It’s my pleasure to have Kristina Stanley over to explain her latest project. Although she is well known for her mystery series she also is very much involved in helping authors sell their work. She is the author of The Author’s Guide to Selling Books to Non-Bookstores and her latest non-fiction is Fictionary – helping writers edit their first drafts.
I’m very pleased to be invited onto Carol’s blog to share my writing and editing journey. I’d love to tell you why we created Fictionary and how it can help you.
I’m an author who loves to edit, and I believe today’s author must be also their own structural editor.
The difficulty with editing is keeping track of writing knowledge, the time it takes, and the cost of an editor. So what if I could have writing tips focused on my manuscript, speed up the process, spend less money, AND write better fiction?
This is the story of how we created Fictionary.
What is the Fictionary?
Fictionary will help writers turn a first draft into a great story by becoming their own big-picture editor.
With Fictionary, you can focus on character, plot, and setting. Fictionary helps you evaluate on a scene-by-scene basis or on the overall novel structure. Fictionary will show you the most important structural elements to work on first and guide you through the rewriting process.
Why a structural editing tool for writers?
Creating Fictionary began when I finished the first draft of my first novel. By then I’d read over 50 how-to-write and how-to-self-edit books. I’d taken writing courses and workshops, and had 100s of writing and rewriting tips swirling about in my head.
I knew I had to begin the editing process and improve the quality of my draft before sharing my work, but I didn’t know how to go about it.
My Worry:
How was I supposed to remember the torrent of advice and apply it to each scene? A spreadsheet, that’s how!
I created a spreadsheet with a chapter-by-chapter, scene-by-scene structure. Then I listed the different writing advice I needed to consider for EVERY scene. I ended up with over 75 “key elements of fiction”. I used the reports from the spreadsheet to visualize my novel.
The process I used was then developed into the Fictionary online tool for writers.
Did Fictionary Work For Me?
After the hard work of self-editing, the quality of my fiction was validated when my first two novels were shortlisted for prestigious crime writing awards and I landed a two-book deal with publisher Imajin Books.
My first editor said: “If every manuscript was this good, my job would be so easy!”
The next exciting moment came when DESCENT, my first novel, hit #1 on Amazon’s hot new releases. Descent was published by Luzifer-Verlag in Germany, and I sold the audio rights to Auspicious Apparatus Press. Imajin Books also published BLAZE, AVALANCHE and LOOK THE OTHER WAY.
Building Fictionary
I wanted to share my process, SO OTHER WRITERS COULD BENEFIT FROM AN IMMEDIATE APPROACH TO SELF-EDITING and rewriting first drafts. But who would want to use a spreadsheet? Perhaps a fun, fast tool that helps writers visualize and self-edit their novels would be better.
I joined forces with author Michael Conn and business specialist Mathew Stanley, and we formed a company called Feedback Innovations just to build this tool for fiction writers.
You can find out more about Fictionary at https://Fictionary.co
Turn Your First Draft Into A Great Story
You can try Fictionary for free (no credit card required) for two weeks.
Download our free eBook, BIG-PICTURE Editing And The 15 Key Elements Of Fiction, and learn how big-picture editing is all about evaluating the major components of your story.
I’d love to hear in the comments what your biggest structural editing issue is.
Thanks for reading.
Kristina Stanley the co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of Feedback Innovations: a company created to help writers rewrite better fiction. She is the best-selling author of the Stone Mountain Mystery Series. Her first two novels garnered the attention of prestigious crime writing organizations in Canada and England. DESCENT, BLAZE, and AVALANCE are published by Imajin Books. THE AUTHOR’S GUIDE TO SELLING BOOKS TO NON-BOOKSTORES is her first non-fiction book.
