Mind Mapping

One of my writer friends, Misty Simon, teaches a workshop on a technique called "Mind Mapping". This is a type of plotting device in which you take a large plain piece of paper and start working out your characters and plot lines. You start with a central circle that could be your main character and off of that you draw lines to other circles where you put the physical description, other characters, problems s/he may have, black moment, etc. I've also heard it called story webbing or other names. It works well for those who aren't dyed-in-the-wool outliners (You know, the I, A, 1, a types).

I, unfortunately, am one of those outliners, though not usually with my books. I usually have a very loose outline that I may or may not follow as the book dictates. At first, I found the mapping technique difficult. There was no logic. No flowchart from one aspect to another - just lines and circles. Chaos theory in practice. But after a while, it seemed to make a kind of convoluted sense. On one large sheet, I could see all the pieces of the puzzle and how they connected, unlike my outline where I had to sift through pages of notes and might miss something.

In fact, the mind mapping caused a bit of a problem for my new WIP (work in progress). I had the beginnings of the story done but had run up against a roadblock - there wasn't enough going on for a novel. A nice short story, maybe. But not a novel. So I tried the mind-mapping. And came up with an entirely new story. Same characters, but going about things in an entirely different way. I can see possibilities with this start that I didn't with the other - but I liked the way the other one started. It was darker, richer in tone.

Can I incorporate it into the new beginning? Maybe. I don't know. I sent it off to my writing pals to get their opinions. In the meantime, I'm going to let it percolate and see what my brain comes up with.

Anyone got a really big sheet of blank paper?
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Birthdays: R.D. Blackmore, Giovanni, Elizabeth Bowen, Gwendolyn Brooks

Tips and Teasers: If they made a movie of your life, what would the musical score sound like? Pick out the music.

Thought for the day: "Writing is a question of finding a certain rhythm. I compare it to the rhythms of jazz. Much of the time life is a sort of rhythmic progression of three characters. If one tells oneself that life is like that, one feels it less arbitrary." – Francoise Sagan