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Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Pinterest for Writing?



Yesterday Lindsay Buroker (author of the Emporer's Edge series) posted a blog discussing Pinterest and how it can be used for writing.

If you don't know what Pinterest is... well, first off, I'm sorry. I'm very very sorry. Because after reading this you'll probably go and check it out and get sucked in and loose all track of time. Basically Pinterest is a social networking site where you can look up ANYTHING. There are pins for DIY projects, how to paint a room, beauty tips and tricks, weight loss, recipes, etc etc etc. If you can think of it, there is probably a pin for it. When you come across a pin you really like, you can either re-pin it and sort it onto a board that you've built, or you can like it.

I'm a big Pinterest addict and I have several boards devoted to recipes, costume ideas, useful things for the home, and DIY projects among other things. A couple of months ago, I saw that Sarah J Maas (author of Throne of Glass) had created boards full of images that reminded her of her books and other stories. I thought it was a swell idea and promptly copied it. I have three boards currently dedicated to writing: one board is specifically for images that remind me of TUO, another is for actors or models that I've cast as characters in other books, and a final one is for images that may inspire future stories. It had never occurred to me that you could use Pinterest to advertise your book though (which is silly, because I have a board dedicated to books I enjoy). Lindsay's blog gives some really great suggestions on how published authors can do that.

On writing fronts, I was able to get the fanfic updated. Now that that is out of the way (it was an idea that just would not leave me alone!) I can focus on the adult story and on TUO again.

Last week I figured out that my problem with the adult story was that I didn't really have the characters nailed down. I had hinted in the one scene that the female lead had a very sheltered life as a kid (though she is not so sheltered anymore!) The male character was harder to nail down - in that same scene he comes off as a playboy, but when I was trying to go back and introduce him he was coming off as suffering a severe case of ennui and just did not care about anything except hockey. Also, I think I was introducing the antagonist a little too early.

I went back and cut the introductory scenes out (I made sure to save them this time) and started writing from the female character's prospective. She had quite a few things to say about her history, and how it led up to this point in time, and it was very revealing.

Progress on TUO has been much much slower. Currently the heroine is running around the castle trying to figure out a mystery without getting in to too much trouble or drawing very much attention to herself. As a result there is a lot of scenes where it's all description and inner thoughts and no dialogue. I worry that it may become too boring, but her run in with the King will be happening soon, so that should spice things up a bit.

No knitting progress this week, however it is getting closer to Renaissance Faire Time so I forsee a bit of sewing in my future  My husband and I are discussing driving out to Arizona to see their Fair in March, and then the Southern California Renaissance Faire begins in April. We both need new shirts, and I want to lower the neckline on the bodice I made last year a little. I've never seen this done (usually people just make a new bodice when they want to make changes to their current one) but I've heard it is possible. In addition to all that, I need new bloomers, and there's a skirt that's been sitting in my faire box for a couple of years now that just needs a bit of elastic to be finished. I will get it finished before this year's faire season ends!

10 comments:

  1. How very cool! I am going to Pin your ROW80 check in under my "Writing Tips and Ideas" board... and check out the other boards you talk about and oh, yeah... follow you, too.

    Bless your heart - you do all of this and RenFair, too?

    Keep that word-love flowing! LOL

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  2. Eek! I couldn't find a pinnable image! I hope you add one because I really want to pin this. I suppose I could do a blog post featuring great writing articles to read and pin that?

    We'll see!!

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    1. Hi Julie!

      I added an image so you could pin this blog post. It's just the pinterest logo for now, but it's something right? I'll try to make a better image when I get home from work.

      Yes, I write and knit and do Renaissance faire too! I used to actually volunteer at the event as a lady of negotiable affections, however I stopped volunteering two years ago due to financial and time issues. Now my husband and I just go as guests - but we still dress up!

      Thank you for the follow!

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  3. Dropping in from Row 80. Pinterest is certainly an author's dream for putting together images for a story. Being a visual person being able to see my characters and settings has been very helpful creatively. Sounds like you are doing a great job of getting to know your characters. That's always the fun part. Happy writing!

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  4. I LOVE Pinterest. I am really liking the secret board function. I have pictures for my current WIP that I'm not ready to share yet but want to keep hold of.
    Great job with getting to know characters. I am in the middle of doing the same at the moment.
    Great job with the goals and have a good week. x

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    1. I hadn't thought of using the secret board features for that! I have a couple of other stories in my 'plot bunny' folder that I'll have to try that with.

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  5. I adore Pinterest! And I do have a board for one book I'm working on, need to start another, also I have a board with cool images for inspiration too. Are you working on both your pieces each week, or whichever one grabs your fancy? Both sound interesting. Good luck the rest of the week!

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    1. I have both pieces open at the same time usually. When I get stuck on one, I'll hop over to the other one until I either get stuck on that one or reach a good stopping point. Usually by that point my subconscious will have figured out the problem with the first one and I'll hop back over to it. However, there have been points where one story is flowing so well that I won't get back to the other one for a few days.

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  6. I do occasionally get sucked into Pinterest lol! But I'm not diving into it myself.

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  7. Oh dear, I keep hearing I'm supposed to join Pinterest, but I feel like I do so much social media already to promote my books! Not another time sink ...

    Congrats on figuring out the kinks in you book and good luck on getting the writing flowing faster again!

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