How To Get Started Writing a Book With a Brain Dump

Award-winning writer Kathy Widenhouse has helped hundreds of nonprofits and writers produce successful content and has gained 600K+ views for her writing tutorials. She is the author of 9 books. See more of Kathy’s content here.

Posted 10.1.24

You’ve got an idea swirling in your mind. Perhaps your idea just germinated. Or maybe you’ve been sitting on it for months — even years. Regardless, you want to know how to get started writing a book about it. And maybe deep inside you doubt that you can actually produce a manuscript.

The hunger to write a book produces a special kind of writer’s block because a book is such a large project. But you can be one of the successful writers who gets your book onto paper, to the printer, and into the hands of readers.

Writing your book starts with one step.

How to get started writing a book with one step

It’s a simple one. It’s embarrassment-free. Plenty of people may pooh-pooh the process, but it works.

Do a brain dump.

In other words, write down one idea you have about your book. Then write down another. And another … just one idea or concept or illustration or principle or important fact at a time.

Don’t worry about what your content sounds like on paper. Don’t fret that you’re not capturing every single thought. Don’t be anxious about showing your work to anyone else. Just start by putting one idea down on paper. And then another.

Soon, you’ll have lots of doodles and jots and scrawls and scribbles. They are the seeds for your book.

What is a brain dump?

You’ll be undertaking a process called a brain dump — known by some as a mind sweep. A brain dump is a therapeutic technique used by psychologists to help patients relieve stress, manage anxiety, and help you focus. In the writing world, the technique is simple: unload all of that accumulated information from your mind by writing it down, item by item.

Why a brain dump jumpstarts your book

The human temptation is to treat your brain as a storage unit. Yet your brain works best when creating ideas, rather than trying to remember them. As you accumulate thoughts, data, and information in your gray matter, things get clogged. You end up with a massive cranial traffic jam.

Your book, while it remains inside you, creates stress. It can be good stress (“I’ve got a story that will help so many people!”) or bad stress (“I’ve got to get this memoir done before Grandma passes away because I need her perspective.”)

All that information buzzing around in your head is preventing your progress, says productivity consultant David Allen (b. 1945) in his flagship work, Getting Things Done. That’s why Allen recommends a mind sweep — a “brain dump” — to get your ideas out of your brain and onto paper.

Dump your way out of writer’s block — and into a book

I’ve got nine books to my name right now, which means I’ve conducted a brain dump dozens and dozens of times. The process clears my mind — and more.

By starting with just one idea, I “trick” myself out of writer’s block. One thought leads to another and soon it’s a snowball as my mind moves on to sections or ideas that I want to include in the book. In the process, I avoid worrying about forgetting something important since I’ve poured it all out on paper.

Yes, all those notes and scribbles and bullet points are a mess.

But as I wade through the muddle, I see patterns. Those patterns become buckets of material. Those buckets become chapters. And where the buckets have big leaks, I do extra research to fill them in to make the outline for my book.

How to get started writing a book with a brain dump

You can conduct your brain dump in innumerable ways, like …

• Freewriting. Start with any idea, without an endpoint in mind. Your goal is to unload any piece of information related to your book. Let your pen (or fingers) flow. This is the easiest way to get your book started. By writing down one thing, you create momentum.
• Write by 3’s. The number three is the smallest by which our minds organize information. By “limiting” yourself to just three bullet points, you remove pressure to produce a pile of content. Instead, just write down your top 3 ideas … the first 3 ideas that come to mind … the easiest 3 ideas … the next 3 ideas after that … and so on. This approach is a good way to overcome procrastination because it’s a measurable task.
• Write with a theme. Choose one facet of your book idea. Zero in on different angles and pieces of information about the principle. The deep dive helps you develop different chapters for your book.
• Write lists. Make lists of potential chapter titles, key points you want to cover, characters (for fiction), locations where the action will take place (for plotting), or arguments (for persuasive writing).
• Write using a mind map. If you’re visual, create a visual brain dump. In the middle of a blank sheet of paper, write down one of your key ideas. Draw branches out of the center with related subtopics.
• Write with a timer. Give yourself a limited amount of time — say five or ten minutes. Write down everything you think of about your book. This technique is useful when your mind is racing and you’re afraid you’ll forget all those yummy concepts and turns of phrases that will make your book special.

A couple more tips for brain-dumping your book

• Don’t self-edit. Give yourself permission to download what’s on your mind, free of self-judgment. You can edit and throw out and expand later. But your job, right now at the start, is to release your ideas from the confines of your mind.
• Choose a method. Where will you dump all that luscious information? When I’m brain-dumping, I use a pencil and legal pads. I jot down one idea at the top of a sheet of paper and other thoughts that go with it. The next idea is on another page. I can tear out the sheets and move them around on my office floor. Some writers use computer files … index cards … a phone app … Post-It notes.
• Brain dump at your speed. Your dumping sessions can be as short as a few seconds or a couple of hours or more. You can do one brain dump and then move on to outlining … or conduct several dumps over a period of time.

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Identify who will read your book with this step-by-step guide.

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How to get started writing a book with just one idea

In a wonderful scene from J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Professor Dumbledore explains how he processes his ideas by using a shallow bowl called a Pensieve. “One simply siphons the excess thoughts from one’s mind, pours them into the basin,” he says, “and examines them at one’s leisure.”

Yet even Dumbledore, the greatest of all the good wizards operating in a magical world, only pulled out one thought at a time.

If you want to get started writing a book, do the same. Set your pencil on a piece of paper. Write down one thought that comes to mind about your book. Then another. And another.

Sure, there will be mounds of work for you to do after that. But you’ll be over the hump … and on your way.

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More about How To Get Started Writing a Book

Book Writing Help, Step 1: Identify the Problem Your Book Will Solve ...

Book Writing Help Step 2: Identify your readers ...

Book Writing Help Step 3: Find your book's unique niche ...

Book Writing Help Step 4: Write a Summary Sentence ...

Book Writing Help Step 5: Choose a Publishing Platform ...

Book Writing Help Step 6: Write a Book Outline and Chapter Plan ...

Book Writing Help Step 7: Create a Writing Plan ...

See more tips for Writing a Book on my Pinterest board...

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