The BookMap: Simplify Your Brainstorming & Book Outline With This FREE Template

Posted on Dec 12, 2023

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Written by Chandler Bolt

Home > Blog > Non-Fiction, Writing > The BookMap: Simplify Your Brainstorming & Book Outline With This FREE Template

Trying to get into the writing groove, but find yourself getting tripped up when you try to start an outline? It sounds like you need the BookMap.

Writer’s block happens to all of us. Because of that, I have the perfect solution for you right here in this article.

I want to introduce you to a book-outlining system called the BookMap. You can use it to dramatically speed up the time it takes to write a book—while making the whole process simpler, easier, and less intimidating.

Better still, I’m sharing a free BookMap template you can use to go through this process for your next book (and your next book, and your next, and your next).

The BookMap is about to become your secret weapon for mindmapping a book faster and more easily than you ever thought possible.

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Book Outline Generator

Choose your Fiction or Nonfiction book type below to get your free chapter by chapter outline!

Book Outline Generator

Enter your details below and get your pre-formatted outline in your inbox and start writing today!

CONGRATULATIONS

Thanks for submitting! Check your email for your book outline template.

In the meantime, check out our Book Outline Challenge.

Bookoutline 1

You CAN Write a Book (And The BookMap Will Make It Easier)

You might think that most authors grew up getting straight A’s in English class (and that their teachers loved them for being such amazing wordsmiths).

Well, you would be wrong!

Believe it or not, I got terrible grades in my writing classes. Teachers hated my papers—truth be told, I wasn’t that strong of a writer—and as a result, I hated writing.

That might sound surprising for someone who turned out to become a 6-time bestselling author. But it’s true.

Luckily for me, I didn’t give up on writing a book just because I didn’t know how to do it. Instead, I sought out a mentor who knew what they were doing—and his advice helped me to write my first book and make it a huge success.

I’ve continued to use that system for all my subsequent books, which has helped me to write my books in just a fraction of the time it takes many other writers.

Now I’m paying it forward and sharing that advice with you.

Download Your Book Outline Template

Yes.

We really did create an easy, fill-in-the-blank style book outline template in Google Docs for you to use.

All you have to do is fill out the information below and get your outline, complete with front and back matter and resources to guide you.

Click below to download your FREE mindmap for outlining:

Download your Nonfiction Mindmap

Download your Fiction Mindmap

The BookMap: Your Key to a Solid Book Outline

So many people want to write a book…but they get overwhelmed at the thought of all that work. They don’t know what to do or how to get started. As a result, the entire process seems impossible.

Well, that’s not going to be the case any longer. Not for you.

The BookMap is the key to getting your book project off the ground in just a few hours. It’s a template you can follow to quickly pull together all the subjects you want to write about and organize them into topics that will become the chapters of your book. It will help you to start writing a book today!

Here’s how the BookMap works:

  • Step One: Print out the BookMap and have a few clean sheets of paper ready.
  • Step Two: Use the BookMap template to draw your own map with everything you know about that topic.
  • Step Three: Organize those sections to form the outline of a book.

(Note: don’t let your ideas hold you back! It may be a little difficult to fit all your ideas onto one page and that’s totally normal. Don’t think smaller just because you have less space.

Now let’s dive into each step of the BookMap in a little more detail.

BookMap Step 1: Choose Your Book Topic

First things first: you have to download the BookMap. There are 2 versions of this (free) download—one for fiction books and one for nonfiction books.

As you can see, the BookMap is a kind of mind map that’s been pre-filled with the most relevant questions you’ll need to answer to write your book. And no matter which version of the BookMap you’re using, you’ll notice that the central question is the same:

What’s your book topic?

So first, go ahead and choose a topic. What do you want your book to be about?

For a nonfiction book, this could be anything that…

  • Is a hobby of yours
  • Is related to your occupation
  • You are passionate about
  • You consider yourself an expert on
  • You’re curious to learn more about

And for a fiction book, think about what you’re inspired to write! Do you love mysteries or coming-of-age stories? Are you fascinated with a particular event in history, a specific person, or a concept that can be dramatized in a novel?

Another tip is to think about the kind of books you love to read. That’s usually a good indication that you will enjoy writing that kind of book. If you love reading romance novels or science fiction books, then try writing one yourself! Because you’re familiar with the genre, you’ll be able to shortcut the learning curve and will probably be surprised by how great a story you can write on your very first try.

Once you have a topic, move on to step two.

BookMap Step 2: Fill Out the BookMap

Now that you have a topic for your book, the next step is to brainstorm everything you know about that topic by filling out the BookMap. This will help you get all the most important and relevant ideas down on paper, making them much easier to work with.

Here are some of the most important prompts to answer when you’re writing a book:

BookMap Prompts for a Nonfiction Book

What problems are you helping people to solve?: A lot of people make the mistake of writing about themselves—the things they love, the things they find interesting—without stopping to consider what the reader wants.

What are your reader’s problems and frustrations? How can you help them to solve those problems with this book?

Example: I know from experience that new moms have a hard time losing that baby weight—especially since you’ve got a little infant taking up all your time now. So I’m going to help new moms overcome this frustrating situation with a book that will help them make smarter choices in the kitchen and ultimately, feel better about themselves.

Lessons you’ve learned: Think about how you have personally grown over the years, as it relates to this topic. What are the biggest things that you’ve learned?

How have your views changed and evolved over time? This can be an insightful thing to brainstorm, since it can help you get a better idea of where your readers are probably at right now and some of the challenges they’re facing.

Example: One thing I learned in the process of losing my baby weight is that you can’t beat yourself up every time you make a mistake. Doing that will only lead to more emotional eating!

Stories & examples: People learn best from hearing stories about real people overcoming real problems. What stories can you remember that will help you to illustrate your points more effectively?

