2.6 Step 1: Generate Your Broad Topics

What main topics must I communicate?

In Chapter 1, I claimed a writer’s greatest problem arises when they face the blank page. The outlining method I now describe aims to tame the blank page problem. However, isn’t building an outline from scratch just as challenging as facing a new manuscript’s blank page? I believe you will find building an outline from scratch less challenging if you realize you need not generate a complete outline right away. Instead, you simplify outline creation by bootstrapping.

In computer science, bootstrapping occurs when a computer first turns on; it loads and executes a small seed program. The seed program provides just enough instructions for the computer to load and start its operating system. Bootstrapping means you start with seed knowledge from which you create more detailed knowledge.

You bootstrap your outline by first generating general ideas about the main points to make in your manuscript (Table 2-2A). Later you refine your general ideas into more specific topics, creating an outline structured like Figure 2-5.

Before describing Step 1, please note Chapter 2 uses Table 2-2 to scaffold remembering my method’s steps. The method has nine different steps. As I introduce a step in a new section, I revise Table 2-2 by adding a step. Table 2-2 grows to permit you to keep the whole method in mind with a single glance.

Generating ideas about your manuscript’s main points becomes your first step in developing your outline. Where do ideas come from? You can use various techniques, techniques which I discuss in more detail in Chapter 3. In the current chapter, I use one example technique: brainstorming.

Brainstorming aims to generate ideas and foster creativity (Osborn, 1948, 1953; Young, 1940). Brainstorming agrees with one idea introduced in Chapter 1: when you evaluate, you inhibit your creativity. When you brainstorm, you generate as many ideas as possible without evaluating them at all.

Alex Osborn designed brainstorming for use by a working group which created ideas by following four simple ground rules (Osborn, 1948). First, group members withhold criticism until later. Second, group members welcome wild ideas: “The crazier the idea, the better; it’s easier to tone down than to think up” (Osborn, 1948, p. 295). Third, a brainstorming meeting aims to generate many ideas. Fourth, new ideas can result from combining previous ideas together, or from revising a previous idea. “Every idea, crackpot or crackerjack, is written down. Even silly thoughts are helpful – they keep the group relaxed” (Osborn, 1948, p. 297).

You can take your first step, brainstorming general topics, either alone or with a writing team. When I brainstorm topics, I repeatedly ask and answer one question: “What idea could I write about in my manuscript?”. By answering this question, I generate topics – often in random order. I keep going until I run out of topics. I might take a break from brainstorming when I cannot generate new topics, but return to brainstorming later, which sometimes helps me generate new ideas (Young, 1940).

Importantly, I immediately jot down each idea I generate while I brainstorm – I write my topic down on the blank side of an index card. I write only one topic per index card, avoiding full sentences. I avoid full sentences because I do not want to inhibit generating ideas by criticizing how I express them (Elbow, 1981). I aim to generate as many potential topics as possible, immediately moving them from my mind to my world by using index cards.

When you carry out Step 1, you produce many potential topics for your manuscript, each displayed on its own index card. You can now proceed to Step 2: evaluating and organizing your topics. You evaluate and organize by acting upon your index cards, because Step 1 has created objects in your world which you can manipulate. I discuss Step 2 in more detail in Section 2.7.