The Story Scrapbook

Whether you like to cut and paste paper or you prefer Pinterest, a story scrapbook is a useful tool to make your descriptions come alive. 

Suggestions for content include: 

1) Images of people for your characters. 

Sources: Store catalogs, advertisements, photos of famous people, national geographic articles, model agencies, acting agencies, or stock photo websites.

2) Images of personal possessions.

Sources: Sales fliers and magazines, jewelry and luxury item advertisements, and online stores.

3) Images of clothing and costumes.

Sources: Clothing catalogs or advertisements, drawings of historic costumes, shoe catalogs, historic photographs, and magazines.

4) Images of rooms and decor.

Sources: Home and Garden magazines, architectural digests, furniture catalogs or store ads, paintings, photos of houses in a neighborhood, hotel or resort brochures, and websites of homes for sale, or historical homes that allow visitors.

5) Images of outdoor settings.

Sources: Tourist brochures, National Geographic Traveler, Google maps, local magazines, city guides, vacation photos, and visitor’s websites.

6) Images of modes of transportation, airport, bus, cab, or ship terminals and/or airplane, bus, cab, and boat interiors.

Sources: Airline magazines, travel brochures, boating and leisure magazines, and service provider’s websites.

7) Images of automobiles.

Sources: Car ads, car company websites and brochures, custom and collector car sites, transportation archival photos, and car show ads or brochures for historical cars.

8) Images of weapons.

Sources: Gun catalogs, gun show advertisements, firing range advertisements, military history sites, or other gun related websites.

9) Images of animals (pets or wild),

Sources: National Geographic, pet books, pet product advertisements, pet stores, breeding groups’ websites, pet shows, zoos, and stock photo websites.

10) Tools of various trades.

Sources: How to manuals, professional websites, sales ads, tool catalogs, installation instructions, and provider websites.

You can use a binder, a computer folder, or a virtual pin board. Having images to reference makes coming up with fresh descriptions for your story fun and easy.