Using this template
Mind Mapping For Story Writing: Setting Development
The Placename
tip: use the [tab] key to quickly create new items while editing, if further inspiration strikes!
tip: when you no longer need them, you can remove all of these instructions at once by right-clicking 'Using this template', hold shift, and choose the X icon.
Check out this guide for other ways mind mapping can be used in creative writing!
click to edit
2⃣ Add branches your with ideas about the character
Ideas could be about
What would the daily newspaper headline be? (If newspapers exist!)
click to edit
tip: this item is the diagram title, edit it to change the diagram's name
1⃣ start with the name of the place your story occurs in the centre
3⃣ As you develop your story, keep returning to the mind map
your ideas about the world might change!
Where does food come from?
How is it similar to the area you live in today? Or, how is it different?
How is the world run, is there a government?
Ideas can be about anything to do with the world
If you don't know the name yet, just start with a general idea about where your story might take place, you can always change it later!
Use these branches to add ideas about the world your story occurs in
and create child items as you develop specific ideas further
When, where
For example, "present day, a small town in Scotland"
click to edit
Add new ideas, and remove old ones which no longer apply
What is the weather like?
you can add as many as you need
click to edit
Small details can bring a setting to life
Or, "a planet where the sun never sets"
Or, "the not too distant future, where something strange was about to happen"
Or absolutely anything else!
your characters might find themselves in a place where you need to know new details about the world
How do people in this world meet, socialise and make friends?
sometimes details are really important
you can drag branches far off to the side, and keep adding more and more detail about something which really matters for your story
Perhaps your setting has a fantastic food culture, with elaborate cooking techniques
These details might not matter for your final story, but they might also matter in ways you don't expect!