by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman

The idea of coming up with a new story idea (or 30!) can be intimidating. My favorite go-to tactic when I’m faced with an intimidating challenge is: make it fun. How can we make brainstorming fun? For me, that often means turn it into a game!

In this post, I’m going to share how I turn a simple word puzzle, in this case the word ladder, into a word-association brainstorming spree. If you’re unfamiliar with word ladder puzzles, you’re given two words with the same number of letters and you have to find a path from one to the other by changing one letter at a time, the goal being to make as few changes as possible. If your two words are TIME and WELT, for example, then the word ladder to get from one to the other might look like this:

  • TIME
  • TILE
  • TILT
  • WILT
  • WELT

Since our goal is brainstorming, not puzzle solving, I’m going to start with one word, and then build a ladder by changing one letter at a time until I end up with five different words. Your starting word can be anything you want, and any length, but the longer your word, the harder it might be to find new words by changing one letter. I also recommend doing the word ladder part fairly quickly. Try not to worry about whether or not the words you’re making are “good”—there are no right or wrong answers here, and sometimes it’s the options that appear unlikely that lead us to the most interesting places. Follow your instincts and have fun!

Here is a word ladder I made, starting with the word BOOK:

  • BOOK
  • BOOT
  • BOAT
  • GOAT
  • COAT

I like these five words well enough, so I’m ready to move on to the brainstorming part.

Look at your list of words. What do they bring to mind for you? Do any spark ideas for characters? Can you imagine connections between different words? How many of the words can you string together to form a story? Explore questions that come up for you as you make different associations.

Here’s the mental path I followed as I looked at my words:

I picture a goat, wearing a coat and boots, in a boat, and holding a book. What is his story? Where is he going? What kind of boat is he in? Maybe it’s a rowboat. If he’s wearing a coat and boots, it must be cold. Why is he outside, in the boat, if it’s cold? Maybe he doesn’t want to be in the boat, but he’s trying to find some peace and quiet away from noisy brothers and sisters so he can read his book. His plan is to row into the middle of the lake so he can read. What challenges could he face? Maybe the weather, or maybe there’s a hole in the boat. Or maybe a sibling has stowed away under a blanket in the rowboat, with the intention of surprising their brother. They wait until the goat stops in the middle of the lake and finally starts to read, and then the sibling throws off the blanket and bleats, “Maaaah!” What happens next? Maybe the goat is so startled, he falls into the water. Maybe the boat capsizes and they both fall into the water. Maybe that’s when it starts to rain. What happens next?

Is this a good idea for a story? I don’t know, but I’m kind of delighted by the idea of this goat who only wants to read his book in peace and quiet. Maybe I’ll write his story, just to entertain myself, and see where that takes me.

But let’s return to that original word list and see what other mental paths it might lead me down:

Maybe the main character is not a goat, but a child. Maybe it’s the child who wants to read a book in peace and quiet, and they live on a farm and are being followed by a goat who is a nuisance. Maybe, after some conflict, the story resolves with the child reading aloud to the goat.

Or . . .

Maybe the boat is a toy—a bath-time toy? Maybe this is a story about playing in the tub and not wanting to get out. Maybe there is also a goat bath-time toy. And bath-time . . . boots? Coat? Okay, maybe not. But that’s okay! Your ultimate goal is idea generation, not using all five words. Maybe this is an absurd story with another character trying more and more ridiculous things to entice the main character out of the tub. Maybe some of those ridiculous things are boots and a coat and a book! Hmmm . . .

Or . . .

Maybe “goat” isn’t about the animal but G.O.A.T, Greatest of All Time. Maybe the main character wants to be the Greatest of All Time at something. What might that be? What obstacle could they face? Or maybe they want to meet the Greatest of All Time. Maybe this is a story about someone preparing to meet their hero. Who would that be? Why does this person mean so much to the main character? What is the situation that brings the main character and their hero together? How might their meeting go?

You can see how the original list of five words can take you in many different directions. And they are all worthy of your imagination! Try not to judge your ideas in this very early stage. Explore and experiment with whatever ideas appeal to you. Don’t think about marketability, or whether this is something an agent or editor would like, or if anthropomorphized characters are a hard sell these days, or if there are too many bath-time books in the market already . . . Save that thinking for later, after you’ve drafted your story and put it aside for a while.

Right now, your goal is simple: Play with words! Entertain your inner child. Be silly. Be absurd. And most importantly: Make it fun!

Jennifer Chambliss Bertman is the New York Times bestselling author of the Book Scavenger series, Sisterhood of Sleuths, and the picture book A Good Deed Can Grow, illustrated by Holly Hatam. Her books have received many honors, such as being named Indie Next picks, Amazon Books of the Year, Bank Street College Book of the Year, NCTE Notable Book, among other accolades. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from St. Mary’s College and has worked in a variety of roles with children and in publishing. A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, Jennifer now lives in Colorado with her family. You can subscribe to her newsletter on Substack, follow her on Instagram, Blue Sky, or visit her website for more information about her and her books.

Jennifer Chambliss Bertman is giving away three signed copies of her picture book, A GOOD DEED CAN GROW, illustrated by Holly Hatam, to three separate winners.

You’re eligible to win if you’re a registered Storystorm 2025 participant and you have commented only once below.

Prizes will be distributed at the conclusion of Storystorm.