Step 1: Your book idea
Create a mindmap of your book idea
Before you write a word, get the shape of your idea out of your head and onto a page — setting, main character, central conflict, theme, and any twists you already know about. A mindmap is the fastest way to do this: one central topic, branches radiating out, no pressure to get the structure right yet.
Roughout is a free, browser-based diagramming tool that works well for this — no account needed, and a mind map is one of its built-in diagram types.
This sample mindmap sketches out a made-up book idea, so you can see the shape before building your own.
Open the sample mindmap →It opens fully editable in Roughout. Just type over the sample text to replace it with your own idea, then bookmark the page (the whole diagram lives in the link itself) or use Roughout's own Export/Print options to save a picture or PDF.
Once your idea has a rough shape, move on to Step 2: Plan your book.