How Scrivener Makes Ohlen's Bane Possible

As I have mentioned on this blog and on The Ardent Scribe, Scrivener has proven to be a wonderful tool for my writing and creative productivity. It's not about putting words to electronic paper -- a basic text editor can do that -- it's about organizing and maintaining that text as the process unfolds.

My second book, Ohlen's Bane, is possible because I am using Scrivener.

I started out with a plot event list. This is basically a list of sentences, each describing a specific scene in the book, in chronological order of how they will appear in the book. Once that is done, I begin my work in Scrivener.

I create a new scene, or text card, for each sentence. The scene title is 2-5 words describing what happens, and the full sentence I created in my plot event list goes into the card description. I drag and drop those scenes into roughly equal length chapters.

In the research section of Scrivener, I create cards for each named character in the book that describes their physical characteristics, personality and background. I also create a page of place names and yet another filled with randomly created names that I may grab from as new bit players turn up in my story.

Once Scrivener is pre-loaded with all of my research and scenes, I fire the trigger and begin writing.

Ohlen's Bane started off somewhat slowly. I wrote the first six chapters, about 10,000 words, and then read over what I'd written. It dragged. I found myself growing impatient for the good stuff to start happening. Thanks to Scrivener, I was able to drag and drop scenes to rearrange their order. I scrapped entire scenes -- not by deleting them, but by putting them into a Scrap chapter. This gave me recourse in case I found a use for them later on, or even just to grab fragments of scenes.

After paring it down and reorganizing scenes into a better order, I was able to start cranking away again. Now that my story found a good rhythm, thanks to Scrivener's ability to keep my book organized, I was then able to crank out 12,000 words in a single weekend.

When I finish one scene, I open up the text card for the next. Since it has a brief 2-3 sentence description of what happens, I am up to speed on what happens next and can bang it out in record time.

Scrivener really is a brilliant piece of software, and I don't think I'd ever get my second book written without it.

Be Willing to Kill Your Babies

When I was in high school, typing was a required course. We used IBM Selectric typewriters rather than computers. By the end of the one-semester course, I was the fastest in my class, banging out 90 error-free words per minute. It was the most useful thing I learned in high school.

Since moving to computers, I can edit as I type. I still type close to 90 wpm, but thanks to the backspace key, I type backwards even faster ... clickity clickity clickity WHACK WHACK WHACK clickity clickity clickity, etc.

Where am I going with this?

I'm working on my second book, the sequel to Ohlen's Arrow, tentatively entitled Ohlen's Bane. The first weekend I worked on it, I cranked out over 12,000 words. I typed a lot. Since then, my word count is up to 15,000. I decided to read over what I had so far, and although it was interesting, it wasn't engaging.

The last thing I want is for my book to require the reader suffer through to the fifth chapter before anything good happens. One of the things going for Ohlen's Arrow was its pace. It started with action and maintained an engaging level of action with few pauses throughout the story.

I am now killing my babies. As I read through my first four chapters, I am looking for sections that can be rearranged to maintain a better pace. I'm also looking for sections that aren't important at all. When I find them, I kill them. I'm not tied to the words I created. I can remove them and write new ones, better ones. The story also has sections that take far too long to get across what can be conveyed either indirectly or simply.

Because of my technical background, I tend to be rather verbose in my descriptions. I am learning to adopt a more compact and dense writing style, conveying an equal or greater amount of information in fewer words.

My goal is to write 100,000 words for Ohlen's Bane. I'll probably write more than that, because I know that during the revision and editing phase of the project, I'll be whacking the backspace key a lot more than any other.

I am willing to kill my babies.

NaNoWriMo and Ohlen's Bane

November is National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo. The goal is to write 50,000 words in 30 days. I had already begun writing my new novel, Ohlen's Bane, at the tail end of October, a process that included brainstorming and then creation of a plot event list. I set up Scrivener to have proper chapters and scenes based on that plot event list and had even begun writing Chapter 1.

Now that November and NaNoWriMo has come along, the timing is perfect for keeping me motivated. Over this past weekend I cranked out over 12,000 words on Ohlen's Bane and am now neck-deep in Chapter 4.

