Wednesday 8 February 2012

Picture This

Whenever I'm planning out a new story, the first thing I do is collect pictures – of people who look a bit like my characters; of places and settings that I think might find their way into the story; of anything that sums up the way the story feels. They help me find my way into its world, then to become immersed in it. For me, writing is also very visual – I see my stories in my head like films, and collecting images that relate to my characters and scenes really help with that.

Until now, those pictures have been printed out on scraps of paper and shoved in a notebook along with the rest of my notes for whatever story they belong to, or collected into a document on the computer and, after the story is written, forgotten about. That was, until the other day, when I got an invite to join Pinterest from Twitter friend and fellow blogger Nettie Thomson (you can check out her wonderful website and blog here). Pinterest is a kind of virtual pinboard, where you can 'pin' pictures you find on the internet and sort them into categories. Of course, I jumped at the chance to sign up. And although I haven't had a lot of time (yet!) to play around with it, you can find the beginnings of my board for ACID here. I'd love to know what you think!

In other news, I'm going to be taking part in my first ever author event as part of the 2012 Derbyshire Literature Festival in May - eek! It's a panel discussion with fellow YA author and Lucky 13 CJ Flood, whose debut novel INFINITE SKY is out from Simon and Schuster in early 2013, and poet Helen Mort, whose debut poetry collection DIVISION STREET is being published by Chatto and Windus, also in 2013. And it will be chaired by recent Derbyshire Poet Laureate and current Writer-In-Residence with Writing East Midlands River Wolton. What great company to be in, eh? I'll post more details as soon as I have them.

25 comments:

  1. Now that's an idea . . .

    I also like to root around for pictures that help me build an image of what I'm writing AND I have a pinterest account, but I never thought of putting the two of them together. Usually the pictures go into a folder on my hard drive. Pinterest might be the way forward. Although, if anyone ever looked it they might get a bit worried. 'nuff said.

    As for the Literature Festival appearance - good luck and well done and congrats and all that. You'll have a great time. Don't think 'eek!'

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    1. Thank you, Dan! I'm sure it'll be fine (although still, eek!). Personally I'd love to see your story pictures on Pinterest (but then I'm a nosy sod!). Your books are so atmospheric; it would be really interesting to see some of the images that go with them. :-)

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  2. I was talking to someone about Pinterest the other day for that same purpose. Although I wanted to know if you could make it private, as if you have a budding idea, you don't necessarily want everyone to share it yet.

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    1. I agree, Vivienne – I wouldn't want to put budding ideas on there either as, like you, I prefer not to share stuff at that stage. Not sure if you can make it private, though!

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  3. Great post Emma, I've had Pinterest for a while but hadn't thought of collecting for a writing inspiration board...might just do that! I tend to sketch and paint while I collect my ideas together. I also take photos, these are all stuffed into files, both physically and scanned into laptop files!
    Could be good to put some of it on a Pinterest board, after watermarking my own work!

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  4. PS, I really love your ACID board...it's great way to build up to the book!

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    1. Thank you, Lisa! That was another one of the reasons I did it, as it's great to be able to give people an idea of what the book's like (without giving away anything about the plot, of course!). It's great fun to be able to collect images together like this. I'm looking forward to checking your boards out, too!

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  5. Love the Pinterest pic board for acid. I especially like the run down flats - have a bit of a thing about derelict, run-down places. Some lovely pics on there and nice to see how they connect with the book. Derbyshire Lit Fest is going to be fab... how could it fail to be with both of us taking part (HA HA!) so lots of luck with that and can't wait to be there!

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    1. Thanks, Abi! I have a thing about derelict places too - have you seen the book ABANDONED PLACES buy Henk van Rensbergen? Amazing photos. And yay for us both doing the Derbyshire Lit Fest! :D

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  6. Interesting post... My imagination seems to work along visual lines as well (sometimes too much, actually. One of the best notes I had from a fellow writer was a reminder that there are *five* senses, so now when I write about a new environment, I'm always aware of that...) I've got some printed-out pictures up on my study pinboard for my current work-in-progress, but it hadn't occurred to me to curate them online in a 'mood board' sort of way.

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    1. Thank you, Roy. It seems a lot of us work this way. I love the idea of an online board because, well, I'm not very organised, and that is! Plus online, the pictures don't start going yellow and curling at the edges in the sunlight. ;-)

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  7. I also see my creative writing in my head like films. In addition to the visual aspects and sound, I can smell and feel textures. This is extremely helpful when I trickle details into my narrative. Unfortunately, I have difficulty navigating the line between too much detail and not enough. This is when I turn to my some of my friends for help editing.

    I’ve seen a lot of different writers keep scrapbooks like the kind you describe. I have one that I use for inspiration and post various newspaper, articles and pictures. When I suffer writer’s block, I can go to the scrapbook, pick something out and be inspired. I’m going to have to check out Pinterest, because it sounds helpful.

    Awesome blog!!!

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    1. Thank you so much, Nicole! Collecting images helps me when I get stuck, too. And I know what you mean about the line between too much detail and not enough – thank goodness for beta readers and redrafting! :)

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  8. So pleased you're finding Pinterest useful. I'm having a ball finding images for my WIP too.
    Nettie xxx

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    1. Thank you, Nettie! And thank you for inviting me to join - it's a great site. x

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  9. I LOVE the picture you chose for this post! I'm a very visual person, but I haven't gone the route of choosing pictures for this book until LAST NIGHT. I don't know why-- probably because for so much of it, there is no way I could ever find pictures. They just don't exist.

    Which really makes me wish I had the skill to really manipulate pictures to make them exactly what I want.

    ... But then, of course, I'd play with pictures all day long and never get any writing stuff done. :)

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    1. I know what you mean, Peggy. It takes me a long time to find the right pictures for my stories, and they never feel *quite* right. Sometimes I wish I could beam exactly what's in my head onto the page, image-wise! Perhaps the technology will exist one day…

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  10. I just saw this! And I am so excited to see the Pinterest board and I LOVED it! -- I have been meaning to set up my account and now have real incentive to do that! I am so much like this with photos, and I know we've talked about this before. I too have a running movie in my mind as I'm writing. These days, the more I'm editing, the clearer the picture is in my head. I can see virtually everything about "that world." It's so wonderful and exciting. I have all my photos up on a board behind my computer, where I can see them as I'm working -- houses, beach/coast shots, characters. It just makes it all come to life! Great post, Emma!

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    1. Your photo board sounds wonderful, Julia! Unfortunately there's no space for one of those in the room where I write, so Pinterest is the next best thing! :)

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  11. You already know I love your board for ACID, Emma! Having way too much fun over there.

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  12. Ooh! I've heard a lot about Pinterest lately and a fab idea for how to use it. Now, all I need to do is find out how to get an invite :D

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  13. Thanks, Jesse! An invite should be with you shortly… :)

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  14. Yay for Pinterest! I'm just starting to get into it now.

    And how exciting to be part of the Derbyshire Festival!

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  15. Thank you, Talli! I'm really looking forward to it. :)

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