Writing Tools & Resources
Tools
Interactive utilities for novelists and storytellers.
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Novel Planner
A workspace for mapping the moving parts of a novel in progress — characters, structure, midpoint, and more.
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Character Psychology
A generator for wound and false belief — the two things that exist before everything else in a character's life.
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Scene Planner Coming Soon
A workspace for the individual unit of story — purpose, conflict, POV, and what changes by the final line.
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Premise Stress-Tester Coming Soon
Put in a premise and interrogate it. Does it create irresolvable conflict? Does the want oppose the need? Find out before you write eighty pages.
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Story Anatomy Coming Soon
Describe your story and map it against the full framework — want, need, fear, false belief, mirror, opposing force, pivot, theme. An interactive extension of the Analyzing Narrative series.
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First Line Workshop Coming Soon
Write opening lines and examine what they promise, what they withhold, and whether they create the forward motion a first line needs.
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Theme Extractor Coming Soon
Describe your story and work backward to the theme underneath. Useful for writers who are deep in a draft and need to understand what they're actually writing about.
Resources
Reference guides and frameworks for understanding how fiction works.
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The Twenty Master Plots
The fundamental narrative situations underlying all fiction — from Quest and Pursuit to Transformation and Descension.
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The Archetypal Characters
The fundamental roles that recur across all storytelling — Hero, Shadow, Mentor, Trickster, and the rest.
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Wounds & False Beliefs
The psychological core beneath every compelling character — a glossary of formative wounds and the mistaken convictions they generate.
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The Seven Basic Conflicts
The fundamental types of opposition that drive every story — from Man vs. Self to Man vs. Society.
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Common Narrative Structures
A comparison of the major structural frameworks for fiction — the Three-Act Structure, Hero's Journey, Fichtean Curve, and more.
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The Scene Checklist
What every scene needs to do — and the questions to ask when one isn't working.
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Craft Terms Glossary
Plain-language definitions for the terms that come up most in writing about fiction — inciting incident, free indirect discourse, dramatic irony, and more.