Category: Writing Update

Writing Brain Dump: September 18, 2026

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Hey, hey, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here with another writing brain dump. We’ve entered the “Ber” Season, months ending with the letters BER, so I’m doubling down on my writing. But I had trouble getting into gear, finding a flow state, discovering my voice, and all that fun stuff. Thankfully, one method got me on track: The Literary Triptych.

Literary triptychs work like art triptychs. Triptychs are the sets of three art pieces that build off one another. The artist tells a story with their set of three paintings. A literary triptych–as I define it–can do a similar thing. Literary triptychs take the same short work (or story) and sends it through different lenses. This could include different points of view characters, but doesn’t need to be. I’ve warped a story through first, second, and third person. Tense can also shake up the status quo. But I will be honest, changing character points of view works extremely well, and it does the most to get a writer unstuck.

At least for me. I got to test drive three different narrators through three hundred word retellings of the same small occurrence. Maintaining a point of view character’s voice through a novel-length work can get daunting. Test driving three different narrators was a godsend. Whichever one sparked my interest the most won the narrator duties. After this brief exercise, I was off to the races.

But literary triptychs have a secondary benefit. I explored my story’s world, got to know all three characters a little better than I did at the start, and found details (about the characters and world) I could weave into a novel-length work. And it didn’t take long for me to finish the triptych. If I get stuck while writing the novel (working title is Gods and Dolls), I may deploy the triptych and see if it will help.

Getting back to my progress on Gods and Dolls, I started at two hundred to two hundred and fifty words per day (the first three days) and upped my production to seven hundred to eight hundred daily words. I want a production level that I can sustain for days, weeks, and even months. If I maintain this level of production, I should complete Gods and Dolls well before Christmas. I did begin this process in the mid-August, so I had a head start.

I also won’t stop myself if I catch fire. If I can reach over a thousand words a day, I’ll ride that wave as long as I can. Who knows? I may complete my first draft before Thanksgiving. That should give me plenty of time to edit my previous novel, and Crooked as a Dogwood has been out to agents for almost two months. One more month, and I’ll submit to another round of agents. Hopefully, I’ll be finished with my second novel as I send Crooked as a Dogwood out to small publishers. And of course, I’ll have the third novel completed before sending out the second novel. Yay!

That’s all I have for this month’s Writing Brain Dump. Let me know how you’re doing with your writing journey. And if you try the literary triptych method to get yourself unstuck in story, leave a message in the comments. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.

Writing Brain Dump: July 24, 2026

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Happy Friday, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here with another writing brain dump. I didn’t do one last week because July has five Fridays. I had to skip the 17th or the 24th. I decided to skip the 17th because of familial obligations. Anyway. What have I been doing this past month with my writing practice? In short, I’ve been honing the novel based on Rustbucket Riots.

The novel still doesn’t have a name. I’m getting there. Rustbucket Riots is a working title; the events of the novel take place well after the Rustbucket Riots, so the name can’t possibly work. I’ve used the robot Shakespeare short stories to flesh out the world. The Shakesbot stories do take place during the Rustbucket Riots, by the way. Working on this project also gave me a little bit of distance. It’s not the same as a sequel; I don’t even know if I’ll seek publication for these short stories. But I was able to find the shape I wanted the novel to take. I’m going with multiple timelines.

In last month’s writing brain dump, I mentioned ten shapes a story can take. I’m linking that post here. The more I worked on the Rustbucket Riots novel, the more I felt the story needed a time jump, similar to the one found in Freida McFadden’s The Housemaid. I may need to reread The Housemaid. That novel has its issues, but I can’t deny McFadden deftly used the multiple timelines form. Sometimes, writing requires reading. So, I’ll attempt to read McFadden’s The Housemaid as a writer, taking note of how the two timelines build off of each other. The Rustbucket Riots novel sees a severe change between the protagonist and antagonist. I’m hoping the multiple timelines work to show the difference in these segments. We’ll see.

I don’t have much for this month’s writing brain dump. Last month’s writing brain dump was rather long. And I’m in the thick of rewriting. Fingers crossed that something useful comes out of this draft. Thank you for reading. Good luck with your writing, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.

Writing Brain Dump: January 23, 2026

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Happy Friday, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here with another writing brain dump. I’m in the middle of editing my most recent completed novel (based within the Rustbucket Riots board game universe) and had an epiphany. The specifics of the epiphany don’t matter much–two of the main characters are related for the curious folks out there–but how I came to this realization serves as a good reminder that writing ideas can come from anywhere. And you may need to step away from yourself. When the idea struck, I wasn’t at my desk writing. I didn’t have a pad of paper and a pencil at the ready. I was grocery shopping.

Since I’m a veteran, I shop at the local military base’s commissary. The commissary still employs baggers who will carry out your groceries to your car, and on this faithful day, I had a bagger whose past aligned with mine to some extent and even more so with my protagonist. My bagger was half Native American, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at him. He and his brother looked and acted nothing alike. And I have some experience with both of those aspects. It makes sense to adopt some of those elements for my protagonist. Heck. Some of those elements already existed. I just had to give them a sibling. I don’t want to get into too many details. I’m unsure if someone reading this may try and track down my bagger. But talking to others can help with your writing.

By no means am I a social butterfly. I’m happy to spend most hours of many of my days at my desk. I think most writers operate well in isolation, but when you’re stuck with a story/character/scene, stepping outside yourself can help. I may not talk that much when I’m in public, but I love to listen. You’ll never know which found stories (stories a writer finds while in the world) you’ll discover.

The next time I see “Name Redacted,” I may let him know that he helped me with a story. Or I may just listen. Have you found stories by listening to or observing others? Let me know in the comments. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a fantastic day.

Writing Brain Dump: December 5, 2025

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Happy Friday, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here. I haven’t done a writing brain dump in a few weeks. I’m still going through the slog of editing the Rustbucket novel on a macro level, but I’ve hit a wall.

Truthfully, I’ve struggled to make much headway with the project. There are multiple reasons why. I distracted myself with holiday cleaning. I may not have made much progress with the Rustbucket novel, but my house looks and smells amazing. I may not have completed a single task I wanted to in November, but my study is so organized.

I feel stuck in Monty Python’s “Cheese Sketch.” My cheese shop is the best in the region. Why do you say that? It’s so clean. It’s certainly unsullied by cheese.

Distractions aside, I can’t get out of my own head, and that’s the real cause for writer’s block. So, I’m recommitting myself to my writing schedule. I may put the Rustbucket novel on hold for a short time and begin a new project. Who knows? Something I write during this project could provide the fuel I need for Rustbucket.

I’m not going to include any writing tips or tricks I’ve been using, because I hit a wall. Maybe I’ll dirty up my organized study with some writing, and I’ll have something more to share in a couple of weeks, when hopefully, I’ll post another writing brain dump.

I hope you all had a great Novel November. Thank you for reading, and keep writing.