28/05/2020 - Pre-production

I finished up a novel draft this week, which means it’s time to start working on the next one. Normally I might have a bit of time off but we’re still under lockdown in the UK, and writing is giving me a sense of purpose.

One of the most enjoyable parts of novel pre-production, for me, is gathering a Pinterest board of inspiration images for characters, locations and miscellanea. Here is the one I did for my self-published book Drown the Witch:

I find this helpful in the early stages because it lets me think about what sort of characters I might want to include, what sort of setting I want and so on without getting too caught up in the details. It’s essentially free association planning with no consequences. ‘Would I like this sort of thing to be in the book? Maybe, save it. Would I like this? Probably not, move on.’

So, with that in mind, here is the Pinterest gallery I pulled together today for the novel I’m hoping to write next: