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Now that I’ve given you a couple of examples, learning how to mind map your novel is pretty simple. While it’s not exactly a novel I think I am going to write anytime soon, it certainly was a fun creative exercise to challenge myself to come up with a novel plot like that on the fly using a mind map! How to Mind Map Your Novel Then I thought of what was happening in this story – why is this story happening in the woods, and why are the characters there in the first place?īefore long, within about 10 minutes I had a whole idea for a novel!

I started this mind map above by simply trying to figure out who my characters would be and what the setting would be. Here’s my initial brainstorm for a “half baked” book idea: Using a mind map is a great way to get some ideas for who your main characters will be and what events will unfold. Once you get all of your ideas down, you can go back to clean up and organize the sequence of events and decide which ideas are worth keeping – and then of course move onto actually writing! However, when you are starting with your very own novel and characters you created out of your imagination, it is helpful to just brainstorm every possible idea you have first – especially in the case of a “Half Baked Book” – when you have a seed of an idea, but don’t actually have a fully developed plot yet. We knew the characters well enough in advance that I did not write out a lot of the details. With our first example, we know the story of Little Red Riding Hood well and have a very good idea of how the story would unfold. Being able to move your different notes and connect them as needed gives you a lot of flexibility! Mind Map Example #2: Half Baked Book: When You’re Not Sure What Your Book is About Yet Using a mind map in this way is a great method to use when you already have a good understanding of your plot, characters, and the different scenes that will happen in your novel. It lists the characters, the setting, the point of view, and a rough outline of the 6 main scenes/chapters I would include if I were writing this story as a book. This first example of Little Red Riding Hood is a very structured method of mind mapping your novel. While the original story of course is not a novel with chapters, the storyline and plot is familiar enough that it will help you identify some of the different aspects of how we went about organizing the ideas in a mind map. In this example mindmap, we are looking at the familiar tale of Little Red Riding Hood. It’s one of my favorite writing tools! Mind Map Novel Example #1: Little Red Riding Hood

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Note: If you like these mind maps shown below, each of these mind map examples we use below were used with the software program Scapple from Literature & Latte – the same company which gives us every writer’s favorite software Scrivener.

With just a few different examples, you can easily see the many different ways a mind map can help you in brainstorming for ideas and organizing the flow of ideas! One of the easiest ways to understand how to mind map your novel is to look at a few examples. The mind map begins with a central topic in the middle, and then new ideas can be added, moved and connected to different ideas as you begin to brainstorm and think of different story lines. Typically, a mind map is created on either a blank sheet of paper or on a blank screen if you are using a mind map software tool such as Scapple. While there are no set rules for what your mind map should look like, they generally do follow some basic similarities. What is a Mind Map and Why Should I Use One to Plot My Novel?Ī mind map is a visual representation of ideas and how they all relate to one another. Mind maps are great for brainstorming ideas, keeping organized, and can help you make progress in writing your book. In this post we’ll share the basic process of how to mind map a novel plot, as well as some tips to make it an effective plotting strategy that works for you. If the idea of a traditional outline seems intimidating, creating a mind map for writing your novel might just be the right solution for you.

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