I can also see how useful this method could be during the drafting process for pantsers like myself, who are still figuring out the important questions to ask (let alone the answers) as we write. I've been stuck in my current WIP for months, both on its own merits and due to a variety of real life challenges, so this gives me a place to start taking a deeper look at where I stand with it. And maybe figure out how to tackle those squirmy questions, too. 😉

I meant I'm still in the draft writing stage.

Cherish away, Jaime!

Huh.

I love that...

“Story Quilting” may be one of my favorite descriptions of that process. 😄

And honestly, there’s nothing wrong with building a book that way if that’s how your brain works. The trick is just making sure the seams hold once all the pieces are together.

That’s why I like these questions so much. They don’t tell you how to write the story. They just help you find the places where two pieces never quite got stitched together, or where you THOUGHT you added a patch.

...and it turns out it was still sitting on the sewing table.

So yes, go interrogate that manuscript. 😂

And thank you. “Best plothole filler” is a phrase I may shamelessly cherish.

YES. That squirm is such a useful little warning light.

I’ve learned to stop arguing with it. If I feel myself trying to explain around an answer instead of answering it cleanly, there’s usually something underneath that I haven’t actually decided yet.

And “who decides what happens next?” has become one of my favorite questions too, because it exposes passive protagonists so quickly. Sometimes the plot is dragging the character around while we’re insisting they’re driving the story.

I really like the way you put this: even if you don’t know the fix yet, identifying the place that makes you squirm gives you somewhere honest to start digging.

That alone can save a ridiculous amount of wandering around in revision!

That’s exactly what I wanted, Lisa.

I’m not anti-AI at all, obviously, but I’m very protective of the part of writing that belongs to the writer. I don’t want a tool deciding what your story should be. I want it asking the right questions so *you* can decide.

That’s really the whole idea behind FictionProof. It doesn’t “fix” the book for you. It exposes the places where something hasn’t been decided, hasn’t made it onto the page, or doesn’t quite agree with something else you’ve already said.

And yes... that first pass can be a little rude. 😂

But once you start seeing those gaps yourself, that’s when I think it gets exciting, because now the writer is getting stronger too, not just the manuscript.

I’m really glad the trial questions helped you.

But it also made me want to rush to my manuscript and ask ALL these questions. Because the fact is, I write scenes and stitch them together. (I call it Story Quilting.) This is literally the only way I can get a book from my overly busy brain and onto the page.

But this process allows for holes. This exercise is literally the best "plothole filler" I've come across.

SO THANKS! *lol*