Fiction development workshop
Guided exploration organized around the author's explicit creative intent.
- For
- Independent authors seeking structured developmental feedback
- Solves
- Writers need repeatable feedback without losing creative control.
- Delivers
- Developmental feedback and author-selected revision plan
- Built in
- about 4 weeks of creation time, MVP in 4 days
- Investment
- $8,500 for the MVP, $32,000 for the full product
- Run it
- Inside your business, or as part of your offer to clients
What it does
For independent authors seeking structured developmental feedback, turn author-owned drafts, creative goals and chosen constraints into developmental feedback and author-selected revision plan.
- Explore plot consequences.
- Test character motivations.
- Identify structural gaps.
- Generate optional alternatives.
- Preserve author choices.
- Track revisions.
What goes in, what comes out
- Author-owned drafts
- Creative goals
- Chosen constraints
AI drafts, people review. Interactive practice or facilitated workshop platform.
- Developmental feedback
- Author-selected revision plan
How it works
The workflow
- InStart with
Author-owned drafts, creative goals and chosen constraints
- 1
Set the participant’s goal
- 2
Choose or customize a scenario
- 3
Conduct an interactive session
- 4
Record choices or dialogue
- 5
Review evidence-based feedback with a facilitator when needed
- 6
Repeat selected parts with changed constraints
- OutFinish with
Developmental feedback and author-selected revision plan
AI does the heavy lifting, people stay in charge
Generate responsive dialogue, alternative situations and structured reflection prompts. Ground feedback in agreed goals or rubrics. Treat creative choices and facilitator judgment as authoritative. Evaluate specific actions rather than infer personality or hidden traits.
What your team sees
Key screens: Story workshop, alternative scenes, author decisions. Use a scenario catalog with clear goals and difficulty settings. The main session area supports text, optional voice and visible context. Follow it with a replay or decision map, annotated feedback and a next-practice plan. Facilitators can author scenarios and review participant-selected sessions. In this product, the first view is story workshop, followed by alternative scenes and author decisions.
Accounts and administration
Participant-controlled session sharing, scenario versions, facilitator tools, replay history, rubric calibration, practice goals and exportable feedback.
Integrations and data access
Author-owned manuscripts, authorized interviews and permitted research sources. Learning portals, calendar scheduling and authorized session exports. Make recording, sharing and retention controls explicit in the product. These are candidate integration categories, not verified supported connectors.
How we build it
We build with our own AI software development factory, so most implementations take days to a few weeks of creation time, not months. You see working software at every step, and exact timing depends on availability.
- 1
Scoping call
Day 1Thirty minutes on your process, your data and how you want to run it: for your own team, or for your clients. You get a fixed scope and price for the MVP.
- 2
MVP
4 daysOne buyer segment, one recurring use case; first modules: explore plot consequences; test character motivations. Manual review in the loop. Built by our AI software factory.
- 3
Paid pilot
5 daysAccounts, roles, review states, audit trail and the first integration, hardened for two to three paying pilot customers.
- 4
Full product
10 daysRemaining modules: generate optional alternatives; preserve author choices; track revisions. Self-serve onboarding, billing, monitoring and the wider integration set.
- 5
Run and improve
MonthlyWe host, monitor and improve it for a fixed monthly fee, or hand it over to your team. How the retainer works.
Why we start with an MVP
An MVP, or minimum viable product, is the smallest version that your users can actually work with. It is not a cheap version of the full solution. It is a test, built to answer the questions that decide whether the rest is worth building.
- Pick the riskiest assumption. Here: will independent authors seeking structured developmental feedback use it to solve "writers need repeatable feedback without losing creative control"?
- Build only what tests it. One team, one use case, a few core modules. People do the rest by hand for now.
- Run a paid pilot. Run a short scenario with representative participants, then repeat with a different case.
- Measure, then decide. Track author-rated usefulness and completed revisions. Then expand, change course or stop, with evidence instead of opinions.
MVP scope for this solution. Begin with independent authors seeking structured developmental feedback and one recurring use case. Build the first two modules: explore plot consequences; test character motivations. Provide operator assistance for the third module: identify structural gaps. Deliver developmental feedback and author-selected revision plan through a manual review queue. Perform other necessary full-scope functions manually during the pilot. Include all applicable access, accuracy and professional-review controls from the start.
After the MVP. After paid pilots establish value, automate the remaining modules: generate optional alternatives; preserve author choices; track revisions. Add one validated source integration, reusable customer configuration and recurring delivery. Expand to additional teams, document formats or languages only after testing the new scope.
