writing in scrivener – Read First Chapter.com

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.

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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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