Three Awesome Ways to Use Pinterest to Make Your Writing Better

I've mentioned many, many times in my posts that I have a big love for Pinterest. I can't help it! Without it, I honestly don't think I would have ever finished my first book. There are so many different ways Pinterest can be used to help you research, plot, and develop characters when you write. Today I've made a list of some awesome ways you can use your Pinterest account to better your writing.


Some pins from my storyboard for Unperfected.
1. Make Storyboards. When I first began turning my Pinterest into a writing-themed account, I made a storyboard for Unperfected. At the time, the book had no title and was still planned to only be one book rather than a trilogy, so I only made one board. I was amazed at how helpful it was, and I still am today! I began by scrolling through the "Quotes" section and pinning anything that sounded like one of my characters or reminded me of the story. Eventually I started specifically searching for other people's storyboards and pinning different pictures that reminded my of scenes I had written or would eventually write. I would pin a few faces that looked like the characters, but then I decided to go ahead and make a board dedicated entirely to character inspiration. Eventually I split the one board into three and labeled them accordingly, and then after that I created storyboards for other story ideas I had in mind. Now I have multiple boards filled with pins that specifically fit certain stories, and it's great! Some things I've pinned are things that have given me great ideas for scenes or even made me change some sort of aspect about a character.

 2. Make Character Boards. Having individual boards dedicated to specific characters is a really awesome tool to use when writing. When I write, I like to have an image of my character in my mind. Sometimes, in order for that image to be clear, I need to find a celebrity or model that resembles my character, so I'll do some research and try to hunt down a faceclaim. Pinterest is nice for this because A. all you have to do is search "character inspiration" and it will come up with a bunch of boards that are bound to have some faces that resemble your character, B. once you find that person, just search their name and you'll most likely find a bunch of boards dedicated to just that person, and C. you can then pin a bunch of pictures to your character board and have a bunch of references in one easy and organized spot. It's awesome! In fact, I created an entire character from Pinterest, once. I saw a quote that very much seemed like something a character would say, but I wasn't sure who. Then I scrolled past a pin of a boy on somebody's character inspiration board, and boom: Hayden Dallas was born.
3. Share Your Work. This nice thing about Pinterest is that it's more than a giant online pinboard-- it's a giant online pinboard filled with people. And many of these people, in fact, are writers just like you; you have a whole audience ready and waiting for your work. I began by simply adding a few of my book quotes to the descriptions of pins, but soon found that it was too stressful to make sure I was receiving the credit for the quotes. So then I switched to uploading the quotes as a pin, so the credit couldn't be deleted. I've gotten many comments and feedback from doing this, and it's really helpful! You could even make a board specifically dedicated to your writing, if you wanted to.

I love Pinterest, because I love organizing all the crazy ideas in my head. Storyboards and character boards allow me to compile a whole bunch of things that could mean so many things to so many different people, and put my own twist on it. When I pin something to a character board, it generally means I've learned something new about that character. For example, I've been really struggling with getting inside the head of my fantasy story's antagonist and figuring out what he's like. I made a character board on Pinterest for him, and now slowly but surely I'm developing this character and understanding what he's like. So play around with your Pinterest account if you have one and see if a character board or storyboard could help develop your writing. Or, if you don't have an account, make one! You never know what could happen :)

"Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, 'Write all the words which I have spoken to you in a book.'" Jeremiah 30:2