Example: My friend Mindy tried to lose her weight through exercise alone, without changing her diet. And she continued to gain weight—until she finally realized that she needed to change the foods she was putting in her body.

Ideas to explore: What concepts or themes can you bring up in your book? Does your topic relate to any deep ideas or universal truths that might resonate with your readers?

Example: One idea I want to explore is the importance of self-esteem. Yes, it’s important to be at a healthy weight…but what really matters is the way you feel about yourself—no matter what the scale says!

Other books you’ve read: Have you read any other books on the topic? If so, did those books have any helpful messages you can include in your book?

Example: In Dr. Berg’s book The New Body Type Guide, he talks about how your hormones can impact your body shape. This could be a helpful thing for women to learn about, so they can realize not everything is under their control.

Topics to research: Are there any other topics you would like to include in your book, but you might need more time to learn more about? If so, make a note of them so you can remember to do a little research.

Example: I’d like to do more research on insulin and learn more about how carbohydrates affect fat storage.

Frequently asked questions: Are there common questions, myths, or misconceptions about your topic that people have? If so, your book gives you a great way to bust those myths and enlighten people with the truth. Try to think up at least a few common misconceptions.

Example: “Should I avoid eating fat?” This is a common question for many women. Some people think that eating fat will make you fat…but the truth is, eating healthy fats can actually help keep you feeling fuller, longer so you can stick to your diet.

BookMap Questions for a Fiction Book

Main characters: Who are the main characters in your story? Flesh them out and start to learn more about who they are and what their purpose is in your story. Make sure to include your protagonist, antagonist, and any important supporting characters.

Example: Sarah is a stubborn teenage girl who becomes convinced that her neighbor is a serial killer.

Background: Explore your important characters’ backgrounds. Where were they born? What was their childhood like? What’s the educational level? What are their beliefs? Where do they work? Flesh out your characters until they start to feel like real people.

Example: Sarah was betrayed by her best friend in 5th grade, and as a result, she has a hard time trusting people.

Character development: How does each character change and grow (or regress) during the course of the story? What causes this change to occur, and what effect does it have on the other characters?

Example: Sarah learns to trust other people which helps her to escape from the killer and bring him to justice.

Theme: What larger ideas do you want to explore in this book? Betrayal, love, friendship? How do the events of your story shed new light on these concepts?

Example: I want to explore the concept of trust, and why you can’t always do it alone in life.

Scene & setting: Where does your story take place? Is it a real location, a historical one, or an invented one? Be sure to think about different factors like the climate, geography, culture, and government. How do these things affect the characters in your story?

Example: Sarah lives in a wealthy suburb where crime like this is very uncommon, which makes it that much more terrifying to Sarah’s parents.

Major events: What are the big turning points that take place in your story? Your best bet is to brainstorm a long list of dramatic events so you can choose the options that fit best in your story.

Example: At one point, Sarah sneaks into the neighbor’s house looking for clues—and she discovers a bloody knife in the basement! Before she can get out, however, she hears the front door open upstairs…

Climax: The climax is where your story reaches a crisis point. Tension and drama are at their highest, and the protagonist faces his or her worst fears—and they either succeed or fail, for good. Don’t lock yourself into one climax here. Instead, brainstorm a few possible climax ideas so you can choose the best one.

Example: At the story’s climax, Sarah is forced to trust her new friend Alex to help her escape from the killer’s basement.

Conclusion: Your conclusion takes place after the climax, at the very end of your book. What happens to your characters when it’s all said and done? Do they live happily ever after, or face a tragic end? Once again, feel free to brainstorm several possibilities. You don’t have to lock yourself into one ending just yet.

Example: It’s a happy ending for Sarah, who survives the killer and grows as a person. But the ending is bittersweet because of all the tragedy the killer has left in his wake.

Phew! Step 2 is a long one, I know. But trust me—by answering those questions, you just took a MAJOR step forward in completing your book.

You now have all the topics you need to boost your writing productivity and write your outline.

BookMap Step 3: Organize Common Topics into Sections

The final step in this process is to look at your BookMap and combine all the related topics into sections. Those sections will become the chapters of your book.

There are a couple of ways to do this.

You could write them out on a separate piece of paper, keeping them organized by section. Or you could use different colored highlighters to connect the ideas in your BookMap visually.

No matter how you choose to do it, the idea is the same: combine all the related ideas together.

Nonfiction example: Maybe you have an anecdote that would serve as a great example for one of the lessons you want to share. In that case, group those 2 things together—they deserve to be in the same chapter.

Fiction example: Maybe one of your character traits really seems to resonate with one of the themes you want to explore in your book. If so, group those 2 things together—this way you’ll know to use that character trait as a way of exploring that theme in your novel.

Once you’re done, step back and take a look at what you’ve completed. You have the perfect outline for your next bestseller.

Outling Your Book Using A Bookmap

Put Your BookMap to Use!

Yep, believe it or not, you just outlined an entire book. Now you have a detailed roadmap of exactly what to write about in each and every chapter of your book.

And that’s huge, guys!

See, the rest of the process—actually writing the book—is so(ooo) much easier when you know exactly what to say in each and every chapter.

So give yourself a pat on the back. Because in a lot of ways, you just finished the hardest part of writing a book. Of course, if you run into trouble with writing, editing, marketing, or self-publishing your book, our team has plenty of courses and resources to help you out.

Happy writing!

Pages 1 Pages Mobile

Book Outline Generator

Choose your Fiction or Nonfiction book type below to get your free chapter by chapter outline!

Book Outline Generator

Enter your details below and get your pre-formatted outline in your inbox and start writing today!

CONGRATULATIONS

Thanks for submitting! Check your email for your book outline template.

In the meantime, check out our Book Outline Challenge.

Bookoutline 1
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