MindMup: Free Online Brainstorming/Mind-Mapping Software

Love this software. Check out MindMup.com. Even for free, it stores your mind maps up to six months in the cloud (from what I understand by a quick glimpse at the site before I started my maps). Read the website for more details.

Since my CPs aren't available much during these months with all the holidays, and since I've got a short window of downtime, this works great for me. I have barely a glimmer of an idea (not even a full-fledged one) that I'm trying to work into the perfect series for me. So my first map (as yet unfinished) is to see what viable "something" I can morph out of the nothing I currently have.

As my second mind map, I'm focusing on my all-time favorite movies. Maybe if I dissect each into the parts I really like, then I should be able to use a compilation of those integral parameters in my own book creations, right? For instance I enjoy some humor in my reading material. And of course romance, whether the primary story line or as a subplot. Plus hard-boiled forties-style detective stories, cozy mysteries and not-so-cozy ones, police procedurals, action/adventure. And that's just for the genres. Then we get into specifics, like I enjoy animals, archaeology, architecture, astronomy. And that's a partial list of some of my beloved subjects from the As.

So I see myself getting lost in MindMup for days, like I tend to do with Yummly (recipes) and Pinterest. [I'm not affiliated with any sites and receive no money for mentioning these three herein. I just find them all wonderful.]

I would think this would be a boon to all us creative types. So, if you give it a try, let me know what you think. Or, if you found one you like better, give me a shout-out.

Enjoy your playtime ...

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"If your vocation isn’t a vacation, then quit, leap, change careers."

Denise Barker, Author, Blogger, Copy Editor
Books that Build Character(s)

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What lies behind you and what lies in front of you pales in comparison to what lies inside of you. Ralph Waldo Emerson
When you give someone a book, you don’t give him just paper, ink, and glue.  You give him the possibility of a whole new life. Christopher Morley
The best inheritance you can leave your kids is an example of how to live a full and meaningful life. Dan Zadra

How Do You Prepare for NaNoWriMo?

Today, October 17, 2012, is NaNo Prep day. I plan to peek at Twitter and see the many #nanoprep tips and find my particular favorites. But I could also get lost in that fun for hours, so...we'll see about that.

For me, a pantster, I like outlining scenes, from as little as thirty to the hoped-for eighty.

However, I need a clean space to work in, too. I had hoped to get to that pre-NaNo this year, but I've been fighting a bug for the last six/seven days which has severely cut into my house-cleaning time.

Then the use of Crock-Pot meals is perfect. Not only does it make the house smell great, but it keeps the food hot no matter when I stop to eat.

Last year, and again this time, I have no plot idea. But I've been gathering ideas from wherever and placing them in my Brainstorming/Mind-Mapping folder. Hopefully I'll get a story for a full-fledged novel out of those tidbits.

Have you ever done that writing exercise where you are given three words (or five or whatever), and you have to tell a story with X amount of words using those given ones too? Well, I'm hoping my folder will help me focus on the best of the best which I need to get me started on a really good tale.

My past ideas have come from a single thought that traipsed across my mind, from a magazine ad photo, from real life crimes, from a nameless face that spoke to me, even from philosophical questions such as why we are all here.

So take what interests you, what you really launch into when talking about, and see what gem hides beneath that curiosity which you can develop into 50K WC.

Good luck, NaNoWriMo authors!

Denise Barker, author + blogger + copy editor

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How Long Are Your Chapters? And How Many Scenes Make a NaNo Novel?

I'm considering NaNo again this year. Last year I listed thirty-nine scene ideas on one sheet of paper (using both sides) which I used as a jumping-off spot to write my 50K WC novel. Some items morphed into others and only a handful didn't get used at all.

Not bad for someone who had no clue as of October 25, 2011 about what to write come November 1.

Fast forward another year. I'm again wondering what my new tale will be. Which is a separate task, on a more creative level. I plan to brainstorm and mind map my way through that.

But purely from a plotting purview, by a pantster no less, it got me to thinking. How many scenes do I need to reach the magical NaNo mark? So I decided to get some quick stats from my own creations.

First, I checked out how long my chapters were, on average, in my published fiction, one novel and one short story.

Eerily enough, both have chapters that average twelve double-spaced pages.

I find that fascinating.

This is hardwired in me. I didn't learn this.

I discovered it. Just today. Not an hour ago.

And I don't try to make all my chapters "even." I normally break text so it ends on a good hook or at a nice place in the action, not because it is twenty pages later. Now if it happens again on the next page, then I compare the two proposed endings and move my chapter ending to the one I deem "best."

So while I wouldn't create a single-page chapter, I don't usually worry about the length of one unless it falls in the extremely short or long category compared to the rest.

What about scenes? you may ask. That was the second thing I tracked. I found two per short story chapter, whereas I had four per novel chapter.

Which in NaNo-speak means I will need approximately eighty scenes to complete a 50K WC novel.

Good. That gives me something concrete to work toward as I outline this year's NaNo project. If I participate online, that is.

I still need the idea for the story . . . .

Denise Barker, author + blogger + copy editor

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Mind Mapping by Hank Quense

I found a wonderful article about mind mapping our novels in this week's Savvy Authors Newsletter.  Here's the link: http://www.savvyauthors.com/vb/content.php?2056-Mind-Mapping-a-Novel-by-Hank-Quense.

Even as a pantster, I can see me doing this.  It is more like brainstorming--so my right brain is happy--but with a purpose, a focus.

Plus I like his tip about assigning emotions to each of your characters.  This reminds us in each scene what response we are looking for from our readers.

Also Quense's descriptive phrase for his characters makes sense to me, especially as we write more and more novels and maybe with more people inhabiting them.  As he explains, it is harder than you think to apply this two-word label.  But that's just it, isn't it?  This way we get to the heart of each of our guys.

Anyway, enjoy the article.  It contains illustrations which help show us the idea in action.  Have fun with it!

Denise Barker, author + freelance copy editor + blogger

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