Idea boards?

[Lon3ly]

I find that a lot of my ideas for character designs and clothes come from my Pinterest boards. I have a hard time visualizing outfits and items so I like to pin things with similar designs to what I want and I get a better idea of what I want to add to my story. I end up mixing ideas together as to not take away from the original artist’s ideas but the image in my head is clearly inspired by them.

I also have playlists to get me in the mood to write specific scenes,,I end up thinking really far ahead in the story when I listen to them.

Do you guys have things like Pinterest boards or journals dedicated to your works?

 

[Moonpearl]

I also make playlists and use them to visualise my story~! I keep any references I want to keep hold of in files on my computer, though, and just use Google for ones that I'll only need for the current scene.

 

[Goswick]

I mean, I try to remind myself of the general feel of the story with music usually, although I don't listen to music when I write any of my stories. I guess that's kind of the same thing, but I find audio works better for me over visuals - it helps me visualise things with my own mind rather than working off a preconcieved image.

 

[BenJepheneT]

When are you gonna go through all 2.1k pins. Be honest. Even I can't look at my 400 photo gallery.

 

[Lon3ly]

When are you gonna go through all 2.1k pins. Be honest. Even I can't look at my 400 photo gallery.

My gallery has 15,000 photos,,,,I look through the board more often,,

 

[Lon3ly]

I mean, I try to remind myself of the general feel of the story with music usually, although I don't listen to music when I write any of my stories. I guess that's kind of the same thing, but I find audio works better for me over visuals - it helps me visualise things with my own mind rather than working off a preconcieved image.

I don’t usually listen to music while I write either, it sort of distracts me if I do. I usually end up listening while I’m in a car ride or walking and It just helps me plan out my story

 

[Lon3ly]

I also make playlists and use them to visualise my story~! I keep any references I want to keep hold of in files on my computer, though, and just use Google for ones that I'll only need for the current scene.

I keep all my references in either a notebook if they’re technical things like research on something I want to implement into my story Or on my phone,,,I always end up having to back up my photos because of how many I have

 

[JayDirex]

We authors ARE ARTISTS. Which means our work is influenced by the sights, sounds, and tastes, of the world around us. What an exciting time for us all. Where we can go outside, or go online to get the elements we need to create our awesome stories to post on SH and hope somebody FAVS, FOLLOWS, and god willing, leaves a comment ^_^

 

[Moctemma]

I printed images for my characters in my story, though I like the idea of using boards on Pinterest to visualize the environment and characters. I'll use it for my next stories.

 

[Saileri]

We authors ARE ARTISTS. Which means our work is influenced by the sights, sounds, and tastes, of the world around us.

Well said. I've lost the count of times where I got a sudden spurt of inspiration out of nowhere.

Just recently I was during an exam about Consumer Law and in the middle of it one of the questions triggered something in me and I almost couldn't focus. Nevertheles, instantly after it ended I went to write stuff down and ended up writing 3k words chapter, that is like 40 chapters in the future of where my story is. I have several chapters like that. I wouldn't want to forget the stuff I came up with.

As for imagery, that's obvious. We all base our characters and their looks on something we've encountered in the past to some extent, be it just parts of it or whole aspect. Not trying to say that's a rule. Even when creating fully fresh concepts, we subconsciously mix and match things we liked.

I also have shitloads of arts stacked into folders categorized by genre or characteristics. Just scrolling through them when in doubt helps a lot. This one artist for example, long time ago I fell in love with some clothes they created and how I instantly felt like those would fit one of my chars perfectly with just minor changes.

 

[anactualchad]

I made a playlist for my current WIPs, and it was really helpful when I was devising the world and the characters. I hand picked every song to fit the themes of the story or to match with one of the characters. But now I'm kinda sick of it and end up just listening to something else while writing the actual manuscript lol. It served its purpose though by helping serve as the foundation for all the ideas that came after, even if they change during the actual outlining and writing.

For images I just have like a OneNote tab devoted to cover art inspiration from stuff I screenshotted off the internet. I sent this and a bunch of other notes to my illustrator and she is cooking up some cover arts for me. weee