I attended a writing lecture on collaging blank books. A collage is a group of pictures or items glued to a surface to represent something, for us that something would be a scene or our entire book. It was fun and insightful, so I thought I’d give it a try. Now I make a collage at the beginning of each new manuscript and it helps me immensely.

I started off collaging blank books (I ordered some 8X8 inch books from www.createandtreasure.com). Blank books are fantastic to collage because you can create a different page for each part of your book – one page for each character with the setting in the background, a page for each major turning point, the black moment and the climax. Even if my plot changed along the way, the major points and the flavor tended to stay the same. The only drawback to this type of collage is that it can take some time depending on how detailed and pretty you make it. Below are a couple of examples from one of my collage books.

Currently I collage a single poster board sheet for each of my books. Stephanie Bond, during her presentation at the 2009 RWA Conference recommended collaging a manila folder so that you can file it away when you’re finished. This is a great idea, but unfortunately I need a bigger surface.

So how do you start a collage? Well don’t spend hours poring over magazines trying to find the perfect fit to the characters in your head. You’ll probably never find them and you may just end up reading articles instead of writing. Below are my recommendations for creating a poster board collage. This works for me, but there aren’t really any wrong ways to collage (unless you spend all your time collaging and no time writing : ).
1. Think about the characters and setting. Perhaps you have a plot already sketched out (you don’t have to, but it helps).
2. Hunt for setting pictures on the internet and print them off.
3. Leaf through the picture folder of people and objects that you’ve been collecting from magazines. I tear them out whenever I happen upon a picture of something different or someone or a setting full of emotion. The current trilogy that I’m working on grew from a single picture from a magazine.
4. If there are specific objects (swords, keys, diamonds, etc) or animals in your book, print off pictures of them.
5. If you were casting your book as a movie (oh to be Stephanie Meyer!), are there specific actors who could take the roles? If so, print off their pictures, preferably dressed from a movie set in the time period or culture of your book.
6. If no person fits your character, then look for the emotions your character may exhibit or feel. One time I searched for a picture of anguish and I found an amazing abstract painting that totally captured the emotion for me. This painting pasted next to a model that had the basic hair and body type made me feel that I had found my hero.
7. Are there any semi-flat items you could use in your collage? I’ve used thread, cloth, charms, etc.
8. Once you have pictures and items, arrange them on the poster board. If you have background paper (scrap booking paper) that conveys an emotion or setting, you can place these under the pictures.
9. Start placing pictures on the left with your hero and heroine. As you move right, add in pictures of places and people who will turn up in the book. Overlap pictures when there are interactions. Play around with the pictures/items until they coalesce into the feel of your book. Once everything looks the way you want it, glue it down.
10. When you decide on hair color, eye color, scar location, tattoos, etc, write them in next to your characters or sketch them on the picture itself. I’m always forgetting my characters’ eye colors so it’s very helpful to just glance at my collage for the information. Write phrases or themes on the collage if they will help keep you on track.
Sometimes I’m so eager to start writing the book that I only get through the first few steps of the collage before I dive into writing. This is fine. But I still keep the pictures that I’ve found nearby in a folder to help me focus. And when I get stuck somewhere around the first turning point, I take some time to finish the collage. The process itself throws me back on track.

Having the collage helps when life distracts me. If you’re a visual person who also happens to fight distraction (darn kids have to eat : ), a collage next to you may help a lot. It has for me.

Below are two of my poster board collages. I would love to hear if you have ways to quickly re-immerse yourself into your manuscripts.