Mind Maps

Step One: Start With Your Central Idea

Write your central idea in the middle of the page, then draw a circle around it. Keep it brief. It might be something broad like “mystery story” or something more specific like “an adventure on a desert island.” The central idea is simply your starting point, not a commitment. It will evolve as you work outward from it.

The circle matters because it signals that this is the core from which everything else grows. It is a visual anchor for the entire map.

Step Two: Establish Your Sense of Place

Draw a branch from your central circle and write “Setting” or “Place” at the end of it. From there, begin branching outward with everything you know or imagine about where your story takes place.

Think beyond the obvious. If your story is set on a desert island, consider not just the physical landscape but the atmosphere. What does the air feel like at different times of day? What sounds are constant and which ones are absent? What would a character notice in their first hour there, and what would they stop noticing after a week? What does the place make possible, and what does it make impossible?

A richly developed setting does not just provide backdrop. It shapes character behaviour, generates conflict, and gives the story a texture that readers can feel. The more you know about your setting before you start writing, the more naturally it will come through on the page.

Step Three: Develop Your Characters

Draw another branch from the central circle and label it “Characters.” From this branch, create a smaller branch for each character you are considering. Then branch outward from each character with everything you can establish about them.

Start with the basics: name, age, where they come from. Then go deeper. What do they want more than anything? What are they afraid of? What do they tell themselves about who they are, and is that story accurate? How do they speak? What do they notice when they walk into a room? What is the one thing they would never admit to another person?

You do not need to use all of this in the story. But knowing it changes how you write the character, and readers will feel that knowledge even when it never appears explicitly on the page.

Keep each character on their own branch so their details stay organised and do not bleed into one another.

Step Four: Map Out the Story

Draw a branch for plot or story events. This does not need to be a linear sequence at this stage. It can be a collection of scenes, moments, or turning points that feel important, placed on the map without worrying about order.

Ask yourself what your central character wants, what is standing in the way, and what happens when those two things collide. Think about how the story begins, what changes in the middle, and where it ends up. Branch outward from each event with consequences, complications, and questions you have not yet answered.

A story branch might also include a timeline, a branch for when events take place and how much time passes between them, and a branch for context, any background information that shapes the world of the story even if it never appears directly in the narrative.

Step Five: Keep Branching

The value of a mind map is in its capacity for expansion. Keep pushing outward. Add branches for themes, for objects that carry significance, for relationships between characters, for questions the story raises and may or may not answer.

If you are a visual thinker, add small drawings alongside your words. An image of a location, a rough sketch of a character’s face, a symbol that represents a theme. The goal is to externalise as much of the story as possible so you can see it all at once rather than holding it in your head where it tends to blur and overlap.

There is no rule about how large or complex the map should be. Some writers fill an entire wall. Others work on a single sheet. What matters is that the map is genuinely useful to you.

What to Do When You Are Done

When you feel you have pushed the branches as far as they will go, step back and look at the map as a whole. You will likely find that you have considerably more material than you realised when you started. Ideas that felt vague will have taken on more definition. Connections will have appeared between things you did not initially think were related. Questions you had not thought to ask will have surfaced.

From here, you have a few options. If your story involves a lot of events and you want to establish a clear sequence before you start writing, consider turning the map into a storyboard, a visual or written outline that places events in order and shows how they connect. If you feel ready to begin, the map gives you enough material to start writing with confidence, knowing that the core of your story is already in place.

Either way, a completed mind map means you are no longer facing a blank page. You are facing a story that is already, in many important ways, underway.