method in the development of ideas. The purpose of brainstorming is to write as many related ideas about a topic as quickly as possible. Do not pause to analyze ideas during brainstorming, because that only slows the flow of ideas. Evaluation may be done later. Brainstorming is a fast and furious exercise, the sole purpose of which is to expand ideas.