Fiction Writer's Toolshed: Practical Tools for Authors

Fiction Writer's Toolshed: Practical Tools for Authors is a hands-on training podcast that helps fiction writers of all skill levels build a repeatable skill set for finishing their work and writing consistently.The show provides a clear, easy-to-use, proven roadmap for turning ideas into completed fiction. Whether you're drafting your first short piece, revising a work in progress, or struggling to finish what you start, we can help. Each episode breaks down the writing tools, story techniques, and writer's troubleshooting skills fiction authors need to improve their craft, solve story problems, and build the habits required to write consistently. The goal is simple: help writers like you become productive authors.Are you an aspiring fiction writer ready to learn how to translate the vision in your mind and heart clearly onto the page, again and again?Are you a creative writer ready to stop fantasizing about stories and start finishing them?This is your moment. It's time to

Fiction Writer's Toolshed: Practical Tools for Authors is a education podcast hosted by Fiction Writer, with 22 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Fiction Writer hosts Fiction Writer's Toolshed: Practical Tools for Authors, a education show with 22 episodes published.

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  Fiction Writer's Toolshed: Practical Tools for Authors

  Writer's Block and Flow State: Start Writing, Stay Focused (with Steven Puri)

  Aug 16, 202630 min

  Links from Steven: https://www.thesukha.co/for/writers https://www.thesukha.co/post/the-magic-and-science-of-flow-states What actually happens when a writer enters a flow state? And can you learn to reach that true flow state more reliably? In this follow-up conversation with Steven Puri, founder of The Sukha Company, former vice president at Fox, and former executive vice president at DreamWorks, we dig into the origins, science, and practical experience of flow. Steven explains how psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (it took me forever to Google this name and actually find it) identified similar patterns among high-performing athletes, artists, musicians, scientists, and other creators. We talk about losing track of time, becoming less distracted, quieting self-judgment, and reaching that strange point where the work begins to feel... different in a way that only flow can feel. We also revisit my recent episode about writer's block. Steven challenges part of my original argument, and together we work toward a more complete explanation of what can stop writers from beginning-- or cause them to reach for a distraction halfway through the work. Let's get started.

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  Fiction Writer's Toolshed: Practical Tools for Authors

  How to Get Into Flow State While Writing (with Steven Puri)

  Aug 9, 202631 min

  Links from Steven: https://www.thesukha.co/for/writers https://www.thesukha.co/post/the-magic-and-science-of-flow-states How do you get into a flow state as a writer-- without needing the perfect morning routine, the perfect playlist, or some magical burst of inspiration? In this episode of Fiction Writer's Toolshed, I'm joined by Steven Puri, founder of The Sukha Company and creator of the Sukha flow-state app, to talk about practical ways writers can focus more deeply and build conditions that make creative work easier to repeat. Steven brings a pretty unusual perspective to the conversation. He previously served as a vice president at Fox and an executive vice president at DreamWorks, worked alongside some of Hollywood's top screenwriters, and produced the digital effects for Independence Day, whose visual-effects team won the Academy Award. We talk about what Steven learned from watching elite writers work under real deadlines... and how much their productivity often depended on understanding themselves rather than following some universal creative routine. If you've ever wondered how to get into flow while writing-- or how to make focused creative work more repeatable-- this conversation gives you several things to experiment with immediately.

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  Fiction Writer's Toolshed: Practical Tools for Authors

  Say it First: Drafting Your Fiction Out Loud

  Aug 2, 202616 min

  Ever sit down to write a scene you can already see perfectly in your head, and watch it go stiff and lifeless the moment your fingers hit the keys? In this episode of Fiction Writer's Toolshed, we look at the gap between the part of your brain that makes the story and the part of your body that has to get it onto the page-- and why, for a lot of writers, the bottleneck is the hands. You'll learn how to draft fiction by talking into the voice recorder already in your pocket, and why speaking a first draft isn't just three times faster than typing it. SPOILERS: It's that you can't revise while you're talking. There's no backspace on a mouth.

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  Fiction Writer's Toolshed: Practical Tools for Authors

  What Should You Write? A Creative Core Audit for Fiction Writers

  Jul 26, 202616 min

  Ever feel like you're writing the kind of story you think you're supposed to write instead of the one you actually want to tell? In this episode of Fiction Writer's Toolshed , we explore the hidden cost of filtering your creative instincts through trends, genre expectations, and the pressure to fit in. You'll learn why developing your unique creative voice isn't about inventing a style-- it's about removing the filters that keep your strongest-- and most intimate-- ideas from reaching the page. Along the way, we'll look at how Hellboy creator Mike Mignola found the work that made him unmistakably himself, and I'll walk you through a simple Creative Core Audit to help you uncover the recurring themes, questions, and ideas that make your writing uniquely yours. If you've ever struggled to sound like yourself, worried your ideas were "too weird," or felt torn between writing for the market and writing what genuinely excites you, this episode will give you a practical framework for finding your creative center—and the confidence to build stories that only you could write.

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  Fiction Writer's Toolshed: Practical Tools for Authors

  Write This Instead of a Multiverse (w/ Matt Click)

  Jul 19, 202628 min

  A multiverse isn't the only way to create different versions of the same characters, worlds, and stories. In this episode of Fiction Writer's Toolshed , I'm joined by my longtime collaborator, editor, and Absolute Tabletop co-founder Matt Click to explore polycontinuity : a method for building multiple distinct continuities from the same fictional property. Matt and I discuss how to identify the core elements that make a fictional property recognizable, how new continuities can create more creative freedom, and how writers can reinvent familiar material without erasing or contradicting the original version. If your fictional universe has become crowded, restrictive, or trapped beneath the weight of its own canon, you may not need another timeline. You may need a new continuity... polycontinuity , that is. Is multiverse fiction overused? Is introducing a multiverse or time travel simply lazy writing when it is handled incorrectly? What makes a multiverse story feel fresh and unique instead of repetitive or confusing? And is there a better way for writers to create alternate universes, reboots, and new versions of familiar characters? This episode introduces an answer to all of that and more-- polycontinuity, a storytelling framework that helps writers build separate fictional continuities without connecting them through a traditional multiverse.

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