If there’s one part of the prep-writing phase I wish that my students would devote more time to, it’s brainstorming. And every class I teach I emphasize its importance — as I did in this post here.

I suspect one reason writers resist brainstorming is that they don’t quite understand what they’re supposed to do. I’ve struggled articultaing this myself, but figuring out a clear way to describe a process that is by its very nature pretty much disorganized and undefined has proved to be a challenge.

And then I saw this NY Times article: “College Clown, the Manhattan Campus”:

OVER the years, the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in Chelsea has earned a reputation as a kind of mint where comedy stars are coined: in go aspiring actors, writers and ex-medical students, out come new performers and writers for “Saturday Night Live,” “The Daily Show” and “30 Rock.”

But how exactly does one make it to the front of the room at the U.C.B. theater? You’ll have to start at its comedy training program, which began in 1997. At a well-worn office space on West 30th Street, aspirants gather seven days a week, three hours or more a session, to be taught the ropes of improvisation and sketch composition. Stick with the courses, from the 101-level basics to the 401-level workshops (and beyond), and you could end up on a U.C.B. comedy team or as a U.C.B. instructor.

Improvisation! That’s one key to brainstorming. In reading about some of the comics-in-training at U.C.B., I found a few lessons for the process of brainstorming a story.

Lisa Perez:

MOST VALUABLE LESSON LEARNED: We were getting personal notes in class, and people were just being torn down. Our teacher started talking about using what you perceive as your faults as advantages in comedy. I’m always looking at my faults and disadvantages — that was such an Aha! moment.

“Use what you perceive as faults as advantages.” When you brainstorm, you try to shut off your internal editor and ignore your inner judge. But sometimes, you can’t. Well, that’s a stupid idea, or I don’t know what you were thinking when you thought of that. So instead of fighting your inner judge, take a second look at what you think are the dumbest ideas you’ve generated during your brainstorming session – and see if you can turn them to your advantage.

For example, if your basic idea for a story is working with a Protagonist who becomes known as the greatest police detective in all the world, you’d probably toss out any stray brainstorming thoughts like, “He’s clumsy, a buffoon, clueless about social norms, and fundamentally an idiot.” But turn that to your advantage and you get this:

Chelsea Clarke:

THE SECRET TO SUCCESSFUL IMPROVISATION IS: Accept gifts and give gifts back. Notice what’s going on. If this thing happens, then what happens? All of those things happen easier if you’re nonjudgmental of what other people say but also of what you say. We all have a certain level of self-deprecating humor, so it’s easy to be like, “I’m an idiot, so everything I say is stupid.”

“Accept gifts and give gifts back.” We’ve all been involved in meetings where we were brainstorming ideas. And how many times do you remember hearing someone start off their suggestion with something like this: “Well, this is probably a really dumb idea, but…” But that’s the whole point. When you’re brainstorming, there are no dumb ideas. Each idea is a gift.

Here’s a great example from screenwriter James Hart:

“The secret, the great key to writing Hook, came from my son. When he was six, he asked the question, ‘What if Peter Pan grew up?’ I had been trying to find a new way into the famous ‘boy who wouldn’t grow up’ tale, and our son gave me the key.”

On the face of it, the idea from Hart’s son is a pretty dumb idea; after all, the whole point of Peter Pan is that he magically refuses to grow up. But Hart accepted his son’s ‘gift’ and in turn, gave one back:

Sammi Garett:

LESSONS LEARNED: Anything that exists in a scene is true. If someone says, “All right, there are shoes on that tree,” there are shoes on that tree. It’s a safe place.

“It’s a safe place.” This really drives home the point about banishing your inner judge from brainstorming . When you’re brainstorming, you’re inside an impenetrable fortress – the ultimate safe place. Just you and your ideas. And if an idea comes to you and it feels true, no matter how dumb it might seem, go ahead… assume it’s true… you’re in a safe place… no one can touch you here.

Just imagine how safe a place this fellow must have been in when he decided to build a comic character around a bowler hat and a funny walk:

So when you brainstorm, think of it is improvisation.

And here’s a taste of the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater: