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A free fillable story diagnostic to identify weak story systems, uncover root causes, and decide what to recalibrate before you rewrite.
Description
Is your story not working—but you’re not sure why? The StoryMetric™ Story Health Checklist for Writers helps you diagnose the problem. This will save you time and frustration. Figure out what’s not working or needs more attention before you start rewriting. And you don’t want to rewrite the wrong thing.
A novel has layers. Think of it as an interconnected system. Character, conflict, structure, setting, relationships, tension, and character emotions all affect one another. When one element drifts, it may affect another story element. The symptoms may show up somewhere else. The Story Health Checklist for Writers helps identify which elements in the story are likely creating the problem.
The checklist guides you through four major StoryMetric™ systems:
Story Foundation — emotional engine, story promise, trope architecture, beats, turning points, and story curve.
Character Engine — internal compass, Mask/Lie, goal, motivation, stakes, and growth trajectory.
Story World — relationships, world logic, conflict systems, and relationship pressure.
Story Movement — escalation, midpoint energy, climax design, and resolution.
For each area, you’ll evaluate your manuscript, looking for evidence of drifting. You will use the checklist to assess story health, assigning one of four diagnostic statuses: In Range, Drifting, Out of Range, or Uncertainty to every aspect of your novel and even your outline.
Then you’ll bring the results together in a StoryMetric™ dashboard. This part of the checklist identifies the system most likely causing the problem. Now you can recalibrate your rewrite/revision more narrowly without making larger changes.i
Use the Story Health Checklist when your manuscript feels flat, or your middle is sagging. Use it when you feel your protagonist isn’t driving the story or conflict feels repetitive. Not sticking the landing? Is your ending lacking, or do you simply know something is wrong but cannot yet identify the cause?
This is the diagnostic for you. It’s not a repair manual. Its job is to help you determine where to look first.
StoryMetric™ is Vanessa Riley’s systems-based approach to fiction and memoir development—helping writers examine how character, conflict, structure, tension, emotional logic, and story purpose work together.
FREE digital download. Fillable PDF. For personal use only.
