Press Release: StoryBilder – Driven by the Power of Story

The ability of story to transport, enlighten, and entertain has been a human social driver since the beginning of time. For StoryBilder, the search for ways to enable better storytelling is the only quest worth pursuing.

(TORONTO, ON, March 4, 2019)  Storytelling is a fundamental human impulse. People use stories to communicate, to connect, and to influence. Narrative helps people make sense of the past and imagine the future. The best stories help process fear, promote empathy, and allow readers to experience places and ideas far beyond their daily reach.

For StoryBilder founder Tanya Gough, the drive to build a creative writing platform was a natural by-product of her entrepreneurial and varied career, defined in turns by education, content management and technology. Having self-published two books in her spare time, she was frustrated by the lack of suitable writing systems for early and mid-career writers. What products she could find were mostly organizational tools, largely targeted toward professional writers or very early education. “The adult programs really weren’t all that much fun,” she says, “and they lacked the element of serendipity necessary for true creativity to occur.”

There were technical challenges, as well. The resulting solution had to be comprehensive but simple to use, and accommodate a diversity of genres, story formats and individual story arcs, as well as writers’ varying preferences and experience levels. It also had to be flexible enough to support a multitude of stories being written in their own unique ways. Ultimately, the solution lay in a three-part, integrated platform, with a guidance and prompts for those who need them, a flexible toolkit for those who don’t, and a shared asset library where users can borrow and contribute to the collection as required. It took three years to develop and to get it right.

At the heart of the platform, StoryBilder is built on educationally sound principals to ensure users get the most out of their writing experience. “The idea is to be suggestive, never prescriptive,” says Gough. “StoryBilder is built to stimulate ideas, rather than limit them. We don’t care if you deviate from the standard models we offer. But if you’re going to break the rules, you should do it for a reason that serves your story, not because you just didn’t know any better.”

With self-publishing, blogging and social media still on the rise, the human impulse to share stories continues to evolve. Over one million books were self-published in 2017 alone (source: Publishers Weekly), while the number of hobby and fan fiction writers publishing on platforms such as Wattpad (70 million unique users per month), FanFiction.net (10 million registered users) and AO3 (1.8 million registered users) show no signs of waning.

The next step for StoryBilder will be a Kickstarter beginning April 9, 2019 to help cover server costs as the platform goes into preview testing with crowdfunding supporters gaining early access ahead of the public launch. Additional funds will help accelerate new feature and app development.

To learn more about StoryBilder and their upcoming Kickstarter campaign visit www.storybilder.com.

About StoryBilder
Based in Toronto, Ontario, StoryBilder is a visualization and idea-generating platform that transforms the way you write by making writing interactive, collaborative and social. The platform combines education and creativity tools in a framework that helps guide new and inexperienced writers, offers suggestions and discovery tools to help overcome writer’s block, and a flexible work environment that provides as much (or as little) structure as the author needs. Learn more at www.storybilder.com.

For media inquiries:

Contact:

Tanya Gough, founder
StoryBilder, Ltd.
Ph. 647-792-5010
pr@storybilder.com