Book-Writer
The orchestration layer for book-scale writing. A book is not one doc — the skill organizes a project around the units that actually exist.
Install
npx skills add github:travsteward/openwriter --skill book-writerThe method
- Chapter architecture — per-chapter beat sheets, scene/science splits, cold opens, callbacks
- Beats methodology — each beat is a self-contained 400–800 word unit; the book is an assembly of beats, not a stretched outline
- Workspace management — containers for chapters, research notes, beat versions, vignettes, and a decisions log
- Book mode — whole-project context loaded at session start: TOC, voice spec, decisions log, working chapter
Fiction or nonfiction
The same SHAPE primitives work for both:
| Nonfiction | Fiction | |
|---|---|---|
| Chapter | Argument arc | Scene sequence with a stakes shift |
| Beat | Self-contained claim with evidence | Scene with concrete sensory anchors |
| Extras | Research notes per chapter | Vignette library for short-form material |
Pairs with
- Author’s Voice owns voice — every paragraph entering the manuscript runs through the anchor system. Book-Writer never writes prose itself.
- The editor is the surface — chapter docs, pending changes, and version snapshots live in OpenWriter as plain markdown.