5 Reasons to Write with Pinterest by Kendra E. Ardnek
Hello!
Several years ago, my mom told me
to get an account on a website called “Pinterest” because she said it looked
cool. I agreed that it looked cool, but I really didn’t know what to do with
it, beyond creating a board for stuff I want in my future house. That is, until
I discovered the writing side of Pinterest. Now I’m here to talk about the
value of writing with Pinterest.
1.
Character
Casting and Setting Simulation. (I like alliteration). We’ll start with the
straight up obvious use. Finding that perfect face for your character, or
getting the aesthetic of your setting just
right. Thanks to Pinterest, I know that I want Eddy Redmayne to play Andrew
when Water Princess, Fire Prince is
made into a movie and that red leaves instead of green in Colluna will be TOTALLY
gorgeous. Basically, Pinterest is the place to go to get visuals for your
story.
2.
Writing
Prompts and Inspiring Images. So once you’ve dug past the surface use of
Pinterest and you’ve given a face to all of your characters and your setting is
so real that you could almost go live there, there’s another reason to hang
around Pinterest – the prompts. Some people have whole boards devoted to them.
Some of them are short, some are long. All are awesome. And while you were
looking for the pictures that fit what you already knew of the story, you
probably found a whole TON of pictures that just screamed “include me!” and
made you want to add twelve new characters and create a world where trees have
bubbles for leaves. In fact, I can point to a number of scenes in my newest
release that were inspired by specific images that I found on Pinterest.
3.
Connecting
With Other Creative People. Pinterest is a form of social media – it’s made for
sharing and organizing ideas. You can use Pinterest as a tool to find other writers
and explore their story ideas, or you can link Pinterest to your existing
social media and your blog and show off your ideas. However, if you don’t want
to be public, there is the option of a secret board.
4.
Writing
Advice. Pinterest isn’t just a place to collect images, but you can also
collect the articles behind the images – articles about opening sentences, how
to write a good prophecy, the creation of characters, anything about writing
that someone has thought to give advice about. You can find a lot of helpful
quotes from famous authors and quotes that will encourage you to keep writing
when you feel you can’t.
5.
And
finally, Co-writing. I’m co-writing a few books, and I’ve found Pinterest to be
an invaluable tool for sharing ideas between me and my fellow writer. We have a
place to share our images of the characters, the prompts and quotes we think
will fit the mood of the story, and recently Pinterest added a chat feature to
group boards that, though I’ve not tried it, I think will be great for co-writing.
Just … one point of caution on
Pinterest. Don’t get absorbed and forget to write.
Book Description:
Two girls with one face
Two girls with twisted fate
One in purple, one in red
One shall speak the other’s death
Who shall win their final war?
Lady Dragon or Tela Du?
Amber, the Lady Dragon, has been promised a fifty-year reign over Rizkaland and nothing can stop her from claiming it. But when you've lived six thousand years, fifty is such a pitiful number. Only one person can keep her from making this reign permanent - the Tela Du, a girl who shall share Amber's face.
The last thing Petra wants is a magical world interrupting her plans for a normal life, let alone an ultimate battle against the Lady Dragon with only one prophesied survivor. She has her childhood best friend, Reuben, at her side, but she's not sure if he's more of a help or a hindrance right now. Though she'd much prefer to just return home and forget about this whole crazy affair, things change when she discovers that the world has surprising connections to her own family - including her sister who disappeared without a trace two years before. Still, Rizkaland can't possibly expect her to risk her very life, can it?
Two girls with twisted fate
One in purple, one in red
One shall speak the other’s death
Who shall win their final war?
Lady Dragon or Tela Du?
Amber, the Lady Dragon, has been promised a fifty-year reign over Rizkaland and nothing can stop her from claiming it. But when you've lived six thousand years, fifty is such a pitiful number. Only one person can keep her from making this reign permanent - the Tela Du, a girl who shall share Amber's face.
The last thing Petra wants is a magical world interrupting her plans for a normal life, let alone an ultimate battle against the Lady Dragon with only one prophesied survivor. She has her childhood best friend, Reuben, at her side, but she's not sure if he's more of a help or a hindrance right now. Though she'd much prefer to just return home and forget about this whole crazy affair, things change when she discovers that the world has surprising connections to her own family - including her sister who disappeared without a trace two years before. Still, Rizkaland can't possibly expect her to risk her very life, can it?
Author Bio:
Kendra E. Ardnek is a homeschool graduate who picked up a pen at an early age and never put it down. The eldest of four, she makes her home in the Piney Woods of East Texas with her parents, younger siblings, giant herd of giraffes, and honor guard of nutcrackers.
Kendra E. Ardnek is a homeschool graduate who picked up a pen at an early age and never put it down. The eldest of four, she makes her home in the Piney Woods of East Texas with her parents, younger siblings, giant herd of giraffes, and honor guard of nutcrackers.
Blog:
Official Website:
Add to Goodreads:
Buy the Book:
Water Princess, Fire Prince
will be free for the first five days of the tour (October 19-23).
That last bit of advice is probably the best. ;) But seriously, Pinterest is a great tool for writers. Great organized summary of all of the ways it's helpful.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by, Erika!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for having me over. Pinterest is awesome.
ReplyDeleteI know a lot of writers use pinterest. It is so distracting but I still can't stay away. LOL
ReplyDeleteI love using Pinterest for organizing images for my books and works in progress. (Of course, I also use it for finding pictures of cute baby flying foxes. LOL)
ReplyDeleteMaybe I need to look for those inspirational quotes.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit, I haven't used Pinterest because I'm not much of an image-based writer, but I like a prompt! I hadn't realised that side of it.
ReplyDeleteI must admit I've avoided Pinterest. After reading this article, you've piqued my interest.
ReplyDeleteI've heard a great deal in the last few years about how useful Pinterest can be for writers. I haven't gotten one yet, but I'm starting to be tempted lately, particularly because my roommate has it and keeps finding awesome fandom pins . . .
ReplyDeleteExcellent advice. I have a Pinterest account, but I don't use it to it's best advantage.
ReplyDeleteSee, that's me. I'd get sucked into all the pretties and put off the actual work. =) I know because I've dabbled. Dangerous place.
ReplyDeleteI have a Pinterest account, but I rarely use it for anything other than saving pictures of castles to ogle at later. I really do need to dive in there and see what else it can do. Thanks for the tips.
ReplyDeleteI think I'm one of the few people out there without a Pinterest account, LOL. Had no idea there were writing prompts and advice there. Very cool!
ReplyDeleteI've been using Pinterest for this exact reason a few years now. One forgets stuff, but if you pin it you can refer to the board over and over again. Great concept. Thanks, Tyrean. You've reminded me that I am on the right course.
ReplyDeleteThank you everyone for visiting Kendra and commenting on her guest post!
ReplyDeleteI think she came up with some great reasons to use Pinterest, and I know I've used Pinterest for story ideas and story plotting.
Pinterest is such a great tool for writers, but I hadn't thought about it to this degree. Thanks, Kendra, for sharing this! Tyrean, thanks for hosting this series! :)
ReplyDeleteThis inspires me to set up a nano folder on Pinterest. Sweet! Thanks for sharing those tips.
ReplyDelete