Explore ten ideas before you commit to one
Last checked against the product October 1, 2026
Planning and exploring are different moods, and a tool that turns every thought into structure makes exploring expensive. Brainstorm is the mode of Minty, the editor in the Novelmint Studio, where nothing gets built. She has read your book, so the ideas start from what is already there. You get range: premises, what-ifs, twists, a character who could carry more. Your story does not change until you decide it should.
Key takeaways
- Brainstorm is a mode of Minty for open idea generation: premises, what-ifs, characters, twists, themes, settings.
- It can read your book, so ideas build on what you already have. It cannot change your chapters, beats, or bible.
- It favors range over polish and does not push you to commit.
- What you work out is saved to the mode’s own workspace, which Build mode can read when you want to make an idea real.
- There are three levels: inside a book, across a series, and Ideas mode above everything, where nothing has to belong to a book yet.
What it does
What a session gives you
Many options
Divergent on purpose. Ask for a way out of a plot corner and you get several to choose between.
Ideas that fit your book
She reads the live Timeline first, so a suggested twist uses the characters and setups you already have.
Questions back
A good session includes the question you had not asked yourself yet.
A story left alone
The mode has no tools for changing chapters, beats, or characters. Exploring cannot break anything.
A record of where you got to
The shortlist is kept in the mode’s workspace. Switch to Build and Minty can turn the idea you chose into structure.
A place for the rest
An idea worth keeping that has no home yet can be saved to your Notebook, which spans all your series.
How to use it
How to use it
Pick the level
Inside a book for a problem in that book. On the series page for what spans books. From your Studio home, Ideas mode, for what has no book yet.
Switch Minty to Brainstorm
The mode menu is in Minty’s chat panel. At Studio level the mode is called Ideas.
Give her a seed
A premise, a character, a "what if", or the place you are stuck.
Push on what interests you
Ask for more in one direction, combine two options, throw one out. Tangents are welcome here.
Make it real when you are ready
Switch to Build inside a book, or to Series arc on the series page, and ask for the idea to be added.
Example
A stuck middle, opened up
You ask
My middle sags. Ines has the letters and nothing forces her to act on them until the storm. Give me options.
You get back
- A second reader: someone else has been getting letters too, and theirs say something different about Thursday.
- A cost: every letter she opens, a memory from her own past goes missing. Reading them is no longer free.
- A deadline moved up: the next letter is dated tomorrow.
- A question back: does Ines want the letters to be true? The answer decides which of these three belongs in your book.
An illustration with an invented story, to show the shape of a session. Nothing in the book changed.
Questions
Frequently asked
- Can AI help me brainstorm a novel?
- Yes. In Novelmint, Brainstorm mode is open idea generation with an editor who can read your book. It offers many options, asks questions back, and builds on what you already have. It does not change the story.
- Will brainstorming change my book?
- No. Inside a book or a series, the mode can read your story and cannot edit it. The one thing it can save is a note to your Notebook.
- What is the difference between Brainstorm and Build?
- Brainstorm explores and Build commits. In Brainstorm you get range and nothing is created. In Build, Minty creates the chapters, beats, and characters you ask for.
- What is Ideas mode?
- Ideas is the version of this at Studio level, above any one series. It is for premises and series concepts that do not belong to a book yet. What is worth keeping goes in your Notebook, and when an idea is ready Minty can start a series for it once you say yes.
- Does brainstorming cost credits?
- It writes no prose and never starts a chapter build. It is a conversation with Minty and is counted as Minty chat. Current allowances are on the pricing page.Pricing
What this page does not claim
- Brainstorm does not decide your story. It gives you options, and choosing is your job.
- Its ideas are suggestions. Some will not fit, and you should expect to throw most of them away.
- It does not build anything. Turning an idea into chapters and beats happens in Build mode.
- The sample on this page uses an invented story.
Keep reading
After the exploring
An idea becomes part of the book in Build mode, and part of the series plan in Series arc.
Powiązane
Plan a book with Minty
Talk the story through and watch it become chapters and scenes on your Timeline.
Chapter builds
Turn a chapter’s beats into prose, written from your plan, your bible, and your voice.
Revise and polish
Fix the one scene that missed without rebuilding the chapter around it.
Import a manuscript
Bring in a book you already wrote. Your words stay; the structure is worked out from them.