Jaye Ripley

I’m a newbie to the world of Pinterest. I’ve seen friends “Pin It” and found some cool collections. But I decided to see if this online pin board could work as an inspiration for writing Falling: Dark Angel.

Unlike a corkboard like Scrivener (which I’ll write about another time) where a writer can add ideas and plot points and arrange them on your computer, Pinterest’s best feature is really for the visual details that can help writing. My weak point is in description of characters. I can have a basic idea of hair and eye color, but not in close description.

So I created the Falling: Dark Angel Characters Pinterest page. Starting with the cover, I connected to some pictures of characters. Funny enough, I had to start with some of the minor characters. Seeing them start popping up together started helping me in ways I wasn’t expecting.

The first thing I noticed was that my characters lacked diversity. It’s not something I would think about when just creating the characters during writing. A few details here and there can help me create a scene. But having the visual representation made me realize that my characters didn’t really represent the way I want my writing world to be read. So my basic “find a picture and pin it” became a different task. Now my characters have more depth racially than in the first drafting. While I may have to go back and tweak some of my descriptions, that’s not as big of a worry for me as it would have been to not have diverse characters in the first place.

I had to start really thinking about how my characters were written right now, how they look inside my own head, and who some of my future characters might be. Then I searched for actors and actresses that fit the “roles”. That takes more time. But all of a sudden as I found Pins for some of the minor characters, I felt the world of my book start coming to life because right in front of me were the people populating it.

I searched through lists and magazine articles of Hot Actors Under 30. Instead of going with a typical choice for the main male protagonist Kilian (like Ian Somerhaulder), I looked at some of the popular British actors that many in the U.S. don’t know. For my main character Angel, also called Amadea, I was a little more personal picking someone of mixed Hawaiian heritage since that’s my own biological background.

Let’s not forget the fun of casting some of our personal favorites either. For an older authority figure, I chose Richard Armitage who’s been on my radar since seeing him in the North & South miniseries and who currently plays Thorin Oakenshield in The Hobbit. And I’m waiting to reveal who will play the Archangel Sariel at a later date as it’s one of my favorite actors and someone who is perfect for the character. You might want to follow my Board for updates.

So far, the casting of my characters includes Brandon Fobbs, Luke Evans, Joanna Sotomura, Max Irons, Gael Garcia Bernal, and Tao Okamoto. Even just writing down their names makes me realize that I’ve got to get some more girls into the story! Right now, Angel is surrounded by hot guys, which is probably not a bad thing in a new adult paranormal romance.

On Pinterest, you can also add Youtube videos, so I Pinned a couple of music videos for songs that inspire me when writing Falling: Dark Angel. As I build the page, I will probably add in some setting Pins to help my details of places as well. What started as a fun exercise has shown itself to be a very useful and inspiring place for my writing.

Wattpad, where my story is being posted as it’s drafted, also has a feature where you can add a cast to your story that will show on the side. I will probably update that as well, but my Pinterest board will be my main visual companion for the rest of writing the story. If it continues to help, it may become part of my writing ritual for all my fiction pieces.

Related articles

• Pinterest for Authors & Writers (jaimeebrooker.wordpress.com)
• Team writing with Pinterest (karavansara.wordpress.com)
• Instagram Can Help Treat Writer’s Block (twowritingteachers.wordpress.com)
• 8 Reasons Why Readers & Writers Should Be On Pinterest, and 4 Lists of Awesome Boards to Follow (faerietaleforest.wordpress.com)
• How Pinterest Can Cure Writer’s Block (blogherald.com)