photo by Jordan Blanchard

Thinking about your writing in a more physical sense can help alleviate some of the stress when it comes to mapping out your piece. Lookbooks, vision boards, and thumbnails may sound like quirky Pinterest terms, but they can become a vital part of your writing process.

Sometimes these practices can help you clarify an image you couldn’t quite figure out in your head.

Visualizing a scene or a character can be hard. Try to think about what characteristics you can draw from real life. Literally. Even if it’s a quick doodle, the act of landscaping your imagination can help you say “Okay, I was imagining the coffee cup being here, but in reality, it’s in my character’s hand.” It’s important to reassess your images somewhere along your drafting to ensure clarity. I began practising this as a poet when I realized that my most common critiques were about clarifying the world I was building.

And yes, sometimes this can be very hard to do as an experimental poet or someone who works with a lot of abstractions. When in reality, mapping out even the most complicated or seemingly out-of-the-box images is important in grounding them for your reader. It’s easy to get lost in your head and say that you can see this image so clearly, but you have to step back and make sure it’s clear for your audience. Working backwards can be helpful too. If you feel like you’ve piled up your descriptions or haven’t yet focused in on a few fine details, try to draw out exactly what you’ve written on the page.

However, if drawing is not your forte, collages may be your thing. Although it isn’t always easy to collage what you’ve already written, you may find it equally instrumental to try. The difficulty in collaging, digitally and physically, is finding the most accurate source material to convey your image. Don’t be afraid to completely disrupt your original image. Craft a countryside landscape, save a clipping of a travel destination or model that inspires you, or even build a house from individual magazine clippings if you feel so inclined. Whatever helps you create your most coherent image.

Lastly, don’t follow the rules. None of these tips are concrete. If you find that you’re more productive when writing still life or cutting up your lines to reorganize them, do that! Sometimes I photograph the actions or poses I’m writing to give me an immediate reference. Whatever makes your image as it’s intended to be in your head.

Jordan Blanchard