ARTICLE
Boards: A Visual Writing Aid Muse Boards for All Genres by Jill Hedgecock
When distilled down to its very essence, a writer’s job is to immerse their readers in a three-dimensional world through words. Just as fine artists often find it easier to paint from a photograph or by placing their easel in front of a live model or in a landscape setting, many writers find that prose can be inspired by looking at images of their subject matter. But what is a muse board exactly? A muse board is a versatile visual aid designed to create mood, assist in character development, inform book structure, and inspire descriptive text. A muse board can be specialized to fit any genre. One of its most powerful features is assisting writers in keeping details straight. This article describes how to make and use a muse board in four easy steps and the many advantages of investing the time to create one. Step 1: Select Your Format Muse boards can be digital or physical. Regardless of the media preference, there are many ways to organize your images: collage, 40
phy-school.com/make-photoshop-collage-9-steps), Sampleboard (www.sampleboard.com), and Milanote (https://milanote.com/ product/writing-software). I’m partial to Pinterest because your followers can monitor your book progress, creating buzz during book development.
sequential images that outline the book, topic- or character-specific, or mood driven. Physical muse boards can be created from corkboard, whiteboard, or trifold cardboard (e.g., child’s science project exhibit boards). The trifold is brilliantly designed for novelists because spatially, the 25%, 50%, 25% area distribution of the board is perfectly in accordance with a well-balanced, “three-act” plot structure. Another advantage of a 36- by 48-inch trifold format is that it can be displayed at author readings and book signings, which makes this my favorite option. The digital world offers many types of platforms that can be used to create this tool, including Pinterest (www. pinterest.com), Photoshop’s collage feature (https://digital-photogra-
Step 2: Assemble Materials For a digital muse board, Step 2 will largely entail using computer search functions. While digital media is convenient, content is limited to Internet images and digital photos. A physical medium provides more options for materials such as: • Photos • Post its • Magazines • Maps • Fabrics/textures • Scented cloth • Photographs of your own text • Family genealogy trees • Geographic maps • Your introductory paragraph • Synopsis and book cover— great for advertising your book at signings • Internet images
Books ‘N Pieces Magazine — April 2022 — www.BooksNPieces.com
