Writers, have you ever wanted to create a Pinterest board based on the aesthetics of your novel or Work In Progress, but you don’t know how to begin? Start here! Productivity isn’t always putting pen to the page; sometimes you need a little help getting your creative juices flowing, and a beautiful board of your novel aesthetics can be just the thing to get you in the mood to write!
First of all, because it’s been a while, I have to take a moment to say: HELLO, HAPPY WRITERS! Long time, no see!! I have been unfairly neglecting this blog for a while now, but with social media sites becoming precarious (I’m sure I wasn’t the only one traumatized by TikTok going dark for all of twelve hours), I’m realizing how important it is to have a stable, self-hosted space to communicate with the world. I’ll be posting on this blog more often, so expect to see posts about writing, reading, and everything in between.
If you’d like to find me on other platforms (while they still exist), be sure to check out my Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram. I’m @chuffwrites on all of them!
Now, onto the Pinning!
Why Should A Writer Create A Pinterest Board?
Creating a Pinterest board for your novel’s aesthetics can be a really fun first-step as you explore a new story idea — or a great way to revive your passion for a project as you’re slogging through seemingly endless edits! I’ve seen lots of writers on social media scroll through their Pinterest boards at the start of every writing session, just to get into the right mindset to start working.
Obviously, the only thing that’s going to get your story written is to write it, but making Pinterest boards, curating playlists, drawing your own fan art or fantasy maps—they’re all ways to get those creative juices going. Any time you want to remind yourself why you’re writing this story, you have these extra outlets you can dip into to rekindle that initial excitement that made you want to write this book to begin with!
Creating Boards for Your Novel Aesthetics
To create a board that encompasses your overall novel, you have to ask yourself a few questions about how your novel feels: what are the main images you want readers to take away from your work? What is the mood of the piece? Can you see the types of architecture in your head, the faces of your characters, the vibe of the book?
- Search key terms that describe your novel’s overall mood. For instance, is this a moody vampire book, in a dark academia setting? When you close your eyes, do you see towers of dusty books and parchment scrolls, vials of blood worn on necklaces for quick sips, moonlight through arched windows, ivy crawling up castle walls? Search terms like vampire aesthetics or dark academia to build your novel’s board!
- Bring your novel’s setting to life. I go into this more later, but definitely look up pins that evoke your story’s setting—let’s say your vampire novel takes place in a university. You might look up boards on Oxford or Cambridge, search terms like “library aesthetic”, “rainy street” or “moonlight.”
- Consider your characters. I’ll give more detail in the next section, but definitely don’t forget to include your characters in your board! Look up terms like “character models” or “character inspo” to find boards with lots of models to choose from. Even a search that sounds silly like “moody man” pulls up some surprisingly aesthetic images!
- Start broad, then get specific! In our vampire novel example, you might start with searching vampire aesthetics, but don’t be afraid to get super specific. Gothic clothing, for example, parchment scrolls, vials of blood (I was actually surprised how many images that search turned up, though I probably shouldn’t have been!) Search even the most specific details from your book; you might be surprised how accurate of an image you might find!
- Search aesthetic boards for comparable titles. Fans love putting together aesthetic boards for their favorite novels, so definitely mine these for inspiration! For the vampire novel, maybe you’d search Buffy the Vampire Aesthetics or Camilla Aesthetic or Dracula-inspired boards. Scroll through the options and see if there’s anything that strikes true for your novel—and pin away!
- Don’t just collect visuals—look up quotes that reflect your story’s main themes. There might be book quotes or personal quotes that encapsulate the mood of your novel. For your vampire novel, you might look up vampire quotes, academia quotes, or even quotes themed around your characters or romances, like enemies to lovers quotes!
Personally, I’m working on a fantasy series, and for my novel aesthetics board, I looked up a lot of key terms that described my settings, like misty forests, campfires, journals and newspapers, and lots of aesthetics for my characters, which I’ll go into in more in detail next!