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Conceptualizer: a Story Planning Program

January 23, 2023

There are fiction authors who need to plan every, single, detail in advance – they’re called “plotters”. Then there are writers who write by their seat of their pants – hence they’re called “pantsers”. In reality, most authors fall somewhere in-between. The truth is, we all need some degree of planning for most works (except perhaps stream-of-consciousness or heavily experimental). And so, we could all benefit from a story planning program.

As with everything I make – programs, books, or blog posts – the intended audience of Conceptualizer, my story planning program, was first and foremost myself. That is, I started to make a story planner because I felt I could benefit from one. I’m certainly not a plotter (though not a pantser either), but I like to keep some sort of notes regarding what will happen when.

And so, perhaps ironically, this sort of selfishness can be very useful to you, too! Let’s take a look at Conceptualizer, what it does and how it works, and at the end of this post I’ll include a link for you so that you can try it.

story planning program
Here’s the Display Mode of this story planning program I made – showing the demo story it “ships” with, which is none other than The Perfect Gray. The idea is to have a structured flow that shows how one piece of the story leads to checkpoints that come together to form the bigger picture.
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Why and How I Made Up a Literary Agent

January 2, 2023

Quite a provocative title, you must admit. It’s true, I essentially made up a literary agent when I couldn’t find one. The problem is, it worked… sort of.

Much of our existence – as creators and generally – is ambiguous and self-contradictory. People are complex beings, there are no simple answers. And so, though I’ve generally disowned my past as a published author, at the same time I still use the designation on Amazon, Goodreads, and such platforms. I also use it in the introductory pages of my books. It’s supposed to be some sort of sign of merit.

This is all bullshit, of course. 

I’m only playing a part doing that; it’s the persona of a writer selling a book. I don’t really believe being a published author means anything in terms of quality. By the way, I also mention I have a PhD in English literature, but I don’t think that means much either

It’s all a performance; theatrics.

Which is the topic of today’s story, too: Why and how I made up a literary agent. This is something very few people know (perhaps as few as three: the “agent”, the publisher, and myself). I’ll talk about the why’s and how’s, as well as the aftereffects. This should reveal to us a few things about the publishing industry.

made up a literary agent
When I made up a literary agent, I thought I was smartly creating a hole to let light in. I didn’t like what I saw…
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5 Most Popular 2022 Posts – and 2 that Are Sad

December 26, 2022

2022 is almost over. The truth is, I don’t really see anything special about the end of the year (or the beginning of a new one). It’s just an arbitrary limit marking another revolution around the sun. But I’m fully ready to opportunistically take advantage of it and offer a list of the 5 most popular 2022 posts on Home for Fiction.

At the same time, I’d like to share with you 2 posts that haven’t received the attention I believe they deserve. Let’s rectify this in 2023!

popular 2022 posts
Whenever I don’t want to spend time finding a more relevant photo, you get a cat
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