Companion studios
Free tools for writers.
Each studio is a separate site, built for one job: the opening sentence, the contract, the prize deadline, the day’s word count. Open what you need. Accounts are not required. All of them are by Stewart Ferris.
On the page
- On the pageThe First LineA craft studio for novel openings. How to write a first sentence that keeps a promise. Principles, tests, and a private reading of the line you are about to send into the world.Open studio
- On the pageThresholdA plot atlas for novelists and screenwriters. Map a story against Campbell, Vogler, Harmon, Murdock, Hudson and Snyder — the stations of the hero’s journey, laid out so you can see where the draft actually is.Open studio
- On the pageNominaNames with meaning. Choose a grain — origin, temper, element, role — and receive given names and surnames whose etymologies fit the character you are writing.Open studio
- On the pageDossierA literary character workshop. Build round characters with nine sections of lists — class, accent, desire, trauma, politics, and the lie they live by. The dossier writes itself as you choose.Open studio
- On the pageThe Poet’s CraftA studio for aspiring poets. Technique first: metre, rhyme, imagery, language, free verse and traditional forms — then the groups, presses and prizes that keep a poem alive in the world.Open studio
- On the pageWord CensusA private frequency checker. Count every word in a manuscript on your own machine. Flags repeated long words, sets names aside, and suggests alternatives. Nothing is uploaded.Open studio
At the desk
- At the deskWrite AnywayWhen inspiration is absent. Exercises, prompts, and a quiet desk for getting words down without waiting to feel like a writer. Built from fifty books’ worth of starting anyway.Open studio
- At the deskFound TimeThe hours are already in the week. Companion to How to Find Time to be a Writer. Locate the hidden pockets in an ordinary week and turn 250 words a day into a draft over a year of unremarkable days.Open studio
- At the deskQuillmarkLog the day’s work. A blotter for daily word counts: set a target, watch the week and the month fill, and keep a twelve-week record of the manuscript as it grows.Open studio
- At the deskThe Writing CircleFind the room where the work belongs. A catalogue of writing groups — local rooms and online circles — filtered by place, genre and whether you want a chair in the room or a screen.Open studio
In the trade
- In the tradeHow Writers EarnThe desk is only one of the rooms. A field guide to thirty-four ways a writer is paid: rights, audio, festivals, teaching, self-publishing, commissions, and the work that sits beside the book.Open studio
- In the tradeInside the ContractRead the deal before you sign it. Royalties, advances, subsidiary rights and the clauses that decide what a UK or US book deal actually means. A field guide, not a scare story.Open studio
- In the tradeThe Writer’s Guide to AgentsWhat an agent does, and how to get one. Whether you need representation, typical fees, how to approach an agent, and a directory of literary and film agencies you can sort by region and type.Open studio
- In the tradeThe Query BookManuscript and script submission tracker. A private ledger of what you sent, to whom, and when to follow up — agents, publishers and producers, so nothing sits forgotten in an outbox.Open studio
- In the tradeThe Author’s DeskBook publicity, without the agency. Press releases, local shops, libraries, papers, and the specific, nearby work that competes with a marketing budget you do not have.Open studio
- In the tradeThe Prize CalendarFind the next prize worth entering. A deadline-ordered directory of writing competitions worldwide — short stories, poetry, novels, memoir and scripts — filterable by genre, age and region.Open studio