How to Use Pinterest For World Building Before You Write a Single Word
It's like tracing a drawing but with words
Last week, Kelly walked you through using Pinterest as a tool for designing and keeping track of characters. This week, I’m doing the same, but for world-building. Need we say more?
Exterior References
Half of my search terms for new projects are things like “parts of a house” or “kinds of shelf mushrooms” because I need the component vocabulary when describing my version of something. But even with those component parts labeled, a lot of times even finding a place to start can be totally overwhelming.
If you’ve got major location centerpieces with real-world equivalents, like a particular construction of house, a famous landmark or biome, or even a kind of clothing, that’s one of the first things I’d mine Pinterest for. Then, you can use it as a direct reference, first to literally capture what you see without having to invent a thing. From there, armed with your component parts diagrams, you can make adjustments to your own taste and the needs of your narrative.
Interior References
We talked about using set design to help describe the unique flourishes of spaces your characters occupy, but you do still need a sense of the layout of the room, and having to invent a fake house and decorations and a floor plan is a lot. My advice here is to organize a section (Pinterest’s version of a sub-folder within a larger board):
Per character and/or location, find a staged room or rooms with similar layouts
Dot the sections with additional important elements to each space
Now, the next time you need a character to reference the location of the couch, or to remember if this is the bedroom with the special lamp, you can easily go double check.
Iconic Objects
What are the objects with important narrative resonance in your story? What might pepper your characters’ homes, their offices, their midday walk? What tangible sigils will come up over and over as the story expands? Instagram grid-worthy latte art in colorful mugs, dusty tomes, a feisty black cat, art supplies, a particular flower… all of that fills out your main project board to define your primary imagery. Let them ground you and help make the world around your characters uniquely tactile.
Research
For my paranormal romance, a major part of the plot centered around dampening the symptoms of a curse, and I wanted to use as much apothecary and medicine as I could for my fake tinctures. Pinterest is naturally lousy with aesthetic infographics of medicinal/magical herbs and plants, and so I used that as my baseline and also pinned outside research alongside them when Pinterest’s own archives weren’t specific enough. I also used it to find and pin recipes for the characters to make.
It’s a more fun representation of research than a real bibliography, and I have a visual memory that makes it easier to recall things when there’s a clear image or color I can associate with information.
Color
Another thing I gleaned from my time as a filmmaker is the importance of light and color in setting the tone for your project. Is this a project defined by bright, bold, saturated colors, or muted jewel tones? Does it frequently take place at night, or in full sun? Like a crow, I collect shiny things for each of my project boards that follow a particular aesthetic or color palette aligned with the tone and imagery of the story. Then, when I need inspiration or just to get back into the world, I can feast my eyes on my visual collage and be transported.
Choosing colors early will also help with marketing & cover design; your designer will absolutely ask what you have in mind, and if you already have a curated color identity for your story, that process will be all the easier!
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