What the build depends on. Scenario state management, coherent dialogue, explicit rubrics, session replay and reviewer feedback. Voice interaction adds latency and audio QA requirements.
Investment
A planning range to start the conversation, not a quote. You pay per phase, so you can stop after the MVP.
- Phase 1
MVP
One buyer segment, one recurring use case; first modules: explore plot consequences; test character motivations. Manual review in the loop.
- Phase 2
Paid pilot
Accounts, roles, review states, audit trail and the first integration, hardened for two to three paying pilot customers.
- Phase 3
Full product
Remaining modules: generate optional alternatives; preserve author choices; track revisions. Self-serve onboarding, billing, monitoring and the wider integration set.
Indicative total, MVP to full product$32,000about 4 weeks of creation time · start with the MVP from $8,500
Running costs per month
A rough indication of monthly hosting and AI model costs once it is live, not tested. Real costs depend on usage, file sizes and the models chosen.
| Stage | Hosting and infrastructure | AI usage | Total per month |
|---|---|---|---|
| MVP and paid pilotabout 3 customers | $30–$60 | $50–$110 | $80–$170 |
| Full productabout 50 customers | $110–$210 | $420–$840 | $530–$1,050 |
Run it or resell it
For your own team
Independent authors seeking structured developmental feedback run it inside the business: author-owned drafts, creative goals and chosen constraints in, developmental feedback and author-selected revision plan out, reviewed by your people.
As part of your offer
Agencies, consultancies and software companies can offer it to their own clients under their brand. We build and maintain it; you sell and deliver it.
Your brand, or this one
Run it under your own brand, or start from this concept style.
- primary
#913827 - accent
#54acc9 - surface
#f1e7e4 - ink
#22201e
- Headings
- Fraunces
- Text
- Inter
- Voice
- Literate, generous, editorial
Selling it to your own clients: the go-to-market playbook
Pricing to test
Test USD 49-149 for a focused manuscript workshop or USD 25-60 monthly for bounded self-serve sessions. Charge separately for developmental editor review. Avoid unlimited manuscript processing before measuring delivery costs. Prices are hypotheses.
Message to test
Fiction development workshop for independent authors seeking structured developmental feedback. Guided exploration organized around the author's explicit creative intent. Demonstrate the claim through a focused character or plot development session.
Where to find buyers
Writing communities and book coaches
Lead magnet
A focused character or plot development session
The first 30 days
- Week 1: interview five prospective buyers in this segment: independent authors seeking structured developmental feedback. Ask to see a recent example of the problem and their current process.
- Week 2: prepare this demonstration using authorized or synthetic material: a focused character or plot development session.
- Week 3: present it through writing communities and book coaches and seek one narrowly scoped paid pilot.
- Week 4: review author-rated usefulness, completed revisions, total delivery effort and a concrete renewal decision before increasing scope.
Paid pilot
Run a short scenario with representative participants, then repeat with a different case. Ask a qualified coach or facilitator to assess usefulness and observable improvement independently of the AI feedback. For this solution, use author-owned drafts, creative goals and chosen constraints and evaluate developmental feedback and author-selected revision plan. Agree success thresholds with the buyer before starting; collect a baseline for author-rated usefulness, completed revisions. A positive signal is payment and repeat use with acceptable quality and delivery cost, not a favorable demo reaction alone.
Success metrics
Author-rated usefulness, completed revisions
Retention and expansion
Offer author-selected follow-up sessions at outline, first-draft and revision milestones while keeping the author’s creative decisions authoritative.
Why clients would pick it
Realistic domain scenarios, qualified facilitator relationships and reviewed examples of useful feedback and successful practice. For this solution, build around guided exploration organized around the author's explicit creative intent. This advantage requires execution and accumulated customer trust; the base model alone is not a defensible asset.
Alternatives and positioning
Human coaching, workshops, static courses, roleplay with colleagues and general chat tools. Differentiate on this specific proposed advantage: guided exploration organized around the author's explicit creative intent. Test it against the buyer's current method on the same task. Competitor coverage and uniqueness have not been established.
Main delivery costs
Scenario design, voice processing if used, model interaction length, facilitator review, rubric calibration and learner support.
Safeguards
Preserve author voice, source attribution, quotation accuracy and usage permissions. Authors approve substantive changes and publication scope. Validate source access and reviewer availability during the pilot. Maintain customer-level access, data deletion controls and a record of final approvals.