I set up Scrivener to have a project goal of 100,000 words, and a session goal of 3,000 words. It's very rewarding to see that 3,000 word goal whoosh by with tons of creativity and energy left in me. I think 50,000 words by November 30th is a very achievable goal.

Announcing Ohlen's Bane

I have begun writing the sequel to Ohlen's Arrow and have tentatively titled the new book Ohlen's Bane.

For the observant among you, you'll notice the A-B sequence between titles. This is intentional, but 'Bane' is not mere alphabetical coincidence, it is very apropos to the story.

Although I won't give away any spoilers, I can tell you that Ohlen and his friends will face the biggest challenge of their lives in this second book of the series.

Series? Does that mean there will be perhaps a third book, making it a trilogy? Honestly, I don't know. It's possible, though. Stay tuned.

Search for editor and cover designer for book 2

UPDATE 11-14-2013: I have hired an editor for Ohlen's Bane, but am still seeking a cover designer.

I have begun the process of creating the sequel to Ohlen's Arrow, and part of that effort involves interviewing editors and cover designers.

When writing Ohlen's Arrow, my first novel, I engaged the services of two different editors. Both contributed to the process but there were some lessons learned along the way. On this second book, I intend to make the selection process a bit more formal, with an actual interview and trial edit. The editors I hired for my first book were individuals that I already knew on a personal level, which by itself isn't inherently bad but it did introduce a few complications, including the fact that one of the editors wasn't professionally qualified.

The graphic designer I hired for the first book was talented and a joy to work with, but she had no cover design experience. Furthermore, she has opted to get out of graphic design for a while to spend more time with her newborn son. She's not available to work on the second book, so I need to find someone knew.

Reviews of Ohlen's Arrow from Amazon.com

I would like to quote the following reviews of Ohlen's Arrow, posted to Amazon.com:

"I enjoyed taking this journey with Ohlen and his friends. The balance between action and character development was perfect and the story was easy to follow. That can't always be said of a book in this genre and as a reader, I appreciate it. I'm happy to hear the author has begun the sequel, and I'm anxious to find out what's next for our hero."

"I was waffling on how many stars to rate this work. Since this was Mr. Williamson's first publication I decided to round it up to a 5 because I think his book is a great read and rounding down meant taking away a well deserved extra 1/2 a star which seemed wrong. His characters felt true to themselves and their environment. Their interactions were complex but fresh and not contrived. Mechanically it is a good story but it was the character development that made this first book such a great read. Most writers do not have Mr. Williamson's dexterity at crafting such realistic characters. I do not think this is the end for Ohlen and his friends. I look forward to seeing where Mr. Williamson takes this group next - especially my favorite character the one we last checked in on before the story closed - talk about a delightfully complex character construct."

Excerpt from Chapter 10, "The Dead Man Speaks"

As Merrick Stonehorn stood in the back of the crowd gathered in the courtyard, he watched Hadrick Burgoyne emerge onto the wooden dais erected before the Keep's main entrance. An entourage of sycophantic advisers and attendants surrounded the fat, grey-haired man whose clothes were needlessly regal beyond the occasion. Despite Burgoyne's physical size, Merrick considered him to be the smallest man he'd ever met.

The ruler began speaking to the assembled crowd – it was a monthly ritual. His speeches were flowery and puffed up civic decrees that had little substance but were intended to remind the citizenry that he was still in charge.

Merrick sensed someone was watching him. A short, wiry man with brown, expressionless eyes emerged from behind a food vendor's cart, stood next to the giant innkeeper, and said, "His speech is especially interesting today, don't you think?"


Both men kept their eyes toward the fat man on the dais as they conversed. The big man shrugged his shoulders and said, "'Interesting' isn't the word I would choose."


Rinn discretely glanced around to make sure no one was within earshot. "I'd say he's doing a good job for a dead man."


"I don't like the guy, but that doesn't mean I want to see him dead."

"Too late."

Merrick gazed nonchalantly toward the shorter man standing next to him. He caught a glimpse of a rare smile from the rogue.

"We need to talk. You know where," Rinn muttered before fading back and disappearing amongst the vendor carts.