Generative Thinking

For the Creative Writer

Okay: Do you like annoying corporate jargon? The great thing about annoying corporate jargon is whenever you’re tired of talking about something at work you can say, “hey let’s put a pin on this for now and circle back at a later date” and then everyone just forgets about the thing you put a pin in and you circle back to it never. Make sure you’re the person who is responsible for “making a note to follow up on this with you offline” and then simply do not make that note. Six months later someone will be like “hey whatever happened with the plan for the new whatsit?” and since no one remembers, you fire up the discussion again and now it’s someone else’s turn to say “hey let’s table this for the moment and….”

This is nothing to do with my current workplace, this is just the way of every corporate office-type workplace ever. Pro tip: Never be the person who actually makes the note and follows up on something or you will get a reputation for being extremely productive and you’ll end up in charge of making notes and circling back around in the future, which you probably do not want. Don’t be the guy who steps up to the plate.

The new hotness in annoying corporate jargon I want to talk about today is generative thinking because, although I only ever see it discussed in an annoying corporate jargon context, it’s actually a great concept and practice for figuring out solutions for any problem. This is something writers have to do a lot when we are plotting out a story. We have to solve problems on behalf of our characters. We also have to create problems for our characters, which is another thing generative thinking is good for.

Generative thinking is used not just in business but in education and in a clinical psychological setting (like talk therapy) as well. Depending on what setting you’re in (business, ed, psych), the principles of generative thinking may be presented a little differently but to summarize the basics for an overview from a neutral perspective, these are the main things:

• Approaching problem solving with creativity to arrive at innovative ideas; and

• Arriving at a solution through asking incisive questions rather than dictating a process.

If you’ve ever been to therapy—with a good therapist, that is—then you probably have done this practice. A good therapist does not listen to what you have to say and then tell you what your problem is and how to solve it. Instead, a therapist listens to what you have to say and asks insightful questions to help you arrive at an organic understanding of your problem and, from there, how to solve it.

Similarly, in education, the idea is to ask questions that lead learners to knowledge rather than dictating knowledge to them for their memorization.

In business, generative thinking is seen as a way for high-up stakeholders (like leadership, board members, and so on) to arrive at sound business decisions by asking questions of one another and other contributors (like workers who know the specifics of the business) to find creative solutions to business problems.

There is also the principle that people generally like ideas they came up with themselves better than ideas that someone else suggested to them. A great way to “give” someone an idea in such a way that they come up with it themselves it to guide them to it through effective questioning. That’s the power of generative thinking. This is a page straight out of my new book, How to Win Friends and Manipulate People.

Before we get into it let me give you an example from my real life of how my friend in my company’s IT department, Bruce, uses generative thinking. Routinely I will go to Bruce with a technology problem I need solved. However, I almost never approach Bruce and tell him the problem I have. Instead, I go to Bruce and say something like, “Hey I need a license for the Widget app, can you get me one?” Bruce and I then engage in a little generative thinking where he will ask me insightful questions about what I’m trying to do and I answer and in turn ask questions about what solutions exist for what I need to do and nine times out of ten it turns out I did not need the Widget app, the best solution to my problem was something else, and generative thinking got us to the ideal solution.

And I will literally turn around next week and ask Bruce for a license for something instead of approaching him with my issue because I never learn but fortunately he has a good sense of humor.

Anyway, in what ways can generative thinking be useful for writers and how, exactly, can a writer apply it? I’ve found its useful in the writing process as well as the revision process and in reviewing the work of others and providing them with feedback.

Writing and Drafting

First, generative thinking works best when there are multiple people involved: A person (or people) asking questions and a person (or people) answering them (the latter is the person doing the generative thinking). Fortunately, although writing is often a solitary endeavor, writers are never alone in our heads. All our characters are in there with us. Therefore, the first way to use generative thinking for drafting is to ask your characters questions and answer those questions from the character’s perspective. For instance,

• “What’s keeping you from turning around and going home?”

• “What secret are you hiding that none of your allies know about?”

• “How do you really feel about the big villain?”

You can find a lot more of these in the Twenty Questions five-part series.

Another method is to put yourself in the position of an outsider—after all, that’s what your reader will be when they come to your story—and ask questions of your story as an outsider would. Questions about the plot (“Why did that happen? Why couldn’t they handle it a simpler way?”), about setting (“Why doesn’t this world have a religious order? How do they get food to the capital if it’s in the middle of a desert?”), about characters (“Why is she putting up with him, he’s such a jerk to her?”), and so on. The answers to these questions will help you write a stronger foundation for your story.

Revising and Editing

Self-editing, that is; not editing by a third party. When revising a manuscript, you can indulge in some quality generative thinking by treating your manuscript as the entity you are questioning. Obviously, the manuscript cannot answer. It is an inanimate object. However, I’ve found it really effective with past manuscripts to make two passes: A Q pass and an A pass, if you will. 

As you review your manuscript the first time, ask it questions. One of my favorite questions to ask—one I ask over and over, ad nauseam, during line edits—is “have I communicated this in the most effective way possible?” But you will have plenty of other questions as well. 

• “What did that look like?” 

• “Where did they go next?” 

• “Did anything happen offscreen between these scenes?” 

And so on. During your Q pass, embed these questions as comments in the manuscript, or if you’re working with a print copy attach stick notes, or whatever you need to do to record the question and place it in situ, right up against the text it’s about. Once you’ve finished your Q pass, you can begin your A pass where you review each of the questions and answer them in the form of revisions.

Review and Feedback

Neil Gaiman famously said:

Remember: When people tell you something’s wrong or doesn't work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.

As an editor I have internalized this piece of writing advice so hard I have to remind myself I didn’t originally say it myself. An editor may be—and often is!—objectively correct when we suggest a fix to grammar, spelling, or punctuation. But when an editor discovers a failure of plot, characterization, pacing, worldbuilding, and so on, it’s the editor’s job to point this out to the author and at most work with the author to arrive at a solution rather than dictating what needs to be added or changed to make the story work. An example:

No: “You need to add a religion or two to your setting, it’s weird that your fantasy world is totally religion-free.”
Yes: “I find myself wondering, as I’m reading, about the lack of religion in your fantasy world.”

I’m an atheist myself so my fantasy worlds are often religion-free. I’m not calling out anyone but myself. In the first example (no), the editor is pointing out something they noticed and giving prescriptive instructions on what to do to fix it. In the second example (yes) the editor points out something they noticed that is causing them to question the setting and perhaps taking them out of the story. It is up to the author, then, to decide whether and how they wish to address it. The author may:

• Think, “oops, I ought to have included some religion in this world” and add some.

• Prefer not to add any religion to their fantasy world nor comment on its absence.

• Decide to add some text to the story that helps readers understand why this fantasy world does not include religion, to preempt reactions like the editor had.

All of these are valid responses but it’s up to the author to decide which response is the appropriate one for their story. 

When reviewing and offering feedback on someone else’s text, acting the role of the questioner can help the author engage in some generative thinking of their own. 

Instead of: “This makes no sense.”
Try: “Can you help me understand…?”

Instead of: “This is confusing.”
Try: “How could this be more clear for the reader?”

Not only will you probably find your criticism better received if it comes in the form of a question rather than a command, but you’ll be giving the author you’re working with a gift in the form of helping them hone their story problem-solving muscles for future use when they don’t have you around.

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