Weather Report: Brainstorms All Day! (5) Reversal and Backwards!

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original posting: Sun, 27 Feb 1994 18:35:02 JST

Another principle of lateral thinking is that starting at the other end is sometimes better than starting at the beginning. You may have learned this as a kid, playing with the mazes on the restaurant placemats - starting at the end was almost always much easier than starting at the beginning.

Whether you learned it then or not, the trick here is to take the goal, pattern or other thought - then reverse it! Try it upside down, insight out, and backwards! You may be surprised to discover that it makes more sense that way - or at least leads to new ways of thinking about it.

Instead of Jane going to a bar to meet boys - maybe she takes up part-time delivery of pizzas, guessing that there will more than likely be a few groups of boys ordering pizzas. Or she gets into a department store and pushes for the sports equipment department... simple - she decided to have the boys meet her. Of course, maybe she reverses the "cliche" to "I want to hunt boys" - with the aid of her pack of dogs, perhaps?

I don't want to meet boys - that declaration by the teenage heroine might be even better. No way is she going to put up with those idiots...

Or what if instead of your hero not having a date for the night, he has four! Different girls, different attractions, and oh, how is he going to handle this embarrassment of riches...

Difficult? Not really - just remember to look for alternatives, to stretch beyond the "obvious". Set your own quota, and enjoy letting your mind toss up new and wonderous ways of looking at that "old" material - then settle down to the work of telling everyone about your IDEAS. And watch the editors perk up and take notice.

Always start by simply reversing. If you say "this is the way it is," try saying "this is NOT the way it is." Then move on to further reversals, and see what happens.

Exercise 5. Take a Giant Step Backwards

1. Aphorism - take your book of quotations, aphorisms, or even one of the QOTD statements. Now, flip it. Read it backwards. If it is positive, what is the opposed negative statement? (or vice-versa?) See how many different versions you can make - and look at the notions that come from considering "One Country, Over God"... or whatever you came up with...

2. Description - take a description (or write one). Then reverse it. If you started with details, then generalized, run it the other way. Stand on your head and look at that barn again! Look at the shadows alone - and describe only those! or... Perhaps one of the most common "hooks" is to take some common assumption, something "everyone knows" and start by saying it isn't so... then develop from there. The old barn wasn't picturesque, it was just rotten. The honeysuckle stank in the sunshine. Go on.. tell us something we don't know!

3. Character - reversal can be a powerful approach, both to developing a character (start with what you want them to do, then figure out what kind of person does that kind of thing!) and to surprising us with details of the character. The churchgoing man who is generous with money, friendly, etc. - and chokes a prostitute to death each month - is more chilling than the common ordinary joe, in some ways. Anyway - take statements, psychological factors, or whatever, and try reversing, negating, and otherwise breaking the ordinary chains of logic. You may be surprised at the character that comes surging out...

4. Conflict/Problems - so many people tell us that problems are opportunities in disguise. Still, it can be interesting to reverse the problem - instead of your hero lacking the money to take a trip, perhaps he lacks the trip to make money? or has too much money to take a trip? or even is forced to go on a trip, draining his financial resources even further? Reverse, inside out, and backwards - fill out your quota, and then look at the strange problems and conflicts you've created and write up one of the more interesting ones!

5. Solutions - the heroine lost her last jewel... and learned that her riches were unending! that one's hokey, but having your readers guess the ending after reading the first sentence isn't good, and reversing the solution is one way of trying out some different attacks on the logic of the reader. Pick your solution, then set a quota and do your reversals, upside-down looking, and other twisters. Then work back from the crazy solution to the insane conflict that requires it, and the odd characters who live it... and tell us a story that wakes up the sense of wonder!

Ever watch an old film run backwards - or push the reverse on your VCR? There are some interesting, funny things that happen when the water climbs back into the glass, and people sit down and carefully take a whole meal out of their mouths and wrap it back up to turn it in at the counter, getting a full refund... watch for them!

Weather Report: Brainstorms All Day! (6) Analogy, just like that!

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

original posting: Sun, 6 Mar 1994 18:35:02 JST

Exercise 6. As if it were a... Duck!

