When I brainstorm or use mind mapping software I begin with a central idea dry-erased [funny there] onto the white board. Traditionally I circle that term (I suppose marking a circumference around it gives the word both weight and discreteness). I spark a line from that core and jot down the related term or idea that comes to mind. I wrap that core with sparked lines and secondary notions. If I need I can explore a branch with tertiary thoughts, but I don’t like to go too far down those paths. I like to stay tight on the premise. Ultimately I grow a tree of related concepts outward from the center.
Today the reverse occurred. Today quaternary, tertiary, and secondary concepts drew inward to produce a core that had not previously existed. Today I had an idea—a couple really. The first one was that story notions didn’t arise from black nothing; the pieces lay in the volume of my mind and experience. Drifting separately, they lay expecting the tethers of repetitive awareness. Eventually my attention will pass over each of them often enough to tie one to another into a couplet and then several of those into a longer strand. Finally several strands join in the center to become that ragged mind-mapped star. The other idea, which may not seem separate to you but is too me, was the analogy of this story conjuring process being the reverse of brainstorming.
I’ll call this Braindraining.
244 words on day 689