My Mood Board for My Book

How I make and use mood boards in my writing process

Aug 06, 2024

Mood board of summer, turtles, dollhouse, bike, cupcakes, orange cat, children playing, and the woods and lake — Images via Pinterest

I thought that a fun way of introducing you to my story would be to share my mood board with you! This is something that I started putting together really early on as I was getting ideas.

I love making mood boards and I find that they are really useful when getting ideas for writing.

What are Mood Boards Used For?

Mood boards are a great way of visualizing your story. I am a very visual person and I love books that have a lot of rich details that I can imagine while reading. So this is definitely a goal for me in my writing - I really want to create a world that someone can imagine while reading and really get into the atmosphere.

Gathering inspiring images also helps jump-start ideas for me in the brainstorming process. It gives me new ideas for my writing and helps clarify the vibes that I am trying to achieve.

I’m also just a mood board-lover in general though, I love making boards for other things like style, interior design, goal setting, etc.

Places to find inspiration and images:

The most obvious one, but definitely my favorite place to find pretty photos!

Dupe

An amazing resource of images for personal and commercial use. Dupe is a website that provides beautiful images for creators. I find that it is similar to Pinterest in that it has a ton of aesthetically pleasing photos.

Pexels

Pexels is another site that has a wonderful collection of lovely stock photos.

Books and magazines

Great for both physical and digital mood boards. If you own magazines you can cut out the images. If you see something in a book at a store or from the library you can always take a picture of it with your phone and upload it to your digital mood board.

Ways you can make a mood board

This is one of the best apps for mood boards. Pinterest is a super popular place to save images because it makes it easy to find and save aesthetic photos. It is great for searching for inspiration and adding to your collection over time.

I also love the “sections” feature for sorting my ideas. I have one board for all of my book ideas and I have sections nested within it for each book.

What I like about Pinterest:

Easy to use + organize
Great for adding to over time
So much inspiration!

Shuffles

Shuffles is an app by Pinterest that you can use to make collages. It has tools to make collages with photos, cutouts, text, and more. You can connect to your Pinterest account and use photos that you have already pinned, search Pinterest right from the Shuffles app, add photos from your phone’s camera roll, or take photos within the app.

I love that you can add your photos in whatever arrangement you’d like, cut out and remove backgrounds, and add fun customizations.

What I like about Shuffles:

Connects to Pinterest
Cut out shapes and remove backgrounds
Fun customizations

Figma

Figma is a free design tool that I use for things like graphic design, web design, and creating images for blog posts. I also find that I really enjoy using it to make mood boards. It takes a little longer to learn how to use, but once you get the hang of it, the in-depth design capabilities make it super fun!

What I like about Figma:

Gives me full design capabilities
Great to use on my laptop

Folder on your phone

You could also just make a folder on your phone’s photo app. This method is super easy and a quick way to get started.

What I like about using folders:

It’s easy to access and already built into your phone
You can add pictures that you take when you find inspiration

Physical mood board

I absolutely love making mood boards as a way of getting crafty. You can use cut-outs from magazines, printed photos, or even drawings. I like that you can make them any size, from small bookmarks that you can carry on the go, to large boards you can hang on your wall.

What I like about physical mood boards:

Fun to do something crafty with your hands
You can put them up at your desk to look at while you write

Table covered with magazine cut-outs — Image via Dupe

Things to think about when making a mood board:

What is the overall vibe of your story?
What time period is your story set in?
What season?
Are there any colors that inspire your story?
Are there any specific objects/images/settings you’d like to include?

Types of mood boards

Overall mood board for the whole book. Create a cohesive aesthetic to inspire your story.
One for each character - what kinds of clothes do they wear, where do they live, what do they look like, what’s their aesthetic?
Different locations in your story. Say a lot of your story takes place in a house - include examples of the furniture, the yard, the character’s rooms, etc.
A specific scene. Choose one major moment of your story and really set the scene.

Now it’s your turn to make a mood board - whether that be for your own writing, or something else!

Celia Darío