How I use Pinterest to Create My Character Descriptions

For over the past year, I have found Pinterest to not only be a fun way to collect ideas but a useful tactic in outlining my stories. I’ve been using it as a visual aid in picturing how I want my characters to look like, including how I want them to dress, and even where I want them set.

Pinterest brings one key aspect to the table that the notepad cannot:

It brings a visual catalog of what my character’s style is.

That’s not to say that I’ve stopped making lists though. It’s just simplified my process and has added a lot more fun. This is what I do:

First, I make a list of everything I want to include in my novel. My character’s descriptions, each of their styles (If I don’t know some of them upfront, then I know looking at different styles will help me decide), from clothing to hair color, hairstyles, hobbies, and work. I also make a board for the season it will be, including holidays, and the location my scenes take place.

Pinterest offers the opportunity to catalog a character’s sense of style, hobbies, and interests. This can even lead to the development of attitudes as some clothes resemble certain characteristics of personalities.

I then add these visual descriptions as a background for my characters, even the minor ones. It’s the subtle details that bring your characters to life. This is also true with their surroundings.

Maybe your character is a home decorator. You can have a board filled with home improvement pins to give you visual aid over what they might be doing, or planning in a given scene. Maybe your character is a student and lives in a dorm, have a board solely for dorm decorating. A board for nursing can help with research and terminology, as well as giving insight into the many obstacles and conversations nurses have each day.

In my series Reapers of the Veil, my main character Addison Brooke is a live-in nurse in the Florida Keys. At first, she struggles to find a position right out of university until one night she receives a mysterious phone call from an unknown caller, beckoning for her to come in for an interview. Desperate for an income, she takes the job in a mansion in Tavernier Key which ends up being haunted. If you want to check out my Reapers of the veil Inspiration board click HERE.

Developing my character’s wardrobe was both fun and a little challenging. What do you wear to an interview in 90 degrees Fahrenheit in South Florida? Well, you would die from heat from wearing a blazer and stockings like you would wear anywhere else in the country or in the UK! It just wouldn’t make sense, would it?

My Character style board

I went to Pinterest for help and collected pictures of her normal day to day wear, as well as some nice interview clothes for hot weather, and of course scrubs that fit her personal style.

The same can be done with hair color, type, and styles. As well as skin tones, eye color, etc. You get the idea. It’s become a fun little trick of mine to add a visual on how I want to create. Pretty soon, her character came to life! Not only through my book, but through the help of Pinterest’s visual aids.

Scenes

Lately, I’ve been collecting images of places for my scene developments and my characters whereabouts. It almost feels like I’m collecting pins for a vacation I want to take one day. There are so many things you can add in your story that can give it an extra detail of their location. Look for articles that talk about vacation hot spots, hobbies, even places to stay away from. This might give insight into some grimey alleyways your character might walk into- this is especially helpful if you’re writing in the crime or horror genre.

Background information and possible dialogue can be inspired by this too. This really helps if you’re writing about a place you’ve never been to before.

I for one grew up in the Keys but I still looked to see what’s changed and what there is to do these days. For one of my short stories, Anatoly, I created a board with images of Byzantine art, since my character starts off inside a Byzantine church and I wanted to describe details of the walls.

This does two things for me. It helps me design my stories world and characters and it gives me things to pin about, which help with my marketing.

How do you work on our character descriptions? Please share in the comments below!

Happy Writing!

Killian