In part one of this discussion, we looked at why a writer needs a website even if he or she is unpublished. You’ve hopefully answered two basic question: the purpose of your website and who you hope will visit. Now we’re going to discuss storyboarding, which I think is a great writing tool.
Storyboarding and Websites
While storyboarding is traditionally associated with films, it is also popular in the world of web design. Just think of storyboarding as a management tool that facilitates the creative thinking process and you’ll see why it’s useful in a variety of endeavors. Its primary appeal is that it allows for thoughts to be captured on paper (and writers love paper, right?), which can be spread out as one works on a project. For a writer, this can mean using lists, graphs, boxes with text, images, or illustrations.
You don’t need to be an artist–believe me I’m not one–to storyboard. All you need is paper, pencil, and imagination to determine the content of your website. To keep things simple, use boxes to represent the webpages. The top box represents your home page while the next level of boxes represent the pages you plan to include in your basic navigation bar.
A quick note, I’m in the process of updating my website, and this storyboard reflects changes I’m making in the layout.
Basic Storyboard Navigation Bar
The example above shows my basic line up. When a visitor arrives at my home page, they have several choices on the navigation bar if they want to go deeper into the site. I chose to put Books first on the menu. If the visitor clicks here on my in-progress website, a drop down menu from Books will link the visitor to the different categories of books I write.
While I’m not the most prolific writer in the world, I do have a selection of novels, short stories, as well as three nonfiction books. Since I want to promote and sell them, Books is an important navigation item for me. This is where readers can go to read about my books and hopefully buy them.
For Readers is next on the nav bar. This is a behind the scenes web page about my books as well as some personal insights. I also periodically offer a free short story for readers.
Writers who read my writing skills books, She Sat, He Stood and She Said, He Said can click on For Writers to access the web page with links to the PDFs referenced in these books. There are also other free PDFs filled with information for writers.
In case visitors are wondering about who I am, I have a bio page with a photo of me, a biography, and some fun facts. The Contact Me link finishes off my top nav bar choices.
In the revised website, I plan to streamline my submenu choices. My current site has almost every project listed on its own page for visitors who want a deeper dive into the books. Rather than list every book on a separate page, I plan to group the books into categories with titles, cover images, and blurbs. And of course, links to the various book distributors.
My goal is to create a streamlined experience for visitors. For this rendition of the website, Books will end up having a drop down menu with four pages instead of eleven. (I'm only showing two!)
Unpublished? Not to Worry
If you aren’t published yet or perhaps have only one book to showcase, don’t worry. You can look at other sources for images that reflect the purpose of your content. Stock photos are useful and depending on the source, you may only need to credit the photographer.
Perhaps you’re sharing an excerpt of your current work in progress and it’s set on an island in the Caribbean. Depending on what you find, you can always add an image of a topical island or even clip art of a beach umbrella. It isn’t difficult to give your content a little image boost.
One last word of advice, in today’s fast-paced world, it’s always good to keep your website easy to navigate. Going mobile years ago certainly influenced me into trimming my content. I like to think I have an attractive, easy-to-navigate website. More importantly, I doubt a visitor has any problem figuring out who I am or what’s available on the website.
