Me and my mood boards…
I know every writer including your favourites has their own way of researching and bringing stories to life. Mine, include researching and reading lots, and then I draw…
Why draw? Don’t you just write?
Ah… No… Before I wrote my first sentence, I drew. Lots and lots of paper and sketchbooks filled with images after images of the mundane and not so mundane… I still draw. Drawing to me has always been a tiny part of who I am. Like breathing, it comes naturally, and when people ask, why did you draw that? I never can reply.
I don’t know where the images come from, all I know is like my writing these days is they need to come out. The more I bottle them up, the worse the itch becomes. Until I’m stuck in a daze, drawing for days on end.
Over time- a good few years and several munchkins later- I’ve learnt a little about constraining this temperamental, imaginative beast. It was through this and looking back at old notebooks with several character drawings that I decided to put my so-called talents to use and write Elements.
Gathering the remnants of the pages of the withered books, I created my first mood board. The first one sucked. But over time I gathered and drew more. The research helped clarify everything in my mind, and eventually the story went from this dingy crap squiggles and stuck on pictures to something pretty horrific with strange shadows and eyes that stared… (whispers) I swear it judged me!
But I was happy with it.
Do any of you draw? If you don’t get off your buts, grab a paintbrush and paint the town red… Or black… Or whatever fun colour that’s your favourite…
S.McC
Sconnie Books 