FreeMind - Software for the Writer

I've been working on an idea for a low-fantasy epic for several years now, but as of yet I've had zero success at actually spinning the idea into a story worthy of telling. I know it has to do with prostitutes, rat demons and redemption, but that's the big picture. The little picture has plagued me. The sheer volume of information that I've been collecting over these past four years have morphed in scope to become more epic than any yarn I could weave. I've had this problem with stories in the past, stories which have been tossed by the wayside because I couldn't figure out how to tell them effectively. It's like knowing that you want to drive from New York to LA, but you have no idea what roads you want to take, and therefore it's safe to say you'll be stuck in the Big Apple for the rest of your life.

Recently, I dug up my epic in an effort to revive my work on it. I beat my head on it for several days before realizing that what I needed was a mind map that would diagram all of my ideas in one centralized location.

For those who live under rocks, a Mind Map is a graphical representation of various ideas centered around a main idea. The ultimate objective for using a mind map is to hack a statue of David out of a block of intellectual marble.

I've used a variety of tools to create mind maps. Mind maps can get sloppy very quickly, and thus I've found pen and paper (and their white board equivalents) too limiting. I'm constantly erasing as I'm refining the ideas, or crossing out huge blocks of text. Note cards are satisfactory, but they do not suit the purpose of the early stages of idea construction, and the cards eventually hit a ceiling of unwieldiness. Software, therefore seems the best solution. Relatively infinite space, no unwieldy cards, easy editing.

I looked around at several software solutions, and the best I found, by far, is FreeMind. Within seconds of installing it, I had created the basic outline of my epic. By the end of the second night, I had compiled almost all of my notes into the map, and had become rather adept at using the software. I'd even taken the time to generate a nice story structure mind map, containing the 3-act, 5-act, and Monomythic story models and another map regarding my notes on mythology. All three maps are enormous, now, with text, images, links, etc.

The software is very easy to use. Creating a new sibling node in the map is as easy as hitting Enter, and inserting a child is as easy as hitting Insert. The arrow keys move you about in the map. Space bar collapses and expands nodes, allowing you to hide portions of the map that you don't want to see. You can use clouds to help organize ideas into visual clusters. You can hotlink nodes, or have them expand to sub-maps, draw arrows between nodes... It has all sorts of wonderful bells and whistles. For the writer organizing his ideas, the software is invaluable.

The very best thing about FreeMind, however, is that it is free.

It's not perfect, however. In my own mind maps, I will sometimes draw relationship arrows and note the relationship on the arrow itself. I can't find this capability in FreeMind if it exists, but thus far it hasn't hindered me overmuch. There's also some weird node-jumping by the cursor when you swap to a different program and back again, causing you to have to arrow around a bit to get back to the node you were working on.

Overall, I'd highly suggest FreeMind to, well, everyone. It's really helping me find that statue of David that I've been looking for, and I think it can help you, too.

 Five Riots, indeed.

Soul Identity, by Dennis Batchelder

Title: Soul Identity
Author: Dennis Batchelder
Rating: 3/5 Riots
Format: Kindle
Price: Free

Plot Blurb: You can't take it with you...but what if you could?

Most people believe their souls outlive their bodies. Most people would find an organization that tracks their souls into the future and passes on their banked money and memories compelling.

Scott Waverly isn't like most people. He spends his days finding and fixing computer security holes. And Scott is skeptical of his new client's claim that they have been calculating and tracking soul identities for almost twenty-six hundred years.

Are they running a freaky cult? Or a sophisticated con job?

Scott needs to save Soul Identity from an insider attack. Along the way, he discovers the importance of the bridges connecting people's lives.

Review: This was one of the first works that I picked up from Amazon, most notably because it was one of the few freebies of modern fiction that I could find at the time. For the price, I have to admit to not being disappointed by Soul Identity, however as a whole it's just... Meh.

For the most part the protagonist (Scott Waverly) moves through the story like a greased-up technophilic superman. He has no flaws. Many chapters end with his getting his Input/Output on with a hot-nerd Russian programmer named Val. He's always one or two steps ahead of the villain. Scott smacks of Mary-Sue because of these things. The only thing he doesn't seem to know about is the 2600-year-old conspiracy that everyone else seems to know about.

Some of the characters, beyond the protagonist, seem a tad cardboard. We do not meet the villain until the end so he seems rather one-dimensional. He's cool and collected when we first meet him, but he quickly turns into Snidely Whiplash by the end. Another character that is totally unbelievable is Bob, a Soul Identity errand boy. He switches his entire world-view in under two days, using the excuse that he's "grown" a lot during that time. Bullshit. World-views tend to be set pretty solid without some sort of soul-shattering event that makes one question that world-view.

The plot does not feel organic; it feels scripted, almost too convenient. We move from event to event without any real feeling of complication. Obstacles that are put before the protagonists are torn down like paper. For example, toward the end Scott and Val are thrown off of the Soul Identity campus and ordered not to return, however, Scott socially engineers his way back in via the guy who threw them out in the first place. Too convenient... Too scripted. Thus, reading Soul Identity feels like reading source code instead of a book:

10 print "Here is a supposed complication."
20 x = plot_complication_solution
30 if scott = x then print "Scott wins!"; goto 10
40 if val = x then print "Val Wins!"; goto 10
50 print "*** Error *** We should never reach line 50."

Beyond these issues, the book was "fun" and mildly entertaining, and even humorous in some spots. I would encourage Batchelder to continue writing and honing his craft, but I doubt that I'm personally going to shell out 3 bucks for the sequel to this novel. You might feel differently, so give it a shot, at least.

Cleopatra, by Henry Rider Haggard

Title: Cleopatra
Author: Henry Rider Haggard
Rating: 4/5 Riots
Format: Kindle

Price: Free
 

Plot Blurb: Originally published in 1889, Cleopatra is the story of Harmachis, a Pharaoh of Egyptian lineage secretly conspiring against the manipulative, petulant and beautiful Cleopatra, the last of the Egyptian Pharaohs. The priests prepare Harmachis for his destiny: assassinate the Greek pretender Cleopatra and seize the throne for the glory of Egypt, but can Harmachis resist the seductive machinations of his enemy?

Review: This is a thoroughly entertaining romp through the dusk of Ancient Egypt as seen through the eyes of Harmachis, the real Pharaoh in a Kingdom that is being drained of her riches by the extravagant Cleopatra. The plot is a solid one, and it is an interesting twist on the well-known Mark Antony and Cleopatra love story.

Haggard is quite good at his craft. The emotion is well-conveyed and Harmachis is a wholly sympathetic character. When he falls in love with Cleopatra, we do as well. When she betrays him, that knife cuts us just as deep.

Where Haggard really shows his literary chops, however, is in the style of the language: the story is written as if it were translated from hieroglyphics that were pulled from a dusty papyrus scroll. This gives the story a feeling of authenticity that I found enjoyable, but I will readily admit that this might not be everyone's cup of cesium.  Here's an excerpt:

I, Harmachis, who cast aside the opening flower of our hope, who turned from the glorious path, who forgot the voice of God in hearkening to the voice of woman.

Reminiscent of Budge!

As for formatting issues, the text seems a little crowded during chapter and section transitions as there are no blank lines, but it's nothing that can't be easily ignored. The rest of the formatting is pretty solid.