This time, we're focusing on a method of "thinking" that isn't commonly recognized in the sciences and other "logical" fields, but has very important uses in the writing field. Perhaps we should say it is one of the strongest plants growing in that field, and can provide you with some very good timbers for building your house of writing.

To be specific, this is the method of thinking by analogy - using the concrete and familiar as simile, metaphor, and transforming focus for thinking. It can be extremely powerful as a way of looking at processes, relationships, and other abstractions such as change, development, and activities.

The basic rule for using an analogy is simple: relate your subject to the analogy, develop the analogy, and then relate the developments back to the subject.

I should warn you - use this method to generate ideas, questions, new approaches. Don't worry about whether the analogy is correct. You're NOT proving anything, you are simply developing ideas.

You don't need to fret about picking an analogy that "fits" well. In fact, some of the best ideas come from using analogies that don't (at first) seem suitable.

Today's Practice

Here are four of the "subjects" we've used in previous exercises. Pick one and then try the different practice items that follow...

a. Description - a flower, a barn, a scene of some kind
b. Character - one of yours or one from a book - pick one
c. Conflict/Problems - the beginning of the plot
d. Solutions - the end of the plot

oh - almost forgot - pick one of the following

• a pet animal (be specific!)
• a grinding mill
• a car
• a kitchen utensil (be specific!)
• a natural sound
• a tornado
• a playground thing (slide, junglegym, etc. - be specific)
• brewing tea

1. Looking at different ways to relate - now, on one side, you've got your subject, and on the other, one of the specific analog-mobiles from the short list above. Set yourself a quota, then try thinking of different ways that these might be related. Perhaps they are similar, perhaps opposed, perhaps one contains the other, perhaps one is just a tiny little seed that grows into the other - dream up some different ways that these could be related. I often trade off - first a relation from subject to analog, then one from analog to subject.

2. changing the viewpoint and links as you develop - okay, having related your subject and the mobile, look at the mobile. Put it (at least mentally) through its paces, twisting it, running it, watching the kids jump on it, the sun beat on it, and maybe even having a major crack-up with it. Along the way, take a glance back at the subject now and then, and readjust the view and the links between the two whenever you want to or need to. One of the nice things about concrete analogs is that we "know" pretty well what happens to them, how they interact with other things, how they fall apart, who fixes them, and so on. So when we "walk" that pattern, we can look back at the subject and try to come up with matching (contrasting, complementary, etc.) pieces for it. I mean - you take your car to the mechanic when it needs repair, right? Who do you take a flower to when it needs fixing? Can you get a new muffler for it? Why not?

3. developing details and reviewing major points - as with the previous step, you can look at the details of the analog - and then see what that points to in the subject. Set a quota, rumble through details and bits of the analog, and see what they suggest about the subject. Don't forget to review the main points, highlighting them as you develop.

4. abstracting processes, functions, and relationships from concrete examples - systems people love processes, functions, and relationships, and you should too. These are abstractions - what process(es) does something follow or use? What functions does it perform? What relationships does it have both internally and externally?

Okay - take your analog-mobile, and consider those questions in regard to it. Meet your quotas of ideas, and don't forget to look back at the subject to see what light the answers throw on it. You can start a car with a key - does a barn have a starter? What's the key?

5. make lists of analogies to be used - by now, you may be tired of the analog-mobile you've been using. so, change it! pick pieces of the external world, and make a list (another quota? this guy just doesn't quit, does he?). I'll suggest that making a list of analogies now (and adding to it sometimes) can be very helpful - especially when you take some favorite ones and apply them to a new subject, whether it seems to match initially or not. Try to use very concrete things that you know pretty well - these are the richest analogies for you. E.g., penguins (while I think they are cute and do like to watch shows about them) aren't especially good for me, because there is so much I don't know about them. Mongrel dogs, on the other hand, I have raised many times, from that first whimper in the animal shelter to the final goodbyes.

6. take 1 subject, develop multiple analogies - so, having decided on a subject, stretch your wings! bang it against several analogies, and see how it and the analogies develop.

7. take 1 analogy, develop multiple topics - you can also reverse this, taking a favorite analogy and banging it against multiple topics. you'll find the analogy gaining in depth and richness - and may end up with threads between the topics that you never knew were there before.

So - don't let your subjects drag, let the duck honk at them and brighten up their darkness with analogy.