I know someone who’s writing a steampunk story and she was struggling very early on. With her past projects, she usually knew the story, the characters, and how she was going to get to the resolution before she’d start writing. She’s at a loss this time, so I suggested she put together a collage.
The idea of making a collage as part of the pre-writing process has been around the romance author community for a while. The first time I learned about it was an article by Jennifer Crusie. Read this blog post to see her latest collage.
I’m not an arts-and-craftsy kind of person, but I have done a collage for some books. It’s an interesting process. You’re looking through magazines and tearing out stuff for unknown reasons. When you put it together, it can still look like a jumble of images. Only when you’re writing the story do you realize how it all fits.
The writer who is working on the steampunk story went to used bookstores and library sales for magazines. (Where else can you get unusual magazines for pennies?) She got quite a few interior decorating and travel magazines, probably because world-building is extremely important in steampunk.
I saw the collage and noticed there were lots of clocks, clothing and architecture. Mine have usually been filled with actors and models along with key words and adjectives. And then there is Jennifer Crusie’s grand scale collages. I don’t know if the difference is because of the genre or the artistic level of the author. It’s probably a bit of both.
If you’re having trouble getting into a story, consider making a collage. Want to know how to get started? Read Nicola Marsh’s interview with Barbara Hannay about the subject here.
