The Best Writing Tool You Aren’t Using

Everyone knows about a certain digital pinboard, known as the procrastinator’s best friend, the party planner’s go-to inspiration, and the foodie’s favorite recipe archive. But, as a writer, have you ever thought about how you can use Pinterest to develop your scene descriptions, hone your style, and actually see your characters take shape? Here are just some of the ways to use Pinterest for authors.

 1. Online Inspiration Board

From characters to settings, there is no better way to write with powerful sensory detail than to be looking right at your inspiration. Think about creating boards for your protagonist, antagonist, and even other main characters so you can develop them as round, multi-dimensional people. What is their style? What clothes do they wear? Is their abode a warm, bohemian cottage on a hill or a high-end penthouse outfitted with cold stainless steel? Create boards for settings and pin different vantage points, bird’s-eye views, and other images that will give you, and your readers, a unique perspective of the scene.

2. Book Cover Ideas

Conveying the design in your head to the graphic designers can be difficult for both parties, but having a visual to point to changes everything. From font to imagery to general formatting, finding concrete examples will make sure the design process is easier for everyone—and that you end up with the look you want. This is a less obvious, but incredibly valuable way, to use Pinterest for authors.

3. Theme and Topic Starters

Pinterest is absolutely loaded with quotes and images that are perfectly suited to spark your next great writing idea. Build a board with any interesting, provocative, or stimulating quotes or images you find. Whether you use it for daily writing exercise or it unfolds into your next novel, you can surely find inspiration on the thousands of Pinterest boards dedicated to meaningful ideas, photography, and illustrations from all over the world.

4. Writer Admiration

Keep a board dedicated to writers whose styles you love. You can include their work and notable quotes, or anything that reminds you of them. Delve into their lives; figure out what motivates them and what signifies their style. Creating an author study will help you discover your own preferences and apply them to your writing.

5. Marketing Your Book

If you have a blog and don’t have a Pinterest account, you need to get pinning. Creating your own images and pinning them isn’t difficult, and it immediately gives you a huge audience who just might follow that picture back to your blog and—who knows—buy your book. Need ideas on what to pin other than your own blog pictures? Create a board with titles that have similar writing styles, themes, and genres as your book and point out that if they like these, they will love your work. Pin writing or lifestyle quotes that resonate with you and relate to the topics you frequently write about. Think about who your reader is and pin for them.

Remember your pinning etiquette: make sure that you are giving credit where it is due for all images you use.

Take some time to look through Pinterest for more ideas and find some fellow writers to follow. Network, connect, and have fun with your pinboards—and then start writing, armed with your new tools of inspiration. Which of these is your favorite \”Pinterest for authors\” tip?