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I am a big believer in book outlines and spend months on them. After I have outlined a book the writing is a breeze. All I have to do is flesh in the outline with concise, clear, and memorable words. For my next book, however, I am using a different approach. This approach is based on mind-mapping, a visual, color-coded representation of content. Since I am a visual person (I have a graduate degree in art), the approach appealed to me. I read several Internet articles about mind-mapping and thought I was ready to begin. But I found there was a lot more preparation work before I made my map. Susan C. Daffron describes some of this work in her Internet article, "How to Create an Outline for Your Non-Fiction Book," published on the Logical Expressions website. First and foremost, the author has to determine the purpose of the book. "You can't write something as long as a book without figuring out the big picture," she explains. After I read that sentence I realized I was in trouble. Though I had come up with a title, it was not as good as I hoped, so I brainstormed on other titles. Each includes an active verb. Instead of finalizing the title, I started a computer file, and will look at the list again in a few weeks. I have even gone so far as to find three royalty-free cover photos that symbolize my book. This book comes from experience and I have a good idea of the chapter titles. Still, I continue to research my topic.. Printouts of Internet articles and notes to myself are stored in a large bin that will hold additional resources. Judy Collins lists the mind-mapping branches of a nonfiction book in her Internet article, "Book Chapters -- Organize and Outline with Mind-Mapping," posted on the Hub Pages website. The book title is in the center of the page and branches come out from it. There are four major branches: the hook, or introduction, the concept (which she calls a thesis), the benefits, and finally, the conclusion. Each branch is a different color. Chapters should close with "a final sentence that features the benefits in the next chapter to invite the reader to want to keep reading," writes Collins. When you run into trouble, as I have with my outline, Allen Bohart, author of "Writing a Book Outline," posted on the Search Warp website, says you should call time out. "Taking a step back and reviewing your book outline will allow you to get back on track," he explains. So I have taken a step back and am doing some Roman numeral outlining, a hybrid of the old method and new mind-mapping. This approach is working for me and it may work for you. When I have a body of research, I will draw my map and see if it represents the book in my mind. A year from now I hope I have a work of art, a combination of good information and good writing. write my paper
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