Writing template · 32 topics
Novel plot outline mind map template
A novel plot outline mind map with premise, characters, world, three acts, subplots and theme, to plan a story before you write chapter one.
Who it is for
- A first-time novelist who needs the whole story on one page.
- A short story writer checking that the plot has a beginning, middle and end.
- A NaNoWriMo participant planning scenes before the month starts.
How to use it
- Open the template and write your working title in the central topic.
- Start with Premise and Characters, then fill the three acts with the scenes you already know.
- Leave unknown scenes as questions and come back to them, then export Markdown to draft from.
The outline
Every topic in the template, as it opens in the editor.
Novel plot
- Premise
- The story in one sentence
- Genre and tone
- What readers have not seen before
- Characters
- Hero, and what they want
- What they need but do not know
- Antagonist, and their reason
- Ally who tests the hero
- World
- Place and time
- Rules that limit the hero
- Mood of the setting
- Act one
- Ordinary life, shown in one scene
- Inciting incident
- The choice that starts the journey
- Act two
- Rising obstacles
- Midpoint reversal
- Lowest point
- Act three
- Climax
- How the hero has changed
- Final image
- Threads
- Relationship subplot
- A secret waiting to come out
- Theme
- The question the story asks
- An image that keeps returning
Take your maps to iPhone and iPad
MindmapPal for iPhone and iPad opens .xmind, OPML and Markdown files, works offline, and keeps every map as a file you own.
Join the waitlist
Coming soon to the App Store