Fiction Writer’s Toolshed | Practical Tools for Authors
You sit down to write. You have some pieces of the story, maybe even an ending you want, but you can’t make the next part feel right. Showing up hasn’t answered the question underneath it: is what I’m about to write going to work?
My current best approach to this kind of writer’s block is something I call story math. The pieces of the story aren’t adding up yet, and trying to solve them perfectly in my head can keep me from putting them on the page.
Here’s the tool: setup + build = payoff. Choose one part, write a provisional version even if it may be wrong, and give yourself something you can read and change.
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Fiction Writer’s Toolshed
Writer’s Block Solution (That Actually Works) | ep 018
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Showing up and getting unstuck are separate questions
You’ve probably heard the argument that a plumber doesn’t get plumber’s block or a carpenter doesn’t get carpenter’s block. They show up and do the work.
I understand the point about showing up. Most days, I do. But a writer can sit at the keyboard regularly and still struggle to move a story forward.
That’s the experience I’m interested in here. You’re present. You want to make something. The difficulty is that you don’t yet see how the things you’re planning will work together.
Showing up gives you an opportunity to write. A way to examine the story can help you use that opportunity.
What I mean by story math
Imagine that you have one piece of a story and another piece of a story. Together, they look like one plus one. But the thing you’re trying to make asks them to equal five.
Something feels wrong. You may know where you want to end up without knowing what would get you there. Or you may sense a problem before you can explain it.
In the episode, I describe this as your brain protecting you from a wrong answer. That’s my way of thinking about the experience, rather than an established explanation of what every blocked writer’s brain is doing.
The practical value is in the question it gives me: which pieces don’t fit yet? I can look for something to work on instead of treating the difficulty as proof that I’m lazy, broken, or waiting for a muse.
This is a lens for a story-development problem. It doesn’t need to explain every reason someone might find writing difficult to be useful in that situation.
Setup + build = payoff
I use three parts to think about the relationship:
Setup
You introduce things and ask the reader to pay attention to them. A situation, a character, a question, or a promise gives that attention somewhere to go.
Build
You spend more of the story developing those things. What happens, what changes, and what you keep asking the reader to consider shape their investment.
Payoff
The story delivers something through that investment. The ending, revelation, or emotional experience needs support from what you’ve asked the reader to follow.
This is the simple structure I’m using when I say X + Y = Z. It helps me think about what a story introduces, what it develops, and what those choices make possible.
Why an ending can feel unearned
As a reader, I’ve spent the story focusing on the things you put in front of me. That attention is an investment. When the ending arrives, I want its effect to make sense in relation to what came before.
If the payoff relies on something the story hasn’t supported, I can feel the mismatch. A twist may seem to come from nowhere. A character’s decision may feel wrong. The ending may not land.
That’s what I’m describing with story math. The plot and the promises aren’t supporting the payoff yet.
A payoff can surprise me and still feel earned. The question is whether the story has given that surprise something to stand on.
Start with one part of the equation
You may be thinking that you don’t know the setup, the build, or the payoff. You don’t have enough pieces to see an equation at all.
You can begin with one. Choose a setup that interests you, a piece of development you want to explore, or a payoff you want to work toward.
For the payoff, you can start with the experience you want the reader to leave with. In the episode, my example is warmth and found family. That gives you a direction before you know all the events that will create it.
Then start working backward or forward from the part you have. What might support that experience? What might grow out of this setup? Give yourself something specific to think about and make.
You don’t need all three parts settled before you begin.
Write the wrong number on purpose
This is the part that helps me keep going: let the answer be provisional.
You might know that a choice is probably wrong. Put it in the slot anyway, so you have a version of the relationship you can inspect. You can change it once you see what it does.
It’s easier to look at 4 + 5 = 22 on the page and ask which number needs changing than to keep the whole unfinished equation floating around in your head.
Those numbers are a metaphor. They aren’t ratings for the quality of a scene or measurements of how much story you need. They make the mismatch visible.
Knowing that I’m allowed to be wrong gives me a way to write anyway. I can make material without requiring myself to solve the whole story perfectly first.
If you know something belongs in the draft but don’t have an answer yet, try the bracket tool in Fiction Writer Help: 2 Keys on the Keyboard that Build a Bridge. Leave a question or intention, keep drafting, and return deliberately to fill the gap.
Decide which part needs to change
Once the provisional version exists, you have choices.
Adjust the payoff
You might realize that the payoff you wanted is too large for the story you have. You can bring it closer to something this setup and build can earn.
That can be a scope decision: the story you’re making may need a different landing than the one you first imagined.
Strengthen the setup and build
You might decide that the payoff is the thing you want to keep. Then you can develop what comes before it so the story supports that result.
Having the wrong answer on the page lets you compare those possibilities. You can see what you want to preserve and what you’re willing to change.
Try it with a blocked project
Take a project that feels stuck. Choose one part of the equation: a setup, a build, or a payoff.
Start writing from that part, knowing that your answer may be wrong. Fill in enough that you have something to read and evaluate.
Then look at the relationship. What is the story asking the reader to invest in? What develops that investment? What does it pay off? Where does one part need to change to support another?
The purpose is to make the problem easier to inspect. A provisional passage or story plan gives you something to work with. You don’t have to finish an entire novel before you can use the tool.
Don’t be afraid of the wrong answer. In this approach, the wrong answer is the tool.
A related conversation about starting and self-editing
Steven Puri and I return to my story-math explanation in a later conversation. We explore cold starts, distractions midway, and judging a draft before enough material exists.
Steven partly disagrees with my earlier explanation, while we meet on the value of getting rough material down. That conversation gives us other tools for entering the work and staying with it.
Listen to and read Writer’s Block and Flow State: Start Writing, Stay Focused (with Steven Puri).
If you’ve tried this with your story and still can’t see what needs to change, bring the problem to me. I explain how to ask for free help through Unstoppable Maker, including what we’ll agree to share and how the invitation fits around my available time.
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.