writing in scrivener – Read First Chapter.com

Writing in Layers – Layer 5 – Peek at Author’s workflow

This blog post will be a peek behind the author workflow in Layer 5 of my Novel Writing in Layers Series. I am writing Book 6, Majestic Landings, in my police procedural series, Jack Nolan Detective Series.

Let me set the table, so to speak, about where I am in the book right now. I just finished Layer 4 which is the Down and Dirty First Draft, which I believe is the hardest layer to write.

BEGINNING LAYER 5

Above is a snapshot of the book as it now exists in Scrivener, which is the program I write Layers 1 to 6 in. I have gone ahead and filled in a few of the scenes so that I can explain to you what I do in Layer 5.

ON THE LEFT SIDE IS THE BINDER: The top folder is called draft, which is a default in Scrivener. Each sub-document is one scene in the novel. I also add in a few blank documents between Parts 1, 2, 3 and 4, so I can see how the story action is balancing inside the plot structure.

IN THE CENTER PANEL: This is where I write the scenes.

ON THE RIGHT SIDE IS THE INSPECTOR WINDOW: This section allows you to add a scene synopsis on another tab, but above, I have captured what it looks like on the Metadata Section.

WHAT HAPPENS IN LAYER 5?

This is my first layer of proofreading. I only focus on the following things in this layer of writing.

1. Making sure the scenes line up and flow smoothing and fill in the Synopsis box if I forgot to do it in Layer 4. I have a snapshot of the Synopsis box to the right or below. This allows me to look at my work in the Outline Mode where I can see the novel from a bird's eye view.

Since it's in the photograph here, I will also mention that I copy my scene outlines and paste them into the Notes section in case I want to review them.

2. I enter all of the character descriptions and location descriptions in this layer too.

3. I also check on the crime and investigation timeline as well as the novel timeline.

3A: The crime timeline I track with the metadata, which I will mention again below. I also use the Scrivener Highlighter to set off anything that references the crime timeline. This way, towards the end of this layer, if I decided to tighten up the timeline or find out I need a little extra time, it is very easy to quickly scroll through the novel and find any references to the timeline easily.

3B: All novels have a timeline too. A crime novel is usually a day to several weeks; whereas Gone with the Wind cover years and years. In each scene, I start with a little template referencing the point of view, the time/location and the clues/purpose.

As stated above, I read through the scenes, making sure that the last scene flows into the next scene. For example: If my detectives 'get into the car to return to the station,' I make sure I'm not referencing where they were before they got into the car, and stating again that they are entering the car.

I also watch my novel timeline to make sure the timing in the day is lining up with what's possible for human beings. In my humble opinion, authors have a lot of leeway to stretch the day, if needed, but if we go overboard, at some point, it pulls the reader's mind out of the book when they realize there's too much activity for one day as humans. By keeping an eye on the novel timeline, this prevents me from stretching a little too much.

THE METADATA - HOW AND WHY TO ADD CUSTOM META DATA.

Some authors probably don't use the metadata section and that's fine. But I like to look at the novel in the Outline Mode and this is where the custom metadata comes into play.

Every novel is different, so I am focusing on different things in each one. In this novel, there are multiple suspects, all of whom have shaky alibis, so the crime timeline and some other things are very important. So in this novel, I created metadata sections as follows:

Major Event - What happens in the scene
Technical information - Names, addresses, where body was found, first witness, etc.
Clues dropped - Chronological list of clues that drop
Time Line of the Crime - Time of death, time body was found, etc.
Relationships - Romantic Subplot and Character Arcs

WHAT'S NEXT IN LAYER 5?

Once I proofread all the way through, add in the descriptions, and my meta data, then I want to look at certain things to check on myself. I can set up the Outline Mode so I can see the Synopsis, the Clues, and the Crime Timeline side by side. I will post a picture below.

I can then look closely to make sure I don't mention a lab report that hasn't been delivered. Or one of the suspects is mentioned before anyone points them out, things like this.

I can see the chronology of the clues that have dropped to make sure that they are chronologically correct. I'm sure you get the drift.

My color scheme in Scrivener may make some of these things hard to see, so I have posted the Custom Metadata diagram below so you can see where things go and what the icons look like.

After looking at the various meta data in this bird's eye view setup, I'm ready to enter Layer 6, which is another round of proofreading; and again, I only focus on a few things.

I have done a short video about this in case you want to see me go over it inside Scrivener. There is a bit more information here for beginners, but it's good to watch it live too.

Be sure to check back to see another Live Peek Behind Layer 6! Be aware that I am not proclaiming myself as an expert novelist or the knower of all things. However, I used to search all the time for authors' workflow, but nothing ever showed up. I believe I could have advanced a lot faster if I had tips from more season's authors and that's my purpose here.

By seeing how one author does things, you may only take away one tip that will help you in the system you already use. I hope this blog post helps!

Writing a Novel in 8 Layers – Work Flow Demonstration

HOW TO VS. WORK FLOW DEMONSTRATION:

There are many blog posts and videos on the internet about how to write a novel. Much of the advice is general in nature and only broad-stroke tips. This video seeks to go one step further and open my last book, which is still being proofread in Layer 8, and show a work-flow demonstration.

WRITING TIPS AS AN APPLIED SCIENCE:

Many of the tips that I came upon when I first started writing were great but I didn't know how to apply them. Many techniques require a second phase of 'how to apply this advice'. This is most times missing from the how-to blogs and videos.

THIS IS THE VIDEO I WISH I HAD WHEN I STARTED WRITING:

I am not holding myself out as an authority on writing or even writing techniques. The purpose of this video is to show one work flow that other newbie writers can see that will hopefully help them see the theories in these how-to videos and blog posts in action. That's my purpose here.

