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A few years ago Jenny Crusie did an article in the RWR (Romance Writer’s Report) about building collages for books in the early brainstorming/prewriting stages. I’ve done this a few times, once for A Study in Scandal, once for Tempted at Every Turn and just this weekend I made one for Charlotte’s book (which has no title yet.) The point of this exercise, other than indulging your cut & paste tendencies from childhood, is that it taps into your subconscious and pulls out potential ideas for the characters or story that might not have thought of before.
Now the way Jenny goes about it is a bit different from me, she collects things for a while, and not just pictures, but objects and so her collages probably have texture as well as being multi-dimensional. Mine consist (at least so far) of just pictures. I’m so visual anyways, that this makes sense to me.
So without further ado….here are two of my collages to share with you. Sorry about the glare in them – I couldn’t seem to take a picture without one.
Now, I don’t want to give too much away from this by detailing what I did or didn’t use in the book – you’ll have to wait until August for that. But as you can see I have images of gardens with water, some glasses, a writing desk, yummy Josh Holloway from LOST (I did use him!), and shelves of books.
I don’t even know at this point what I will or won’t use from this one since I’m just starting the book. I used more words on this one and lots of items of beauty, lots of jewelry and stockings and you can’t miss the Jack of Hearts right in the center…
So what about the rest of you? Do you do anything different for getting in the mood to write your books? Do you make collages? Or perhaps a soundtrack with songs that remind you of the characters? Do you draw pictures of the houses or configure elaborate timelines? Come on Jaunties, gives us the inside scoop…
Filed in: Our Books
Jan 24th
2007
6:29 am
Shana Said:
I remember that article by Crusie, and it inspired me to make some collages for my WIPs. I don’t do it for every book, but I’ve done it for several, and I’ve found that having the collage sitting on my desk helps me to jump back into the book much more quickly. Music also helps. I do make a soundtrack of sorts for my books. I listen to those same songs over and over and over. Sometimes I even use them for future books because the association with writing and that music becomes so strong. For me, it’s not so much about being inspired by music or pictures as it is about training my brain that now it’s time to work.
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Jan 24th
2007
7:52 am
Maggie Robinson Said:
I have a collage over my desk I’d be looking at right now if I weren’t pecking away at the keyboard (I’m a pretty terrible typist and MUST look, and even then, thank God for spell-check). It’s not as much book-specific as it is life-specific, if that makes any sense.
Some years ago I read Simple Abundance, where, apart from listing cool quotes throughout, the author suggested you make a scrapbook of visual images that “speak” to you to focus on how you’d like to live your life. I felt I was back in grade school, but collaging is fun (and free).
I do it at work, too, when I design my library displays, so I’m pretty handy with scissors!
I think if a stranger entered my little study, they’d get a pretty good idea of who I am just by looking at the odd things I’ve pinned up. And I get to see Ioan Gruffudd every day. Yum.
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Jan 24th
2007
10:55 am
Robyn DeHart Said:
Maggie, that sounds truly lovely.
Shane, I have music like that for exercising – I’ve used it so much for that now when I hear it, I just get in the groove. Pavlov knew what he was talking about.
I’ve never made a soundtrack for writing though. I can’t write very well when I have music on with words, so I tend to write to Mozart and Beethoven a lot.
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Jan 24th
2007
1:13 pm
Rainy Said:
Maggie, I remember that Simple Abundance exercise and went crazy cutting out gadzillions of things from magazines and true to form, I now of a gadzillion of cut out stuff in ziplock bags waiting to be put somewhere. But it’s a great idea!
I do use music for moods. And I’ve found pictures that I think represent my characters.
I also will take a character and make them talk about anything and before I know, I’ve got all kinds of information about them.
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Jan 24th
2007
1:23 pm
Haven Rich Said:
Robyn this is such a cool post!
They had us do this in school (ya know long time ago) but I’ve never heard it applied to anything since then. How cool is this!
Great post!
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Jan 24th
2007
3:14 pm
Shana Said:
Robyn, it’s weird but if I have my “soundtrack” on, I can sing to the words AND write. Any other noise or music would totally distract me. USF thinks this is so funny. He’ll walk in and I’m singing and writing away.
