I’m participating in writing the rough draft of a novel this month, otherwise known as National Novel Writing Month.
Typically, the idea is to write a fifty-thousand rough draft of a story, but I’m participating as a NaNo rebel. That’s when the writer makes up their own rules. In my case, I’m only writing 500 words a day, or 15-thousand words for November.
Another rule I’m breaking is this: instead of writing fully developed narrative scenes, I’m doing more outlines for scenes. I’m spending 15 to 20 minutes of jotting down bits of the scene as it comes to me: a scene palette, as it were.
Why do this? And how? And what does this palette look like?
Brainstorming a Scene: How to Build a Creative Palette Before You Write
Most writers want their scenes to flow effortlessly on the page, but few scenes actually begin that way. Before the smooth prose and clean structure comes something messier, more playful, and far more effective: scene brainstorming. This pre-writing step invites creativity, reduces rewriting, and helps you discover the emotional and sensory layers that make a moment come alive.
How to Brainstorm a Scene
1. Get Into Brainstorming Mode
This is not outlining. It’s not drafting. It’s not editing. Brainstorming is creative looseness, letting your brain wander in the right direction without forcing structure.
Turn off the part of your mind that worries about organization or perfection. Put yourself in a mode where all ideas are welcome: tiny whispers of dialogue, flashes of imagery, emotional beats, even questions you don’t have answers to yet.
2. Don’t Worry About Order
Scenes rarely arrive fully formed. You may think of a closing line before an opening one, or a sensory detail long before you understand the action. That’s normal. Write everything down as it comes.
You’ll sort it later. Right now, your job is simply to collect.
3. Insert New Ideas Back Into Old Ones
As you jot, you’ll begin seeing fragments that belong together. Maybe a line of dialogue fits perfectly with a setting detail you wrote earlier. Maybe a character’s internal fear suddenly matches a physical reaction.
Feel free to scroll up or flip back and stitch ideas together. Brainstorming is a living document, the goal is to build a layered palette of ideas you can pull from.
4. Think of It as Creating a Palette
Just like a painter sets out pigments before ever lifting the brush, a writer benefits from laying out raw materials. Brainstorm notes are your palette—colors you can mix while drafting.
5. This Is an Outline, but More Than an Outline
It’s not a bullet list of plot events. It’s a pre-scene world, complete with emotion, texture, voices, and energy. It’s the closest thing to stepping inside the moment before you officially write it.
Why Create a Scene Palette?
1. Your Actual Writing Will Go Faster
When you sit down to write the scene, you’re no longer inventing. You’re assembling. You already know what the characters might say, how they might feel, and how the space around them smells, sounds, or shifts. You have the parts right in front of you.
2. You’ll Do Less Rewriting Later
A lot of rewrites happen because the early version of a scene was underdeveloped. Brainstorming helps you catch missing emotional beats, contradictions, and unclear motivations before you commit to prose.
You’re essentially troubleshooting your scene ahead of time.
What to Include in Your Brainstorm Palette
You can mix and match any of the following:
- Scraps of dialogue
Short exchanges, a line you love, a threat, a joke, a whispered confession. I write most of the dialogue as a screenplay; I list the character’s name with a colon followed by approximate bit of dialogue of what they’re saying. - Descriptions of the scene opening
Where are we? Who’s present? What’s the first thing the reader sees? - Point of view notes
What does the POV character notice (and ignore)?
What bias do they bring into the scene? - Setting details
Weather, lighting, background noise, movement in the environment—anything that anchors the moment. - Inner emotions of the POV character
Fear, frustration, longing, determination, reluctance—whatever’s bubbling beneath the surface. - Inner physical sensations
A tight throat, trembling hands, a stomach drop, a headache pulse, a heat rising behind the eyes. - Sensory details
What they smell, hear, taste, feel, and see that isn’t obvious. - Scene endings
What cliffhanger happens? What question does the point-of-view character entertain? How does the scene end in a way that will make the reader want more.
Collect them like puzzle pieces. Don’t force them to connect yet. You can even have several options for an item. For example, a character can say something three different ways; you can adapt which one you pick when writing a more fully developed draft later.
Example (Quick Sample)
Here’s the result of an early scene I created a palette for:
Scene opening: LIMEship in sky is heading toward the environ that is semi arid.
Bandonn is the point of view character. He is annoyed because this is the first time he has been on Spotov since he was a war slave for the rebels called The Escape.
Remind the reader that Bandonn’s feet were injured earlier.
The goal of this scene is to introduce the main characters to the reader.
Bandonn: I don’t want to be here. I never wanted to come back to this planet. I hate the Grey. I hate the rebels who fought against them. Durso to Bandonn: This is weird being back on Spotov.
Bandonn wonders if Durso has his drug use under control. Durso is addicted to Treat.
Enter Edom. She hasn’t been to Spotov in years either. She has been on The Planned Happenstance for three years.
She is excited to be back because she can’t wait to see her friends from the seminary. She seems more upbeat that Bandonn and Durso.Maybe she is even giddy.
Bandonn is annoyed at her enthusiasm. He remembers the bad events that happened to him as a child on the planet.
Bandonn and Durso ask her: Why do we have to get to the seminary?
Edom: To be honest, I’m not fully sure. Jonn understands the details, but it’s to help you fully attain the status of Spotov’s Advocate.
Sudden awkwardness. Bandonn is the reluctant Advocate for the planet Spotov. He is supposed to become some kind of official diplomat to help Spotov become part of the Consortium.
Bandonn’s heart beats faster and the scene ends with him wondering: what have I gotten myself into?
Suddenly, you have an emotional, atmospheric scene waiting to be written.
Next Steps: Rewrite by Layering
When it’s time to draft, use your brainstorm as a foundation and layer the scene:
- Layer 1: Basic action
- Layer 2: Dialogue and voice
- Layer 3: Emotional beats
- Layer 4: Sensory details
- Layer 5: Setting and atmosphere
- Layer 6: Final polish—clarity, pacing, tension
Ultimately, the choice is yours whether or not you want to use a scene palette for your writing process; there’s no right or wrong. You may want to challenge yourself to try it a few times.
You can write your first draft in all scene palettes and then your second draft as a full narrative; or you can write a scene palette first then write the full scene before going on to the next.
The idea is to make your writing smoother and more streamlined. And to have a little fun along the way.
Friday’s Findings
- How to Start a Novel: Eight Options, Plus Examples
- 5 ways to cut your story down to size: How to shorten your manuscript
- The Question You Should Ask for Every Scene
- How to Deepen Your Story With Motifs
- 6 Ways to Create Amazing Character Chemistry
Andrew M. Friday 
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