Canva—the app that has democratized graphic design—has had a well-deserved meteoric rise in popularity. We’ve already taught a masterclass on using Canva for authors inside The Write Gym, and you’ll probably see more Canva tutorials from Writer’s Atelier in the future!
And, my, how it’s grown! Canva was first the go-to for creating beautiful Instagram posts and YouTube thumbnails, but the app has since become a lightweight-yet-intuitive video editor and .GIF creator. Now it offers a new function: the whiteboard.
Initially, I thought this was just a new set of templates. That’s handy, sure, but I’ve never been afraid of creating my own templates or modifying existing ones to suit my purposes. What’s so special about this announcement?
The answer is, a lot!
- Allows for zooming way in and way out—perfect for adding nitty-gritty details without losing sight of your big picture
- Allows for real-time collaboration so you and your team of collaborators—whether they’re fellow authors working with you on a writing project, your editor and cover designer, or just your VA—can be on the same page, literally
- Can stay flexible or act as a space to house structured projects
- Offers all the benefits of brainstorming on a whiteboard in a conference room with your peers, digitally
Below are just eight of the infinite ways writers can take advantage of this new feature!
1. Brainstorming and Mindmapping
Favorite Templates: Brainstorm Whiteboard in Purple White Gray Basic Style and Healthy Lifestyle Mind Map Whiteboard in Yellow Brown Peach Circles Style
This was probably your first thought when you heard about this new feature. Some people are natural list-makers (this is where I’d raise my hand) and some people gravitate towards mind-mapping to organize their thoughts. And sometimes, it’s plain to see that you need to stray from your usual strategies to get the best outcomes!
If you haven’t given the sticky-notes-on-a-wall method of thinking a try—or maybe you have, and are concerned about the paper waste—these templates are a great option! And it’s, of course, made all the better by the fact that you can invite others to contribute to your brainstorming or review what you’ve come up with per Canva’s sharing functionalities.
2. To Do List or Kanban Board
Favorite Templates: To Do List Planning Whiteboard in Dark Blue Blue Grey Gradient Style and Kanban Board Whiteboard in Green and White Basic Style
After you’ve done all that thinkin’, you’ll need a place to put all those thoughts and action items. Enter: the to do list template. You know how to do lists work, right? Right.
Kanban boards are a little different. There are traditionally three categories items can fall under: to do, in progress, and done. Canva adds a fourth category: accepted. But you can absolutely change those categories for something a little more writery. How about outlined, drafted, revised, and edited? Or how about written, sent to editor, sent to formatter, and published?
3. Planning Your Writing Week
Favorite Template: Weekly Planner Planning Whiteboard in Grey Green Minimal Lines Style
I’m not here to sway you from using your favorite week-planning method. If you have a method that works for you, hold fast and never let it go!
Here’s where the “but” comes in: if you’re not working alone, a way to keep everyone aware of the timeline—and leave feedback about how it may need to be altered. As a bonus, if you—like me—spend a lot of your time on Canva creating graphics and PDFs and the like, you’ll know that Canva has both a website and an app, which means your planner will always be easy to access for you and your team.
If you have an interest in collaborative planning like this, you might also like Canva’s Gantt chart and monthly calendar templates!
4. Prioritizing Your WIPs
Favorite Template: 2×2 Prioritization Matrix Planning Whiteboard in Grey Black Simple Style
I have shared the clarity that can come from prioritizing writing projects before, but it bears repeating. Prioritizing your projects will help prevent that dreaded I should be working on something else feeling—or at least will make it easier to power through when you know you’ve thought ahead of time what the best way to spend your writing hours would be.
While I’ve blogged before about how useful the urgency-importance matrix can be for writers (plus made a freebie for you!), Canva’s template’s two axes are urgency and easiness. Obviously, you could change the axes to be whatever you like, but keeping them as they are isn’t a bad idea either. In fact, it reminds me of E.A. Deverell’s Idea Ranker, one of my all time favorite worksheets from her.
5. Defining Your Ideal Reader or Reader Avatar
Favorite Template: User Persona Planning Whiteboard in Dark Blue Grey Gradient Style
Who knew the corporate world could offer such a gift to creatives like us?
Imagining the type of person your product or service would attract and then catering your offering to that person is not a new marketing strategy. But if you’re a newer writer—or have only recently begun to transition your writing into a business—you may not have thought to imagine your ideal reader for your books. You can read about the benefits and best practices of doing so here.
6. Outlining Interactive Fiction
Favorite Templates: Flow Chart Whiteboard in Red Blue Basic Style and Decision Tree Flowchart Whiteboard in Grey Black Simple Style
You’ve fallen in love with the Choose Your Own Adventure kind of books. Or your new day job or side hustle is being a video game writer. Or maybe you’ve decided to try that Dorian app I keep talking about. Whatever your method of exposure, you may find yourself with a curiosity about writing—or an imperative to write—interactive fiction. Let me be the first to warn you that this can get very hairy, very quickly if you don’t have a way to trace your thinking. Branching plots are no joke!
Alternatively, you could use these templates to map out the logical conclusions of your character’s choices in straightforward, choice-less fiction, just to see what might be your character’s best or worst path.
7. Author or Series Brand Board
Favorite Templates: Campaign Launch Brainstorm Whiteboard in Yellow Blue Purple Trendy Style and Moodboard Whiteboard in Red Yellow Brainstorm Style
Nothing makes an author look more cohesive and appealing than nailing their branding across platforms. When you get serious about looking like a professional, readers and collaborators will treat you like a professional. But how do you go about documenting and sharing your author brand once you have it in your head?
Both of these templates have done so much of that heavy lifting for you! There are already spaces for making note of your colors and have a mini mood board, which you could populate with images of book covers you want your cover designer to emulate or “aesthetic” photos. There are also plenty of “sticky notes” you can add to make note of your fonts, quotes to keep in mind, and whatever else you want to capture.
(Psst! If you’re in the market for graphics and branding consultation, we offer that!)
8. Sitemap for Your Author Website
Favorite Template: Sitemap Whiteboard in Green Purple Basic Style
Have you created your author website yet? Or maybe you already have, but you’re not sure it’s the easiest thing to navigate in the world, or you’re wondering if it’s optimized for your target audience?
Creating a sitemap can help all those things! A sitemap is just what it sounds like—a map of your website, outlining how all your pages are connected. This can help in the website (re-)design process by helping you get clear on what you and your readers actually want and need on your site.
PS. You can (and probably should) submit your sitemap to Google to improve the chances of your website coming up when someone searches your name (or your book and series titles, or your pseudonym, or your small press, or whatever kind of name is applicable to you).
(Also, author websites? We do those.)
