Kristina McBride shared in her presentation that she often turns to iStockPhoto for inspiration. A few nights ago I played a little with the site. It has a nice search feature and tons images. Here are eight images that have helped me gain a clearer understanding of the story beginning to swirl in my mind.

Photos from iStockphoto intended to help me get to know the story.

It’s fascinating to me the way a story world can be built. I’ve noticed I take a lot of time allowing the characters and setting to take root in my mind. I like to have a strong understanding of the characters before I begin drafting. However, there are things that are only revealed through the act of writing, leaving a delicate balance between getting to know characters and the story world and settling in to draft the story.

How do I know when it’s time to begin drafting? I’m not sure, exactly. I suppose my fingers start itching to type and the characters’ voices start getting louder. I move from lists and sketches and collections in my notebook to writing scenes and the scenes start filling several pages. It is then I know it is time to start drafting.

Currently I’m playing with this new story world. I’m discovering the things I need to know in order to draft well. I’m also revising the ending to my first YA story and preparing the query letter, which I intend to have prepared to go after the holiday. I don’t want to start a new draft and fully immerse myself in a new world until I’ve finished revising the ending on the story I want to query with. After that, it’ll be nice to have my focus and energy on something besides waiting for a query response.

(Link Love Notes: You can download a comp with a watermark for free to use as inspiration, however, if you are going to use the image for publication purposes then you’ll need to purchase it using credits on iStockPhoto. I’ve spent the last hour searching for instruction about citing these images and have come to the understanding that if I’m using the image in a final product then I must purchase it and give credit. This is not intended as a final product, simply a way to jump start creative juices and get a stronger understanding of my characters, their lives, and the setting of a novel.)