A story vision board is a great way to hone in on your plot or figure out what makes your character tick. Grab a poster board, markers, scissors, glue and materials to decorate your board. Magazines, stickers, yarn and felt are all great materials to use for this project. Start by adding images, stickers, a few words and anything that relates to your story. Make sure to limit your words, this is a visual experience. Don’t over think the process. I like to use the yarn to show connections. Just start cutting and pasting and see where it leads you. It might be a general vision board about your story or you can end up with a board that is all about your characters.
If you allow the process to be fun and release you from the angst of feeling stuck, you may discover that the words and ideas start flowing again. This process is useful, even if you are not stuck. Post the vision board in your writing space. A story vision board, kept in sight when you write, can help nudge your story forward and provide you with inspiration.
If this sounds a little too crafty for you, consider creating a virtual vision board. Check out pinterest.com, it’s like using a virtual cork board.
Mary Jo Guglielmo is writer and intuitive life strategist. She offers personal consultations and coaching programs. For more information check out www.donorth.biz or folllow her at:
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10 comments:
What fun--I used to try this with a virtual cork board but it involved word summaries on horizontal lines. This sounds much more creative and I'm looking forward to trying it out. Thanks Mary Jo.
I do this for my characters, but I haven't tried it for my plots. Cool idea, though.
Mary Jo, what an interesting idea. Great idea to use Pinterest in place of something physical.
Good idea! I've never tried doing that. But it sounds like it would be fun as well as productive!
You know Mary Jo - I'm not a visual thinker generally, but I think a visual storyboard might be a perfect adjunct to my WIP plot outline which is all in words. The benefits of doing it on Pinterest is that you can create advance promo for the book - or keep the thing private and then make it public when the time comes to promote. Plus I think the idea of seeing the faces and situations of your character in visual terms might also spark others to begin thinking of the visual possibilities of your work (film for example).
I love the idea that it can eventually help with promo for the book. Ideally, the visual can help you combined with your plot outline, would push your story further.
Let me know how it works for you Annie.
I always have tons of magazines around and just flipping through them can trigger a direction.
There are also some apps you can use like visionboard Collage.
I've wanted to try doing this in a group setting with other writers, but never made that happen. I think it would be fun.
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