#119: Creating In Public
“James Patterson is a terrible writer who became very very successful.” - Stephen King.
He has sold over 425 million copies of his books. Today, out of every 100 hardcovers sold, 6 are his. How can a terrible writer become the bestselling living author of all time?
Does he know something that we newbie writers don’t know?
This is the question I have been pondering in this month of November.
November is now unofficially a month of writers. Each year thousands of writers glue to their laptops to write their novels. If you don’t know about National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) it is about time you find out.
Back in 1999, a bunch of writers got together to write their novels in a month. They had so much fun chasing the deadline and wrote much more than they would have otherwise that they put together a website and invited writers all over the world to do the same.
The goal is to write 50,000 words in 30 days, 1667 words per day. Of course, you can write more on the days you can and less on the days when life decides to interfere, but as long as you write 50,000 words by midnight on 30 November, you win.
I have been participating in this challenge since I first learned about it in 2011. I have won it three times. But none of my novels have seen the light of day, yet. This year I decided to up the ante and publish my novel as I wrote it. Chapter by chapter, at the end of each day.
Daily posting has forced me to write better drafts. It is a completely new way of writing fiction for me. Previously, I used to write ‘shitty’ drafts and don’t even look at them after the challenge was over. This year I am editing them at the end of each session and publishing them before midnight. This approach of creating in public is both exhilarating and frightening.
There are three reasons I adopted this process.
1. James Patterson
2. Dean Weasley Smith
3. Article Writing
Let me talk about James Patterson first.
James Patterson always wanted to become a writer. Even when he was working as a copywriter, he was writing fiction. His first novel was rejected 31 times before it was published.
“The Thomas Berryman Number” won the prestigious Edgar award for the best debut novel from the Mystery Writers of America. The book was critically acclaimed but sold less than 10,000 copies.
Afterward, Patterson wrote 6 more novels, all of which were duds.
But it was during the process of writing the 8th novel that he had an epiphany.
Patterson had the habit of writing with a pencil on paper. Before writing his novel, he would first create a long outline. All the scenes would be outlined. The hero and the villain’s back stories would be outlined. He would know the beginning, middle, and end before he started writing the book. Sometimes, his outlines would be 50 pages long.
But during his eighth book, when he was going through the outline, he realized something. He had already written the book. The short scenes in his long outline seemed perfect. It kept the pace of the book. Why flesh it with boring details to make the book longer?
Patterson realized that his outline made a better book than a book filled with long detailed scenes. And so, he made the whole book full of short, quick scenes. 2-3 page chapters. Each chapter with one scene, and one thought.
“Along Came The Spider” hit the second spot on the New York Times bestsellers list. It was a page-turner.
Patterson’s quick pacing and two-minute chapters hit the perfect spot with the attention deficit readers, and Patterson realized that what he is best at is not crafting stories that were memorable, or writing prose that is quotable but pacing the stories in such a way that gave readers the thrill they were seeking.
The next is Dean Wesley Smith.
Dean has written over 200 novels and 100 short stories. He has won several awards as well. In his earlier book, Dean outlined some books but then he realized outlining took the fun out of his creativity. He also hated rewriting. His process is, which he calls ‘cycling,’ to write 500-600 words, read and edit them, and then write the next 500 words. He outlines as he goes. He has written a book ‘Writing Into The Dark’ which explains his process in detail.
I found I follow this process when I write articles on Medium and even my newsletter on Substack each Friday. Every Friday, when I open Substack, I have no idea what I am going to write about. I start with something, remember a story related to it, and off I go.
If the process can work with non-fiction, why can’t it work with fiction?
I was going to write a non-fiction book for this year’s NaNoWriMo. But I came up with an idea to fictionalize it. I created two characters and started writing them.
I wrote the first chapter and the story just flew. I had a ball writing it. The same thing happened the next day and the next. Three days in, three chapters were done and readers were already reading them.
It is a fun way of writing a book. You get instant feedback. You learn on the go. And you don’t have to keep the first draft in the bottom drawer thinking one day you will polish it.
If you are interested to read the adventures of a middle-aged woman who wants to succeed as an online writer and hires a young mentor to help her reach there, here is the link.
This week I am reading The Eight Crafts Of Writing by Stefan Emunds. It was recommended to me by Carol Seymour from The Gray Camper Van Writer. The book became handy while I embarked on writing a novel this month.
The book summarises the concepts taught in countless writing books that normally pick one or two crafts at a time. Having them handy in one place and written in notes style format helps you go through them quickly to refresh your memory. This is where the value of the book lies. It doesn’t go into detail on any one craft but gives a good and thorough overview of each one of them. If you are new to fiction writing, this book should be your writing point.
The newsletter I have been enjoying recently was Pallavi Aiyar’s The Global Jigsaw, although ‘enjoying’ is not the right word to describe its recent issues. A globe trotter, Pallavi Aiyar was diagnosed with breast cancer and has recently gone through a mastectomy. Her heart-wrenching account of breaking the news to her boys and then going through the surgery and lying in the bed instead of holidaying in Edinburgh will touch you to the core. The reality that it could happen to any one of us is frightening.
My apologies that this newsletter is a day late. I was experiencing issues with my internet and Substack seemed to have some problems with the dashboard as well.
The Write Your Book In 30 Days sprint commenced on the 1st of November. We have one new and two repeat participants.
That’s all from me this week.
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It's very brave to create in public like that, but it sounds like you are having fun doing it - congratulations.
Wow! What an enlightening article! Thank you for sharing your process and creative NaNo story chapters.