Here is a blatant plug for my Tumblr. If you want to know about imagery for scenes, I think it’s super important to have an online pin-board of scenes, characters, and event designs. Here’s why you do it and here’s how I do it.

Here’s Why It’s Important

Imagination is the key to success in writing. I don’t even mean grandiose, world-building imagination meant for science fiction and fantasy. I mean, imagination is important for work projects like writing memos or updates. You have to tap into some creative part to get a message across, even if it feels trivial and mundane. And you must be into what you’re doing. Reading examples and looking at things that relate to your work is super helpful.

Here’s How I Do It

I said my senior year of college that I would totally delete my Tumblr account upon graduation. To be fair, I was wasting a lot of time on it, just mindlessly scrolling through images and posts that had no resonance with me, and, quite frankly, brought out the worst in me in terms of how I relate to other people . And then I realized I needed to start curating the content that I see. I started following more nature blogs, fantasy blogs, and writing blogs to get my creative juices flowing. I realized fitness, fashion, and food stopped interesting me as much, even though I still maintain a food and clothing Tumblr just for that.

In my own head, I have very vivid imagery. But I have a hard time articulating those images into words that resonate with people who aren’t me. Or the me of a few hours later. I put off writing an entire half of a scene until the second round of editing because I knew I wasn’t a good enough writer yet to do it justice (in case you’re wondering, I still feel completely iffy about it). Having a visual reference to the kind of feeling I want to elicit from readers helps. See also why I listen to 8tracks playlist after 8tracks playlist. Or have the same song on loop. It helps me understand my feelings and then, in turn, helps me analyze how to get those emotions out of my own writing.

The other trick to getting good inspiration? Going out and doing things. Sitting at home and researching on the internet helps, but nothing works as well as getting your hands a little dirty.