Now that our Kickstarter campaign has been successful it is time to get into the writing process. When starting the campaign I already had a script for the first comic book, but I am considering doing a rewrite for a variety of reasons. The main ones being:
1- I am considering not giving away the political elements of the story away in the beginning, but reveal them later.
2- Might want to introduce more secondary characters.
3- Could use more action scenes.
The problem now is that I have to create a script that makes the reader want more, yet feel like a full story in under 24 pages. I am finding the process difficult as I am juggling all the aspects of the main character with his environment and story in my head. I have 30 – 40 pages of notes scattered throughout my notebooks, evernote, and notepad files on my laptop.
Now that I need to get more organized, I have decided to use a technique utilized by several internet marketers; that is mind mapping.
What is a Brainstorm Mind Map?
A Mind Map is a chart to categorize related data in a web like diagram. The center point in the Mind Map is the main topic with areas of that topic branching out from the center. You can break those topics down into sub topics creating even more branches. This sounds very confusing, but once you see it, it will almost instantly make sense.
How I use Mind Mapping?
I use FreeMind because it is free and I am relatively new to utilizing a brainstorm mind map. I have learned about the powers of mind mapping as a study/note taking device during my undergraduate work in Psychology. In those classes they demonstrated their use with pencil and paper. The software is nice because it can be edited easier and adjusted with just a click of the mouse.
Click mind map to see larger image
The above image is the mind map I am using for the Madman of Magic Comic Book number 0. I am using this Mind Map to keep track of all aspects of the story. With this I will be able to determine what I want to be revealed in this first comic book and track what has been revealed during further releases in the series. I also could create one for each character as a way to have notes on their personality, personal history, relationships with others, strengths weakness, etc, etc.
What I love about using the brainstorm mind map (as opposed to using it for note taking) is that the character/story expands naturally through the process. At the same time you have a record of those ideas as you create them.
I have been training myself to use Mind maps more and more for a variety of tasks. One of the problems I am running into is where to keep these files and how to organize them. I have the same issue with Evernote, my regular notebook, notes I print out from word documents, or any other note taking practices I have tried.
Even with my organizational issues I find Mind Mapping a great resource and a very powerful tool.
