Merry Christmas!
Greetings! I am still heavily engrossed in my novel writing endeavor. It’s become sort of a mixed media project. When I get stuck writing I try something else. I have an art journal specifically for the book where I put character bios and photos and things that remind me of my characters.
Heh, that’s the boy that has taken over my mind. I imagine Jinx looks like this photo of Robert Mapplethorpe…gorgeous.
Another character’s page. I made (bad) photo copies of tarot cards that represented each character and stuck them in the book. This character is a warrior who passes along his courage by giving the other characters feathers. Okay, that probably doesn’t make sense to anyone but me right now. But the feather is a physical reminder for me of a person who does not exist. I am basically making a scrapbook for my imaginary friends. Quite fun.
Other tools I’ve been using:
Big stack of ATCs: I use these like little index cards to write notes or to map out plot points. I label the cards with every major plot point, then lay them out and shuffle them around as needed.
Thesaurus and Baby Name Book: for replacing overused words and naming characters.
Moleskine: notes, sketches, whatever! It’s a moleskine!
Tarot Cards: also great for inspiration because basically each tarot card has a situation depicted on it. If I get stuck for ideas, I grab a random card and imagine what my characters would do in the situation shown on the card.
Kindle: if I think a passage I’ve written is half-way decent, I convert it and read it on my Kindle so I feel like I’m reading a real book and not just some mess I’ve typed up on my iPad. It makes my errors more obvious for some reason.
Lynda Barry’s book What It Is: a great resource for help with writing imagery and setting a scene for your characters.
Okay, I just went off on a tangent there, but I really just wanted to wish everyone Happy Holidays! Last week I bought a new art journal for 2012 and I’m looking forward to filling it and showing it off to you! See you soon!
