So thanks a lot!!!

Here’s my two cents on using images (which I love/need because I’m a visually motivated person – I even write in ‘scenes’). I like to do collages if I have time – it makes a new picture out of other pictures and makes them more your own, plus putting them together makes for interesting discoveries of theme, plot points etc and that’s so much fun!

Re magazines it’s often hard to find good image content when world building. I recommend National Geographic (old ones you already have a copy or CD of so you don’t feel awful about cutting them up!) for landscape, interesting people, scenarios etc. I also recommend those stupid ‘gift’ catalogs in which the show gifts displayed in ‘room types’ – from goth to western to french country. not being very french country myself I forget the sorts of details those people like. Catalogs I’d normally throw out are great for this.

Also I use google-image-search and build a little folder full of novel related images for my desktop. I can set them into a little slideshow program to have going in the background or as my screensaver to help get me back in the right mood/frame of mind etc to write.

I don’t outline. I HAVE to write fresh otherwise I kill the story and it becomes dictation and flat dictation at that but if I allow myself a little research diversion from time to time while writing I can keep pace with what I need and build my world as I go. Plus I get a lot of lovely plot options along the way that give me different routes I hadn’t yet thought of to reach the end.