A Tool to Map Your Idea

Clustering – free association

AS IF THE writing process isn’t miserable enough, I must fake how enjoyable it is to write my protagonists’ bickering and squabbles, arguments to nowhere and their breakups. I feel their pain, as if it were my own, when I immerse myself into their world. It isn’t fun at all. Writing conflict stresses me out. And at the same time I feel like a voyeur, peering from the comfort of my sofa into the characters’ lives. And for some Freudian’s reason, being an avid reader myself, I actually like reading characters conflict. I just hate writing it.

I found an interesting technique to get the writing job done in a fun and interesting way. It’s called Clustering. I use this to map my ideas about my book people. This free association allows my mind to wander freely and with playfulness, without any restraints or limits. With Clustering, my imagination can fly and touch the sky high above or dive down deep into the ocean of my creative mind. No borders. No censors. With this technique you’ll engross yourself in the process of allowing the patterns of words/phrases to emerge as you continue to add more to the cluster.

Here is a sample cluster I made using the word: Springtime.

This is what my mind sees about springtime. I created this cluster with bubbl.us

If you look at the figure above, clustering begins at the center, unfolding. You see the ripples generated and spread out around the topic or nucleus. After you’ve generated a cluster of words/phrases, you can expand them into a poem, weave them into a scene or narrative for your journal, memoir or story.

You can use this technique while you’re waiting for your name to be called at the dentist’s office, waiting at the café for your date, etc. You can use this technique to calm your mind, or when you try to understand why you feel sad, angry, etc.

I cluster to uncover a story’s setting or my main character’s invisible/internal motivation. The random words that fill in the bubble always surprises me, the sense of randomness it brings excites me.

Clustering is my way to bring ideas to the surface and make them visible and useful in my writing. Words of my own choice bounce spontaneously; I don’t have to think of where to start or what to say. I can just write anything that comes to mind. Soon, a pattern emerges.

There is nothing right or wrong when clustering. Try it. And if you want to share what you’ve come up with, I’d love to see it.