Is Mind Mapping Better Than Outlining?

You are ready to start planning out your book. Unless you’re a pantser like I used to be. If you’re not a pantser, then you’re probably overwhelmed by the various ways you can plan out your book. As I’m in the midst of planning the sequel to my upcoming release, Speaking the Truth of Family, I figured this would be a good time to discuss my process. The most popular planning techniques are mind mapping and outlining. What it comes down to is preference.

Method #1: Pantsing

I mentioned previously that I used to be a pantser. What is a pantser? Well to put it simply, it’s someone that doesn’t plan. We just write and then edit later.

However, over the years, I realized I am more productive if I have some plan for my writing. That’s when I started trying out various outlining methods.

Method #2: Outlining

This is always a go-to for when you’re planning something out. It’s like a detailed list that is for your story. You plan each chapter or scene. Then you point out some important details you want to make sure are included.

It’s a tedious process. Thing is, from my experience, it doesn’t work.

Usually, my characters derail the story from the initial outline. When that happens, I have half an outline that will never be used because now my characters are off doing something that won’t align with what I planned. It’s frustrating. Yet, I believe my characters (sometimes) know what path they want to be on regardless of what I feel.

Maybe outlining works for you and that’s great! However, I have found another way that works better for my writing process.

Method #3: Mind Mapping

That’s right, mind mapping. You can make a flexible plan for your story using this method. My favorite part of using this as my outlining method is that I can make multiple mind maps for my story. That way I can get more detailed with each map, but still be flexible when it comes to writing.

My two favorite mind mapping apps are SimpleMind and MindNode. They make it easy to map out your ideas. The best part is that they’re FREE! They have paid options but it isn’t required to create basic mind maps.

In the example above, I have a portion of my mind map from Speaking the Truth of Family. As you can see, I have the main topic highlighted and what I want to show about that topic surrounding the main bubble.

Not only does this help in planning, it gives me direction if I’m ever stuck.

This next example is from Speaking the Truth of Family. I’ll take all my notes from the topics from the previous example and place them together around the central character of the story. If your story has multiple characters, make maps for each of their story arcs.

My final step in the process is to clean up that map into a single and clean mind map that encapsulates the story. Each bubble is a scene with the topic that I want covered and in the order I want them to occur.

Then it’s off to writing the story. Will things work out perfectly? Not at all. Though I’ve noticed by using this method, I may skip a few scenes, but my characters stay on track more often. I don’t find myself needing to shift my outline and I always have a reference for what is next.

Mind mapping is my chosen method for book outlining. It’s what works for me and my writing process. I hope by the end of this post, you have some new ideas to help you and your writing process as well. It’s all a journey in finding the right methods for you and you just have to keep working till you find what fits.

Keep on writing!