The more I
teach, write, research, and learn, the more I come to understand about myself
during these processes. And what I’ve come to understand is that I’m not
interested in answers as I am in questions. Sure, answers come into it,
eventually, but that’s not what drives me. I’m not content to simply be told an
answer or even to find an answer.
It’s not
enough to know that the sky is blue because of the absorption properties of the
atmosphere. I want to know more. How do wavelengths of light work? Why are
plants green? Why is chlorophyll green instead of red? Or yellow? Or blue?
I want to
ask the deeper questions. I want to keep going until I can’t come up with any
more questions. Complex questions are made up of simpler questions (of course
the most complex questions are deceptively simple to ask e.g.: why are we
here?). So by breaking down the complex questions into simpler questions, and
breaking down those even further, it becomes easier to understand concepts. And
when the questions are broken down to the point where there are no more
questions, when answers must be given, that when I find I truly understand.
I bring
this up because well, I’m going to try it in teaching, but also in my own
writing. Brainstorming usually revolves around coming up with ideas, of coming
up with topics or points or what will happen next. But I think I’m going to try
to come up with brainstorms that are nothing but questions, leading to deeper
and deeper questions until I have no choice but to come up with some answers,
which will hopefully lead to some well-developed stories.