Fiction Writer’s Toolshed | Practical Tools for Authors
I want to help you with the actual fiction you’re working on -- for free.
Maybe you’re stuck on a particular scene. Maybe you don’t know where to start. Maybe you’re brand new to fiction writing and this is the first thing you’ve stumbled upon. Whatever you’re trying to turn into finished fiction, tell me where you’re getting stuck.
Here’s the exchange up front: subscribe to Unstoppable Maker, and let me share some useful portion of the advice so other writers can learn from it too. We’ll agree on what I can share. You can remain anonymous, and your story’s details can stay private.
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Fiction Writer’s Toolshed
Free Fiction Writing Help: Let’s Work Through Your Writing Problem | ep 033
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Why I want to work through your writing problem
Since this show started, I’ve been looking closely at what I actually do when I write. When something isn’t working, what do I try? When I find a way through, how did I get there? Can I explain it well enough to use it again and share it with someone else?
A lot of my process used to be intuition: stumbling through, making mistakes, fixing things and trying again. There’s still a place for that. But to make more of the fiction living in my mind and heart, I needed to understand my own process better.
So I’ve been paying attention and making notes. Sometimes that’s a voice memo. Sometimes it’s a note on my phone, a few phrases in brackets or a placeholder I can come back to. Over time, those notes have become a substantial collection of tools.
They’re at different stages of being ready for another writer to use. This is my current best approach: what I think works right now, given what I know right now. Working with your fiction gives me a chance to find out what I’ve missed.
My own writing can hide the gaps in a tool
When I use a tool on my own work, I already know the shorthand. I know the story I’m trying to tell. There may be little decisions I make without explaining them because they’ve become familiar.
You might need an explanation I haven’t thought to give. A tool might do something different for you, reveal a blind spot or turn out not to be useful in that situation. You might also find a benefit or another use I hadn’t noticed.
That’s useful information. It helps me understand the tools and make them more useful for someone else. I think that can make them more useful for me too.
What I want you to get in return is someone looking intentionally at your exact situation: asking questions, trying to understand what’s happening and helping you find something you could do next. You get specific help with your fiction. I get to test and refine the tools through real use.
We’ll agree on what can be shared
Some useful portion of the help needs to become something I can share publicly. It might appear in the newsletter, a future episode or something on the website.
I think there’s particular value in seeing advice applied to a real problem. If you try it and tell me what happened, we have more to learn from than a piece of general advice on its own.
That doesn’t mean giving away your story. We’ll agree on the boundaries. You can keep your name, premise, plot and characters private.
For example, I might talk in general terms about helping a fellow writer with a naming problem for a fantasy army. I can explain the problem and the tool without revealing the exact project. Or perhaps you’d like your name and project mentioned. We can talk about that too.
How to start the conversation
Subscribe to Unstoppable Maker, then reply to the welcome email with what you’re trying to do or where you’re getting stuck.
You don’t need a polished explanation. Tell me enough to start a conversation. I’d rather we take imperfect action than wait to make that first email perfect.
We may go back and forth. I’ll probably have questions. I might ask to see a short sample so I can understand what you mean. Every case is going to be different, as it should be.
The newsletter itself brings you one useful writing tool each week: something focused that you can take back to your fiction. I want you to be able to reply, and I want there to be a conversation.
If you’re already subscribed
This invitation includes you too. You don’t need to sign up again. When you receive the invitation, reply with the writing problem you want to work through.
If you signed up and didn’t hear from me, I owe you an apology. I wasn’t getting the notifications, and I assumed nobody was waiting. I dropped that ball, and I’m sorry.
What I can make time for
This doesn’t cost money. I’m asking you to subscribe to the newsletter and agree on a useful portion of the advice I can share. You get help with what you’re making, I get help developing the tools, and other writers can learn from what comes out of it.
I haven’t put an expiration date on the invitation. I intend to keep doing this while I can responsibly fit it around the other work commitments I need to honor.
I can’t promise a particular turnaround. I’ll try to be reasonable and fair. If it grows beyond what I can manage, I’ll be open about that.
If there’s something in your fiction you want help with, let’s talk about it. Subscribe, reply to the welcome email and tell me where you’re getting stuck. We’ll start there.
A Make Existian toast
May you slay false perfection, the old foe of done.
May you make all you dream of, and let making be fun.
And may you count who can make what you make -- only one.
Sláinte.
Connected Episodes
- 6 Elemental Pieces of Mastering Fiction Writing -- Part 1 -- If you’re not sure what kind of writing problem you have, this gives you six places to look.
- The Creation Funnel, Part 1: 8 Stages of Making Anything -- A map for figuring out where you are in a project and what that stage needs from you.
- Writer’s Block Solution (That Actually Works) -- A specific example of the kind of tool I mean: put a provisional answer on the page so you have something to examine.
Links for this episode
- Unstoppable Maker -- Sign up here, then reply to the welcome invitation with the fiction-writing problem you want help with.
Fiction Writer’s Toolshed: Practical Tools for Authors is a Make Exist podcast hosted by Tim Kearney. It offers hands-on training for fiction writers to diagnose writing problems, build their skills and finish more work.