Mind-mapping software

Mind mapping is an interesting phenomenon. I think there are a few books covering it out on the market, and I think it can be a great tool for breaking through some mental barriers and teaching yourself to make some imaginative connections–especially if you are a more visually oriented learner and thinker.

It’s pretty much what the name says–you map out, or diagram your thoughts and concepts, attaching them to a core idea in an almost train-of-thought manner that allows you to see numerous sub-thoughts or tangents all feeding off from the main theme or inspiration.

So say your main idea is “A fantasy story.” You draw that in a circle in the middle of a page, and then draw two more circles feeding off from it, one that says “dragons” (because you dig dragons) and the other that says “God decides to restart the universe” (because that is one of the big fears you live with every day, for some weird reason).

How would you link those very different elements? Do they even belong together in the first place? Who knows? But it’s our job as writers to find out, right?

If you decided to give mind-mapping a try, here’s some free software that helps lay out the process for you:

http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

Holly Lisle also gives an example of how she does some of this to flesh out a new story idea and give it some initial structure.

Maybe you already use a process like this. I feel like I do, except I tend to write it out, instead of drawing it. But it could be a useful tool to kick you through a mental wall during some writing, or give you some new perspective on an old idea.

I see that smile.

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