Many artists know what a mood board is. However, not every writer uses one. I personally am not a very visual person. I prefer concepts and rely heavily on personal experiences to create my stories.
If you happen to be a visual person who relies heavily on visual inspiration like my dear co-writer Aina Wang, perhaps you'd like to look at using mood boards for writers. It is a good way to get creative ideas flowing while creating your fictional world.
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Above is an example of Aina's mood board. She is a rather free-spirited person with the strangest requirements for details as seen above. It's not included here but I think Aina has drawn somewhere the floor layout of the actual hideout that the characters were held in. She had measurements done for a lot so that's a very typical Aina thing to do. You don't have to be as detailed as her when doing up a mood board.
#1: What can Mood Boards be used for?
Firstly, mood boards are used for compiling various kinds of unclassified information in a huge info dump for you to sort through later. Most people have difficulty finding a place to start a huge project or write a chapter on a blank page. Mood Boards help you to filter through things after dumping what you like in them and sorting them out as you streamline the shape of your character or world.
#2: What platforms should I use to create my Mood Board?
I personally don't recommend spending a pretty buck on something you use only once a year. However, I'd say that there have been many positive reviews on Milanote which is a customised writer mood board software. Most writers who own Scrivener do it on Scrivener and if you own Manuskript, it works just as well. Canva is a great alternative and it is also free.
If you don't own any specialised software, stick to the good old-fashioned PowerPoint or Google slides. Aina did hers on Google slides and it worked perfectly well for our collaboration.
#3: Where can I find inspiration sources for my Mood Board?
Google images is obviously the easiest source. You don't really need copyright to collate ideas into a Mood Board as it isn't for commercial uses. If you prefer images with aesthetic tags, Pinterest and Instagram could be your thing. You can find inspiration from just about anywhere.
Do note that not all Mood Boards need to be filled with only images. You can also add flow charts, bar graphs and even calculators if you require. I do that enough for my system novels. I prefer writing excerpts in my planning stages so you don't have to keep it strictly a mood board. I cross my Mood Board on Scrivener with my outlining and character profiling. It can get a little messy for outsiders but it works perfectly for me.
That's an example of my outlining + mood board + character profile on Scrivener for Godfather World.
In conclusion...
Putting together a mood board can be simpler than you think. However, once you're done, the true battle begins. Check out my Free E-Course for the full writing tips and creation flow advice!
Do let me know if there are topics you'd like me to cover that have not already been mentioned in my blogs.