I never used Pinterest until…
As I’ve mentioned before, I am not a visual person. So Pinterest was never really my jam.
I didn’t even want to use Pinterest a few years ago when my husband and I were planning our wedding. When people asked, “what are your colors?” we said, “umm…blue?” When the woman doing our flowers asked what we wanted, I said, “I don’t know. Make them look nice.” (And she did.)
Me with my wedding attendants. My only instruction to them was “wear blue.”
Where we ran into trouble was the bakery. They were not okay with my vague instructions of, “just make the cake look pretty.”
“Can you pin some cake pictures to a Pinterest board so we can get an idea of what you might like?” they asked.
And thus I was forced to create my first Pinterest Board.
But still, I hadn’t spent much time on Pinterest until recently, when I heard that writers use Pinterest because it drives traffic to their blogs. I decided it was high time to create some boards and start following other writers.
While browsing Pinterest, I found articles about writing and publishing, not to mention book recommendations galore.
But I also discovered that some of the writers I’m now following have created exactly what non-visual people like me need…
Guide To Using Pinterest for Writers from MandyWallace.com
Benefit from these writers’ boards:
Writers on Pinterest have created boards full of characters, settings, and story inspirations — perfect if you’re having trouble picturing or describing your story. Here are a few writers to follow:
Maggie Maxwell of The Wandering Quille has Pinterest boards with female characters, male characters, costumes, settings, and more. I looked through all 618 of her female character pins and felt inspired by the diverse and beautiful portraits she’s collected.
Kristen Kieffer from Well-Storied breaks down her character boards even further. She has one for kids, one for “mature” characters, and one each for every hair-color. She has also curated amazing story inspiration boards for genres including romance, adventure, mystery/thriller, and paranormal.
Kaitlin from Ink and Quills has inspiration boards for medieval fantasy, dystopian, fairy tale, pirate, and steampunk, as well as setting boards for Mexico, Asia, India, and Ancient Greece. Great if you want to write about a place you’ve never been.
Writer Jean Lane has a board of dialogue prompts and another with “beautiful words and definitions to use more often.”
In addition to her many character boards, novelist Emory R. Frie has a board full of names to help you name your characters.
Oh, and me! Please follow me! I’m just getting started on Pinterest, and I don’t have boards with characters or story prompts, but I am busy collecting articles about books, writing, and publishing, so check me out!
Writers use Pinterest for help with description:
Close your eyes and picture your mother’s face. What color are her eyes? What shape is her nose? If you were describing her in a story, what words would you use?
According to beloved (and recently deceased) neurologist Oliver Sacks, everyone is somewhere on a continuum when it comes to how well they can picture things in their minds. A highly-visual artist can hold a crystal-clear, detailed image of his mother in his mind’s eye for hours, whereas people who are born blind are unable to “see” anything in their minds. Their thoughts and dreams are made of sounds and feelings instead of images. Most people, of course, fall somewhere in the middle.
I often wonder if I’m on the low end of the spectrum. I have difficulty picturing people’s faces, even my own mother’s. And this can be difficult when it comes to my writing: I have trouble describing my characters physically.
I used to flip through magazines to find someone who looked the way I wanted my character to look. I’d tear out the picture, tape it into a notebook, and refer to it as needed.
But now I realize there’s an easier way: Pinterest! The great thing is, other writers use Pinterest, and they have already created helpful boards. I don’t even need to spend a lot of time browsing. I can simply use their boards to quickly find a picture that reminds me of my character or helps me visualize my setting.
I have trouble picturing things in my mind. That’s why I should let Pinterest hold the images while I describe them with words – because that’s my jam.
Follow me on Pinterest! I’m currently collecting boards full of helpful info for writers and readers!
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