Using Pinterest for your WIPs!

Hey everyone! In 2020 one of my goals is to commit more of my time to writing. It’s been so long since I actually finished a full length story (probably not since I was at school!) and after taking part in National Novel Writing Month for the past two years (you can check out my experiences here and here), I’ve decided to give this a proper go.

By no means am I the be all and end all of writing advice. I’ve never had anything published but I have had some good feedback about what I have shared and my aim here is to hold myself accountable and track this journey! If you’re in the same boat, or if you have your own writing wisdom to share, I’d love to know! Maybe we can find things out together 😊

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I took part in National Novel Writing Month in 2019 and when I was setting up my profile on the website there was an option to link a Pinterest board. Now, I’d never really ventured into the world of Pinterest before but I figured why not give it a go.

And I’m so glad I did!

I spent a good chunk of time putting together a board of pictures and text posts that reminded me of the world that I was trying to create. It was so so helpful for getting me into the writing mood and was really useful when it came to writing scenes where I wanted to describe characters and settings. If you’re a visual thinker like me then this might be a tool to support your writing process.

Here are the main things that I used the Pinterest board for using, as an example, the board I made for my current WIP. Just for a bit of clarity, Coven’s Blood is a witchy novel with some dark undertones and (hopefully) this board reflects that.

Inspiration

The main function of Pinterest boards, if you’re not already familiar, is to collate images that fit a theme or have some kind of connection – this is perfect for creating a mood board of sorts of images that match the vibe of your story.

Here I’ve put together any photos that made me think of magic, witchcraft and stately homes (which I’ve always thought had a mystical quality). I found having this board available really helpful for getting me into the mood for writing.

Fleshing out characters + settings

You can also link mini boards to your main project which I found really useful for separating settings and characters from the main bulk of my images so that I could refer back to them when I was describing a place or a person.

This is a great way for you to explore different looks and places and is another way for you to really get a sense of what you want to write.

Bookmarking

I also used the board for bookmarking useful bits of information that I knew that I’d want to refer back to but didn’t want to risk writing it down and losing the paper.

For this WIP, I used it to keep bits of information about spells, runes and types of potions, all things that I’ve never explore before so having them there to refer back to was really helpful.

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Do you use Pinterest? Are you a fan of using it for your projects? I’d love to know! 

If you like, you can give me a follow over on my page, here!

You can always find me over on Instagram and Twitter if you’d like to discuss this post (or any others that I’ve featured) in more detail 😌