COVER TO COVER: Collaging

They say a picture paints a thousand words...
would be nice if my collage could add the odd thousands words or so to my current WIP!

So, I have my characters and my plot (divorced city girl heroine and workaholic financier hero looking for a seachange), and in order to bring the story alive for me I decided to collage it, which involved looking for specific pictures to capture the essence of both the characters and the story.
The city of Melbourne, the cappucino, the wine, the chocolate and the cafe all belong to Camryn, while the pick-up truck, the hammock, the sneakers and the bed with the killer ocean view are all Blane.
What do you think? Does it evoke the mood of the book from the brief description I've given?

This is my 4th attempt at collaging and I tend to like matching pictures to the story though I find an odd picture leaping out at me as I search and, lo and behold, that picture often finds its way into the story. Collaging doesn't have to be done this way though, and can involve sitting down, selecting random pictures, pasting them together and creating a story from there!

For a full run down on collaging, check out the interview on my website with Barbara Hannay, who conducted a workshop on this topic at a RWAus. conference. There's also loads of fab collaging info on Jenny Crusie's website (who likes to collage on computer too. Check under her notes for the Aussie conference.)

So get cutting and pasting. It's loads of fun!

The end...not quite!

As far as word counts, I find I'm usually just on the mark. Rarely do I go over which is why PICTURE PERFECT is proving to be such a surprise for me.

Last night, I hit the 60000 word mark, which would usually do me. However, my characters have loads more to say, an absolute first for me! I'm hoping to wind them up tonight before letting them rest and getting into the editing process.

Ally Blake has an amazing talent for writing over word count then doing slashing afterwards. I find it so hard to cut words that I hope I don't go too far over. Otherwise I'll be sending an SOS Ally's way!

So why the gorgeous island pic?

Because for this book I made another lovely collage but haven't used it half as much as the sheikh book, yet the words flowed anyway. Interesting?

That said, the collage gives me a really good feel for the story which I find important in the revising process, so maybe I'll get to stare at it a while longer. The weird thing is I loved my first collage so much I still haven't taken it down! So my entire pinboard is taken up with both collages. Then again, I haven't had revisions for the sheikh book yet so the collage might get another good workout yet.