I have mentioned this in a couple threads but thought it could use its own. Don't know if any of you are setting challenged like I am but I've found a gold mind in Pinterest. http://www.pinterest.com/ I need to describe a future city I create a file of future cities. I need a penthouse, I make a penthouse file to which I've added grand entryways, fantastic pools, beautiful bathrooms and luxurious bedrooms. You sort through the images and pin things that have an idea you might use from a crazy chair to a stone bathtub. I find it very useful as a source of ideas and images I can use to describe the scenes that I previously lacked more than a few adjectives for.
Not a bad idea at all. I often get ideas for settings from things I watch either in films or show. Command-shift-3 does the trick in those cases for me.
I may have to give this a try. One tool I like a lot is Google Earth, for contemporary settings. I've never been to where my WiP is set, but I know exactly what the town looks like from the street.
Thank you for this. Haven't used it for writing inspiration yet, but I sure am hungry now... Up until now, I just entered various words on google pictures if I needed to see something. Pinterest seems easier though.
We're both on Macs, so this will be the same for both of us: Command-shift-3 creates a screen shot of the whole screen. I watch a lot of shows and films on my Mac via PLEX so that's the one I use. Command-shift-4 is also a screen shot, but it lets you pick an area of the screen, not just the whole screen.
I used my pinterest to collect tips about drawing and writing that I found in Tumblr, dA and other websites (I don't need to remember to use the hashtags, and some posts I only like in tumblr, and there is hard to find them)
Been meaning to sign up to this but avoided it due to being on fazbook and chirper which sucks on the writing time already. Still, now that I have signed up I can see the benefits, as you say. So big thanks, though I also suspect it will suck more time faster than a black hole!
I have been using Pinterest for a while now. I find it really useful when trying to pull the most stimulating visual clues from my locations and character descriptions. I have a button on my browser toolbar that makes collecting images really easy, especially if I'm just surfing and come across something that catches my eye. In my WIP I use two primary locations, each the polar opposite of the other. I find it really helpful to pull up the collected images to readjust my focus when bouncing back and forward between them. I recently needed to come up with a description of a sea cave. I wanted the geology to echo that of the towering basalt columns the major port. As hard as I tried, my descriptions were flat and lifeless. I knew what I wanted...sort of... but I just couldn't put myself in the picture and get a real feel for the place. Then I found this. Sometimes a bit of extra visual stimuli is just the ticket.
I normally make copies of all the research items I might want to refer to later and keep them with the manuscript files as a complete package. I don't see the need for Pinterest which is just another data collector monitoring my interests.
For me, it's not the same as the research I collect in files. I use the images to better describe an object or setting, like a mansion or a unique forest or a plate of strange food, etc.
As do I. But I prefer to keep the actual image file. Then I can be sure I have it years later if I need them to work on the sequel.
thank you for this idea! I am now making a Pinterest inspiration board using imagery from my story. It really helps my ideas come to life, and I get especially excited when I find a pic that looks just what I imagined when I wrote it!
I signed up for pinterest, and I still haven't figured out what it's for. What good is it? I mean, what does it do?
I explain it like this : it is the virtual version of ripping a page out of a magazine that you want to keep for later. A recipe, a dress, a poem you like? Pin it and later you can click it and go right to the exact item, not just to the bookmark. You can pin another pin, or pin your own image, or something from a website you like.
Is there a setting for a scene you are writing that is hard to describe? Some kind of clothes, food, plants, animals you have in mind but you need ideas because the one you are thinking of isn't quite right? Want some ideas of unusual houses? How about Fruits and Vegetables that Forgot They Were Plants? Want an idea for Weird Products You Can Actually Buy? Writing Mad Max Fan Fic? Then Pinterest is your site.
I am so in love with my board now, thank you again! I keep looking at it, at all the images that have until now, just floated around in my head. But here they are, in living color, for me to look at and swoon over. It is like my own pretty secret, and now it is tangible, it exists. It is such great inspiration.
I haven't used Pinterest for my writing before, but the whole idea of Pinterest in inspiration. Whether you're a fashion designer, upcycler, gardener etc I can't see why It wouldn't work for writing. I imagine it could also work for those that get block on a regular basis. At those times when the mind goes blank, a 20 minute stint going through location and setting boards or object boards could definitely reignite the mind to write.
Wow...this is a brilliant idea. I can especially see it being useful for fantasy/made up lands, but it will also help sorting out the scene in my head for my realistic setting. Thanks!
I don't think I've used Pinterest. I possibly have grudge against them since they shanghai-ed some of my photos from one of my book sites. I know have issues with some site ( a lot of good I'm doing - having a grudge against some site I can't remember - ) But I do grab pictures from the internet which is always good for making clear descriptions. My favorite spot to browse for ideas is Ebay. I even 'shop' for outfits for my characters - it becomes a kinda paper-doll thing. And Ebay is great for finding odd or weird knick-knacks.
Thanks for the tip! And the google earth idea- brilliant! So much cheaper than a plane ticket. Sometimes I think us modern-age writers are spoiled rotten, what with computers for typing, spell-check for instant editing, and google to aid our research without having to leave the comfort of home.
