LookBooks and The Writer- Guest Blogger, Elaine Hirsch

This latest post comes from Guest writer, Elaine Hirsch and revisits the concept of LookBooks, examining the potential of this resource, originally applied to the fashion industry, to further assist the writer within each of us...

Elaine is kind of a jack-of-all-interests, from education and history to medicine and videogames. This makes it difficult for her to choose just one life path, so she is currently working as a writer for various education-related sites and writing about all these things instead.
Elaine writes:
'In the fashion industry as well as others , people use lookbooks and mood boards to draw inspiration from and define their own particular styles. These creative tools are used to collect visuals of interest to designers, from photographs of models to swatches of fabric to sketches, layouts, and whatever else helps to inspire them and direct their creative impulses in a particular fashion, as well as quickly inform other people as to the specific “feel” of their projects.

Lookbooks and mood boards can be useful for writers, as well. Whether you're working on an essay for an online doctorate or your magnum opus novel, it can be highly productive to collect together in one place resources that inspire you and help you to focus on a particular goal. They're likely to look different than fashion lookbooks or a web designers' mood boards because you are working with more cognitive inspirations and less visuals, but the principles at work remain the same.

Some writers may already have the equivalents of lookbooks lining their bookshelves. No writer exists in a vacuum, and most have been reading all their lives so the influences of other writers on their own writing can't be denied. Having libraries of beloved books at hand to escape into when you're having trouble with your own can be really useful because you can look at them analytically, especially since you've likely read them before.

Think about what in a book impresses you so strongly, whether it's plot twists or certain turns of phrase. Read lots and really try to understand what it is that makes the writers you love masters of the craft. Collect together the books you most want to emulate in your work, whether in form or genre, near your writing desk so you can use them as references. Obviously wholesale copying is no good, but all writers have read something that makes their hearts sing or pound. You can utilize the lessons your favorite authors offer to write more compelling work, and to keep you on track with whatever you're writing.

Writers can make more lightweight lookbooks too though. Fill a large, blank sketchbook with stuff related to your project, whether written words, photographs, or sketches. If you're writing a novel, you can devote a page to the things that inspired you to write it in the first place, such as a news story you heard or a life experience you had, and maybe another page to your goals in the project. Catalogue everything, write notes everywhere. You can literally sketch out characters on a page, even if you don't have much drawing skill. Cut out images from magazines that speak to what you feel is the direction you want to head in or the feel you're looking for.

This can also work for more academic endeavors by clipping in news stories, research papers, or other resources you need. You can also draw out mind-maps on the pages, and then all your work can be collected in one place.

This effort to collect’ inspiration’ can also be done digitally, which can be helpful if you prefer to work in cafes or otherwise travel around while writing. Web services like Evernote and many more besides can be used to collect bookmarks, digital images, and other notes and inspirations into a single visual space that can be used for reference wherever you go, from local libraries to distant lands.

While this creative aid was developed for more visual arts, it's still quite applicable to writing. Assembling together your thoughts and influences into an easily accessible space like this can make it much easier for you to keep a cohesive feel to your work. Whether you're writing fiction or non-fiction, it will help continue to inspire you as well as keeping you focused on your goals in writing. For teachers, this type of collecting represents yet another powerful resource to share with the developing writers in their care.'


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular With Other Visitors

Writing Opposite Poems

Image
 O pp o s ite  P oem s In his book, ' How To Write Poetry,'  Paul Janeczko presents the idea of opposite poems. Paul suggests they could also be referred to as antonym poems. This is wordplay and it's fun to try. Here are some examples Paul provides to help us see very clearly how these short little poems work. I think the opposite of chair Is sitting down with nothing there What is the opposite of kind? A goat that butts you from behind Paul Janeczko You will  notice the poems are written in rhyming couplets. They can be extended so long as you remember to write in couplets. Paul shows us how this is done. What is the opposite of new? Stale gum that's hard to chew A hot-dog roll as hard as rock Or a soiled and smelly forgotten sock You might notice that some of Paul's opposite Poems begin with a question. The remainder of the poem answer the question posed. Opposite poems are a challenge, but it is a challenge worth trying. Not every thing has a
Read more

Writing About Reading - Reading Reflection Journals:

Image
UPDATED February 2022 Writing in response to literature can be a great way for students to organize their thoughts, explore what they think, and generate ideas. One of the strengths of writing in journals is that it allows students to capture all of those great ideas that generally float off into the air during the discussion.  Journal writing can also become drudgery if students are asked to write too often, given little choice or inspiration in what to write, or if they simply don't have anything to say. While some students eagerly share their impressions about selections they have read in class discussions, others are less comfortable and keep their thoughts to themselves. In an effort to encourage all students to think more about what they read and confidently share their observations and opinions, some teachers are turning to the reading reflection journal and are gaining insights they never anticipated.  The Value of Reflection Journals   Journals assist teachers to gain i
Read more

Learning How to 'Zoom In' When Writing

Image
It is important for young writers to understand that not all parts of a story are equal. There are parts through which a writer moves quickly, and important parts where the writer slows down and lingers a while. This is where the writer might intensify the action or reveal the character’s reactions in greater detail. Young writers need to know that this is a deliberate strategy on the part of the author. The author consciously zooms in. The writer uses a magnifying glass to view a part of the story more closely; to focus on a moment and to slow down time. When an important part of the story is enlarged upon, it   is a signal to the reader, that this part of the story is important. The strategy of ‘zooming in’ goes by many names: ‘exploding a moment’ ‘magnifying a moment’, ‘hotspot’ ‘snapshot’, ‘adding detail’ or ‘slowing the action.’  What ever the name, the idea is the same. The author writes in a way that expands a significant part of the story with the intention of drawing t
Read more

Answering Questions Posed by Young POETS

Image
UPDATED, May 2020 As a frequent visitor to schools I have the great pleasure of working with groups of young, enthusiastic poets and their teachers. When I arrive in a classroom, young poets are often pre-loaded with questions, and most keen to have them answered.  I try to answer as many as I can, but we frequently run out of time, and the poetry caravan moves on to the next classroom. So I am here to answer some of those questions -right here, right now. So here goes: When you were little did you love writing? The short answer is yes. I have always enjoyed words and language. I can't recall a time when I wasn't doing some kind of writing. When did you write your first poetry book? I have had poems published over the years, but it wasn't until 2014 that I had an entire book of poems (an anthology) published. When I looked back through all my notebooks I realized I had hundreds of poems from which to choose. So, 'Searching For Hen's Teeth-Poetry From The
Read more

Slice Of Life Story-The Trials Of A Left Handed Writer

Image
Amazingly I learnt to write using my left hand. An achievement against the prevailing beliefs of the day. My very first teacher saw it as her mission in life to ‘fix’ the poor, wretched little boy suffering from what she clearly diagnosed as left handed disease. She must have thought, 'This child must be re formatted! If he remains left handed he will be forever condemned to writing in a scrawl that no one will be able to read. Ugly hand, ugly hand.' ...They tried to say it couldn't be done, it mustn't be done. They took the pencil out of my left hand and placed it in my right hand. It felt unnatural. It felt weird. It was not right. More to the point it was not left. I was not about to conform. At least they didn't try tying my hand behind my back. Watch me I said. I may be an oddball, left handed scribbler but I am a determined oddball. I mean how boring would the world be if everyone wrote with their right hand? So I dug my toes in –and my hands to
Read more