WRITING IN 8 LAYERS:

I am in the process of finishing my 14th novel. I started out like many of you as a self-taught author who took in unorganized, uncurricularized information and had to make sense of it all. I devised this 8 Layer system to try to write a novel as efficiently as was possible. I offer it to you for whatever weight you wish to give it.

VIDEO 1 - Layers 1 to 6

In Video 1, I go into the process of coming up with a broad-stroke storyline that you know you can use as a story spine. Presently I use FreeMind.com software; it's free and it's easy to use. I go into a little detail about this, but I have other blog posts and videos on my YouTube Channel where I go into more depth about how I do this.

Then I go into Scrivener for Layer 2 through Layer 6. I demonstration what happens in each layer and I try to give beginner tips in each layer to further help the newbie.

VIDEO 2 - Layers 7 & 8 - in Microsoft Word

In the second video, I go into Microsoft Word and complete Layers 7 and 8. I believe by seeing this behind-the-scenes look at a real novel, it will encourage newbies who may be struggling with the actual work flow of writing a novel. I hope you enjoy it.

Be sure to join my newsletter for book promotions, free books, movie reviews from a writer's perspective and some other goodies I will share along the way.

Using Scrivener to Write a Novel

WHY SCRIVENER AND NOT JUST MICROSOFT WORD?

I have published a couple of craft books through the years as publishing on Amazon KDP is pretty easy. Craft books are mostly pictures with instructions and you really don't "need" Scrivener to write a craft book.

The only organizing you need to do in a craft book is to make sure you cover all of the instructions in chronological order, have a list of supplies and take high resolution pictures and file them where you can find them during the writing of the book.

I wrote three of these books in Microsoft Word and it worked very well. But what about fiction?

Fiction is a whole different animal. There is no chronology in fiction. Even in true crime, you have to decide how you will lay out the chronology of the crime attempting to create the most mystery and suspense as you can. So this requires a high level of organization.

SCRIVENER FEATURES THAT HELP NEWBIE WRITERS:

After seeing my first YouTube video on the software called Scrivener, I knew this was what I needed in order to even think about writing fiction. Looking at the layout above, on the left side, you can name your scenes first and this gives you a birds-eye view of the chronology of your story, where the story beats are, where you are in Act 1, Act 2 and Act 3.

The center pane is where you write the actual manuscript draft.

The upper section of the right-hand side is where I put my Scene Summaries using this format:

Scene 1 - POV - Character Name
TIME/LOCATION: 9am - In Character's Office/Home, etc.
PURPOSE/CLUES DROPPED:
1. List clues dropped
2. List what happens in the particular scene
3. Write down the purpose of the scene.

Custom Meta Data - Scrivener allows you to set your own Custom Meta Data entries and I use the following:
~ Notes: This one is automatic in Scrivener so I use this area for any notes I need to write to myself.

~ Story Element: is where I put things like opening hook, or inciting incident, or first pinch point, or any other dramatic or mystery notation that is crucial to follow the story.

~ Emotions: I added this one so that after the manuscript gets large enough, you can lose track of where the reader is emotionally, so I like to put things like mystery, or main clue, any words that will let me know that this is a sort of marker in the story.

~ Character arc: Before beginning, I usually know where the characters will be going in their emotional or personal growth and I keep track of this arc throughout the scenes by referencing it in this section.

~ Relationship interplay: This section I use to add the names of the characters an who is relating to who. This way, towards the end of the first draft, I can look at the entire novel in outline format and see how often each of the characters are in the story. This prevents you from overdoing it on some characters and making sure you don't leave anyone out. It gives a great birds-eye-view of the story when you are finishing the first draft.

~ Research needed: This section is where I make notes to myself about research I need to do in order to check facts or find out the legalities of something, anything I need to check. Again, I can see everything I need to do or look up by putting the story in outline format.

Writing A Novel in Scrivener

I speak from experience. Thinking ahead to my retirement in another three years, I began thinking about spending my time writing Christian and Catholic-friendly novels as I love to read books by other authors in his genre. I had some idea of what writing a novel would take, but never having studied writing in any detailed way, my first obstacle was where to begin. I was stuck at this spot for awhile and stayed there until I found a writing program called Scrivener.

I "thought about" writing for at least a year but the first hurdle was the biggest => Where to begin? How to even organize my thoughts? Should I write in Word? I couldn't figure out how I could organize or keep track of anything.

Finally, in watching some other "new author" videos on YouTube, several of them were talking about writing in Scrivener, a relatively inexpensive writing tool that was designed specifically for writers. After checking it out, I was sold in less than 10 minutes.

WHY DID SCRIVENER HELP ME OVER THE FIRST HURDLE?

Scrivener is a simple but brilliant program that is designed for writers. It allows you a birds-eye view at all times. You keep your chapters or dates on the left hand side, you write in the middle, and you can outline, add keywords, research notes, reminders, and anything else you find helps you on the right hand side.

It can also be used to help you write and organize a blog website, really anything.

SMALL LEARNING CURVE:

Scrivener is one of these programs that is very comprehensive, but there is not a HUGE learning curve as with programs like Photoshop or Premier Pro Video Software, programs like this. You can get up and running with Scrivener by watching a few ‘how to’ videos that other authors and writers are kind enough to make.

WHAT NOT TO DO:

Once I watched about 10 videos about getting started, I got lost in trying to find a template that would work for me and this turned out to be a complete waste of time. I wound up working with one folder and just text documents that during the draft phase I named by Date and time (which as a new write I am/was obsessed with) and this way, I always knew what day I was in in the story line.

I also spent too long adding a fancy chapter ending that I wound up having to do and redo I can’t tell you how many times and it wound being all for naught. Chapter endings are things you should only worry about when getting ready to publish.

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