You can find her at:
Carol Balawyder 
This sounds like a really interesting tool. Thanks, both, for sharing. And certainly, self-editing is an important part of making a story its best. The more tools at the author’s disposal, the better.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Margot, Thanks for stopping by. I’m a big user of writing tools, not just my own, but others too. I just discovered on called https://www.beemgee.com that helps an author create an outline. I’m just trying it now, but they have a free trial going.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Good to see you! And great article. Will go and take a look.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Claudia, Thanks for dropping by. Let me know if you have any questions. I’m happy to help.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think many writers start submitting their first novel before it is properly edited, costing them interest (and you only get one chance per agent or publisher). They’ve got a friend or two reading the book, maybe a writing group, but they can’t afford to hire an editor to get the input that they need to polish that book. This sounds like a good and affordable solution.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Judy, for the encouraging words. It’s always nice to hear.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This sounds fascinating. I’ll go check it out. There is so much information to absorb from all the various writing books that the idea of having much of it in one place is a great one.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Carrie, Great to hear from you. Keeping track of all the writing information was a struggle for me in the early days and one of the reasons we built Fictionary. If you check it out, let me know if you have questions.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Carol this is a great tool to know about! 💕
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for stopping by. We’re are hoping the tool is helpful to writers. Our mission: Help writers become successful authors 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
Fantastic post. I’m already subscribed to Kristina’s newsletter, though I haven’t yet tried Fictionary. I’ll look into it. Would it be good for nonfiction writing? ❤
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi DG. Thanks for subscribing to my newsletter. Fictionary is meant for commercial fiction. We have talked with some memoir writers to see if we could adapt the software, but right now we are focussed on fiction.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yes, I gathered that Kristina from you newsletters. No fears, who knows what will crop up in the future. 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
Sounds like a great tool. Anything that makes the rewriting/editing process less frustrating is bound to be a winner for the author and readers. Thank you for carrying your vision forward and much success with Feedback Innovations.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Ann, It’s been lots of fun and lots of stress building Fictionary. The best part is the hundreds of writers who helped in the early stages by testing our prototype and giving us feedback. Writers are awesome.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Carol, this looks amazing!! 😀 Kristina, I’ve looked at your video promotion and this looks like a great piece of software! How does it work? Mind-boggling. I think I will find this incredibly useful and interesting and am bookmarking this to download soon. Thank you so much for sharing. Congratulations on your publishing success, Kristina!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Annika, Great to hear. We are about to release a new version (in a week or so), based on feedback from writers that we’re very excited about. Fictionary imports a manuscript, then uses language processing software to create the list of characters, link them to scenes, and then create reports to help a writer visualize their manuscript. Our pride is the automated story arc.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks for sharing. This looks like a great tool.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you. We love it, but then again, we built it 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
Sounds well-worth checking out. I’m almost over my head in editing at the moment!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Jacqui. We are about to release the latest version next week with lots of great new features.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This tool from Kristina sounds great, including its name! Editing is so important and to be able to do so oneself more easily sounds like a breath of fresh air 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Christy, thank you for the encouraging words. I’d love it you gave the free trial a whirl. We are coming out with a new release at the end of next week. You’ll get more value from the trial at that time. We’ve gotten great feedback from writers and have changed Fictionary based on that feedback. Have fun editing.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Sounds like an enticing idea! I’ve spent many years of my career as an editor. It’s no easy feat, for sure.
LikeLiked by 1 person
very interesting article and the tool introduce is an asset that lots of others will want to use. Thank you for sharing!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I am just a blogger who may someday freshen up my children’s books or my one murder mystery! It is just great to have connections and friends to check out their paths and suggestions. Kristina, this was a super gift to share and I already know some people here who will enjoy your fresh “Fictionary!” 📚
Carol, you are a gracious friend and blogger! 💐
LikeLiked by 1 person
Carol, thank you for sharing and featuring Kristina! You are such a great friend and fellow blogger. 💐
I will keep this in mind should I ever decide to start promoting and get my children’s books and murder mystery published, Kristina’s helpful “Fictionary” will be my choice of learning how to edit and refine my (unpublished) books. 📚
LikeLiked by 1 person
Excellent article, Carol! Thanks for sharing…I’m sharing too. 🙂 xo
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for sharing this. I know a good number of writers, myself included, who could’ve used this in times prior … and of course, still can.
And thank you, Carol.
LikeLiked by 1 person