The Link System is ordinarily used with a list of unrelated items by creating a story with each item. The story should be creative so as to link each item to the next and then the next item, so that when you remember the first one, it will spark your memory of the next item because of its association with each other.
You can go forward or backward, or even start at the middle, because the story that you remembered about the items will hold you in place. Thus, it is also called the Chain System.
The Link System has two variations: the Story System and the Image System. The one described above is the basic Story System, by which you create an association by story only. The second one is by creating a vivid imagery through that story. You add the images to the storyline to make it more vivid and easier to recall. Most people who have a great deal of imagination like to use the second variation, but creating a storyline is sufficient enough to remember simple things.
You don’t have to create so many elaborative details with each item. Simply involving each item in a basic storyline will be just as effective.
The method is used best when trying to remember a list of random or completely unrelated words. In this system, you remember by associating the items among themselves, as opposite to the Method of Loci where you associate them with places you are already familiar with. The first item is a cue to the next one, and so on.