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Jan 24th
2007
3:44 pm
Lois Said:
Those are heck of a lot better than the art I try to do with my collages or icons or such on my site. LOL
I’m not a writer, and I still yet have to get back to college to write papers, but hey, I’ll take anything that works, and helps to get an A or something close to it. . . 
Lois
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Jan 24th
2007
4:35 pm
Jenna Petersen Said:
See, I can’t listen to music and write. I’ve never been able to do it. It distracts me.
As for collaging, I’m soooo not crafty like that. So I don’t do any of that stuff, either. I think all my creativity went into one thing and one thing only. LOL
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Jan 24th
2007
5:30 pm
Robyn DeHart Said:
Shane, yeah, I totally can’t do that. I can’t even listen to soundtrack instrumental music if I’ve seen the movie a lot and know where certain songs fit cause then I get caught up in the movie. I’m a dork. I sing, but mostly in the car or when I’m cleaning.
Haven, glad you enjoyed it.
Lois, good luck with your papers.
Jenna, you’re so funny. I used to not be able to write with music at all and I still don’t most of the time. But I started with the classical stuff to drown out the noise for when I go write at Panera or Starbucks. Without the music, then I focus too much on the people around me. And sometimes the Mozart just makes me feel like I’m at a ball.
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Jan 24th
2007
7:25 pm
Isabel Said:
First, Josh Holloway is hot and is just the model for the hero I’m working on.
Robyn ~ A timely topic for me actually, though I haven’t done collages for my ideas I do collect things – pictures, quotes, names of songs – and keep keep them in an accordion file. It would serve me well to make a collage out of these things. Thanks for sharing this idea.
I listen to music while I work on my book. I need noise, if it’s too quiet I get distracted. I suppose this is because I’m used to an occasional screaming fit from my parrot and a demanding cat who demands I drop everything so I can baby her.
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Jan 25th
2007
8:13 am
Lacey Said:
I’m dying to get a bulletin board (and an office, but hey). Right now I download pictures into a file with the book title, although I did find one magazine ad I couldn’t locate in digital form so that stays by my desk. And I listen to the Classical Masterpieces cable channel while I write. It’s always just in the middle of a really good scene that the DVR box switches over to How I Met Your Mother and raucous laughter ensues! Ah, well. One day I’ll get a radio, too.
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Jan 25th
2007
9:13 am
AndreaW Said:
Robyn, this is such a neat idea! Hmmm…it gives me ideas, too.
Thanks for this post.
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Jan 25th
2007
1:23 pm
Anne Mallory Said:
Lately I’ve just been using a packed outline (any scrap of thought gets plugged into the appropriate chapter box). I love collages though, and I’ve been tempted – tempted at every turn, Robyn! – to do one for storyboarding purposes. I worry I’d get lost in the collage and put off writing though. Or be too exacting. I’d have to set a deadline! I’m a crafty girl – love crafts! So they are dangerous to my time management.
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Jan 25th
2007
4:04 pm
Shirley Karr Said:
I’m always listening to instrumental music when I write — if it’s too quiet, I can’t concentrate. I think about what my dh or the cats or the neighbors are doing. Love Vivaldi and other classical composers — they help me get into the Regency era.
Tried making a collage last year at a writing retreat, and yes it’s a great idea. But being the perfectionist I am, I got frustrated at finding so few images that fit my historical era.
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Jan 25th
2007
6:41 pm
Robyn DeHart Said:
LOL, Anne. I’ve never thought of doing a collage like a storyboard – that sounds quite daunting. But just as a creative activity, it’s pretty fun.
Shirley, I feel your angst on the historical images, but I have a perfect solution. I get a catalog in the mail called Victorian Trading, and that is where I get most of my images. Even if it’s not 100% historically accurate, it still has period feeling clothes and trinkets and furniture. So it works well for me.
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Jan 28th
2007
12:11 pm
Mary Said:
I’ve done collages this last year. I love it! I’ve always had pictures of my characters, but now I have pictures of settings, just to give me more of a feel.
And in my WIP, there are four parts of the story, so I made a poster for each of those parts, with what happens in each part, what characters are there, how the relationship grows.
I also do soundtracks, and yes, there are words. For my WIP, it’s hard rock, too! But it does drown out the TV! I burned off CDs of my soundtrack, so I can listen in the car and think about my book.
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