Mind map your novel!
Here’s an excellent choice for planning your novel or memoir. You’ll find that this technique works wonders for you.
Mind mapping supports the organizing and structuring the thoughts and ideas that pop up in our minds, those thoughts that could be translated into ideas for your novel.
Many books on writing advise outlining. I believe doing this right at the beginning causes intense frustration. Outlines, though helpful later, are too linear for the associative thought processes at the planning stage.
What is a mind map?
Mind mapping is brainstorming events related to your subject. It visually represents ideas and their relationship to one another. A mind map expresses your thoughts and connects them in a meaningful manner. It’s a visual tool helping you arrange all your knowledge. This becomes easy for you to understand, synthesize, store, and develop new ideas.
Compare it to a tree. The trunk represents your subject; the main branches leading from the center represent the key events or people in your story; the secondary branches are the less important branches of your central concept.
For example, the subject of Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert is her need to find purpose in living after her catastrophic divorce. Sub-branches are her travels to Italy, India, and Indonesia and her various types of self-discoveries.
How to mind map
Every mind map starts with a central topic which is the main idea of the novel. Write it down in the middle of the map, then free up your mind and let your thoughts spread
First, place the story’s title or central topic in a bubble or box at the center of the page
• Branch off the major headings
• Insert the second, third, and fourth branches
• Have at least two main points for each branch
• Draw lines to show relationships or connections between the branches
• Don’t go into detail at this stage
• The order does not have to be chronological
• You are not constrained by thinking in order. Throw out any ideas, move them around, reorganize them later
• Use single words or short phrases
• Try working on a large piece of paper and colored crayons or pens
• Cross out items you don’t want
