Academic Portfolio

I thought it would be interesting to include an example of how I map out stories before I write them. I use a program called Scapple to map out every random word that comes to my head when I am thinking about writing on a subject. I then group those words into some kind of cohesive map. I often will print these out. In the case of this one, it was so big and had so many ideas, that I took it to Kinkos and had them print it on blueprint paper. I then tacked it up on my very large corkboard in my office so I could refer to it easily. I didn’t use all these brainstorming concepts in my paper, but the process gave me an idea of just how much food writing touches on and how much it matters in literature. That helped me write the paper. I do this on much smaller scales for short stories and for the novel I am working on. It makes it easier to outline.