HeyJaredFiction 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…
- Indexed episodes, last 90 days
- 10
- Latest publication
- Sep 7, 2026
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- Earliest in this view
- Jul 6, 2026
Latest episodes
What Makes Your Writing Original? (Even If the Idea Isn't) | Ep. 26 (opens the original)
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What makes your writing original when your story idea isn't completely new? In this episode, I explore why 'original fiction' isn't about having an idea nobody has ever had. I'll use Pokémon to show how influences can pass through one creator and become something new. Then I give you a simple exercise for finding the fingerprints already present in your own fiction. Most importantly, I make the case for why the fiction only you can write is worth making and putting into the world. In this episod
How to Write a Scene That Earns Its Place (opens the original)
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How do you write a scene that actually earns its place in the story? A scene can be well "structured", full of dialogue, conflict, action, or exposition and still feel like nothing happened . In this episode, we talk about how a scene is a specific sort of container, and how to fill it. You'll learn how to separate activity in a scene from real change, choose a change target, and use a simple "dial" to track what changes and by how much. This approach works for outliners and discovery writers, a
Trey Parker & Matt Stone's Writing Rule: How to Fix an 'And Then' Plot (opens the original)
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Trey Parker and Matt Stone's famous South Park writing rule is deceptively simple: if the beats of your story are connected by "and then," you may have a problem. Instead, they recommend building stories with "but" and "therefore," so one event causes or complicates the next. It's great writing advice. But how do you actually use it to fix a story? What's the formal tool ? In this episode, I trace the idea from Parker and Stone's viral 2011 NYU writing lecture, to The Devil Wears Prada screenwri
Writer's Block and Flow State: Start Writing, Stay Focused (with Steven Puri) (opens the original)
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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 psychologis
How to Get Into Flow State While Writing (with Steven Puri) (opens the original)
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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
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