🤔 Q&A #1

Answering your questions about my new book and the process.

When I first posted about this project, I asked what you wanted to learn from me during the process. I put all those questions in a list and today I spent some time going through and answering a bunch of them.

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Q: Is this project a follow-up to The Shithead or something entirely new?

A: Something entirely new. I consider The Shithead a standalone novel and have no plans to return to that universe.

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Q: How did you come up with your theme or “why”? Was that something you talked through with Shawn or discovered on your own?

A: I came up with the initial theme (Non-negotiable) on my own. I wanted to write about getting trapped in an ideology and what it was like to find my way out. I grew up very religious and it took me a long time and a lot of pain to leave it. So I wanted to write about that. As I talked about it with Shawn, it morphed and solidified into being about what it’s like to have your autonomy captured by individuals that want to use you for their benefit. For me, this happened several times when I was in my twenties and flailing around trying to find out who I was. I basically was going to people, both that I knew and that were internet-famous, asking, “Can you tell me who I am?” and if they gave a compelling answer, I would throw in with their ideology. Eventually, I started getting the answer from myself instead of others. That’s the journey I want to explore.

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Q: Do you write scenes in order (1, 2, 3…) or jump around based on energy or interest? Do you only write core scenes first or mix them in with other scenes?

A: I write my scenes in order. I attack writing a book like a job. It’s not about it feeling good or my energy or my interest level that day. I set my alarm for 5:30am, I get up, and I either work on the scene I didn’t finish the day before or I start the next scene. When I’m in practice mode between projects, I’ll jump around and try different things that challenge me. But when it comes to writing a book, I lock in and take it extremely seriously. I start at the beginning and write straight through to the end.

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Q: Are there scenes you're afraid to write? How do you approach those?

A: Afraid isn’t the right word. There were scenes in The Shithead that I felt a lot of pressure to get right. But they were also the ones I looked forward to working on because of the challenge. In this book, there are definitely a handful of scenes that I think, “Ohhhh, that’s gonna be a toughie." But that’s part of the fun and the challenge.

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Q: How do you handle feedback from Shawn? Do you always agree? If not, how do you resolve disagreements?

A: I used to disagree with him a lot. I would argue and push for what I wanted. But after years of going through the process of arguing, then eventually realizing he was right, I decided it was more efficient just to assume he’s right all the time.

There’s a great quote I use all the time from Bill Hader:

“When people tell you what doesn't work, they're usually right. When they tell you how to fix it, they're usually wrong.”

When Shawn says something won’t work or isn’t working, I simply accept it as gospel. When we move into his suggestions on how to fix it, I think of it like a compass. He’s definitely pointing me in the right direction so I should accept what he’s saying, but I always have to find my way there on my own.

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Q: What does your daily writing process look like (tools, targets, scheduling)?

A: Most days, I set my alarm at 5:30am and try to be writing by 6:00am after making coffee, taking the dogs out, etc. This usually gives me a solid hour, sometimes more, before life starts ramping up. My day job is CEO of Story Grid—which is a 60+ hour a week job—so I have to fit in writing just like everybody else.

I don’t do daily word count targets. I think they are harmful to the process. I know how to sit down and lock in and focus. So I do that for an hour. Sometimes I get a couple of hundred words. Sometimes I get over a thousand. It doesn’t matter. If I get up and write every day and take it seriously, the book will get done.

That said, I also don’t put a lot of pressure on myself. If Candace and I go out and I do a bunch of drinking and don’t get to bed until midnight, then I just sleep in. If I don’t work on the book the next day, that’s ok. I’ll be back at it tomorrow.

Oh, and I use Scrivener to write because I like how easy it is to organize my writing. But I only use about 1% of its functionality. I also only use it to write books so when I open it, it tells my brain, “It’s book writing time. Lock in.”

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Q: How do you find time to write with everything else you’re doing?

A: I kind of addressed this above, but this is an important one.

Two and a half years ago, I had a realization.

I said I wanted to grow Story Grid into a great company and write world-class fiction. But if you turned down the volume on my life and just watched what I spent my time doing, you wouldn’t be able to tell that’s what I wanted.

So I started cutting distractions out of my life which included things I loved doing but weren’t getting me to those goals. I eventually cut everything down to the bone. I made time for family, work, writing, and exercise—that’s pretty much it.

It was three months after this decision that I started writing what became The Shithead.

I believe in life, if we use our time wisely, we only have enough time to become truly great at a handful of things. Maybe five. Being a father, husband, and dealing with my emotional health took up three of those so I was down to two. So growing Story Grid and becoming a writer is what I focus on. Everything else in my life dies on that hill.

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Q: Can you track start/stop times for writing sessions? Can you show revision stats (e.g., average time per draft, scene progress tracking)? Can you capture your live writing process (like artists do in Photoshop)? Can you do video or screen recordings of the writing process, possibly with commentary?

A: No, I’m not doing any of this. First of all, it would be distracting for both of us and, second, not help you at all. Who cares how long my writing sessions are? I can’t imagine how tracking that would help anyone, including myself. And you want to watch me write live? I can’t imagine anything more boring and unhelpful. Also, my spelling is atrocious 😃.

I will be talking about revision process, how it works, etc. here, but I’m not going to do extra work beyond writing for this Substack to track my progress. And I won’t do anything that could harm the process of writing the book, such as screen recording my process. I’ve done that before, and it’s distracting for me. It feels like someone is watching me write in real time, which pulls my focus from the task at hand.

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Q: How long does each draft take to complete? How many drafts do scenes usually go through? Are there noticeable revision patterns or common sticky points? How do you revise when something isn’t working?

A: When something isn’t working, I go through a process that is something like:

1. Stop for the day before I get too frustrated.

2. Try again the next day, and see if I can break through the block. This usually works. If I can’t break through, I mark it [TK] and move on to the next scene.

3. If it happens again on the next scene, I stop, send what I have to Shawn and go over it with him.

I can’t imagine writing a book without an editor to dialogue with. I’m currently working with two of our Writer Mentorship students on their book projects as their editor, and it’s so helpful for us to be checking in constantly through the process.

As far as how many drafts, here’s how we work through things.

There are three phases to a completed manuscript.

• Phase 1: Write a working draft.

• Phase 2: Edit the draft until it’s ready to be locked for production.

• Phase 3: Copyedit, line edit, proofread, etc. All the boring but necessary parts to get it ready for publication.

For Phase 1, the goal is a working draft on the first try. This is the whole point of my spending two years becoming good at scene writing and then working through the Narrative Path. If I can reliably write scenes and I’ve locked a working global story, then there’s no reason my first draft shouldn’t be a working story. All this bullshit about “discovery drafts” where people write 100,000 words to figure out what their novel is about is a complete waste of time and energy. It’s like saying the way you get from Los Angeles to New York City is to walk. Yeah, sure, I guess that works but there’s also way more efficient and enjoyable ways to go about it.

For The Shithead, after the initial draft, I did one round of edits using the Story Grid Spreadsheet and the Action/Status levels of the Genre Blueprint to clean up some things before I showed it to Shawn. I’m planning on doing the same here.

Phase 2 becomes pretty messy. It’s hard to track how many edits any one scene goes through. For The Shithead, Shawn initially read it and gave me some notes. I rewrote and fixed some things based on those notes. Then he did a full line-by-line edit and gave it back to me. He came up with the Faye storyline (Narrative Device) and heavily rewrote the first scene as well. I went through and approved 90% of his edits, fixed the other parts and at that point we locked the manuscript and moved it to Phase 3. But in there was a lot of back and forth and rewrites of particular scenes. So, globally, two edits. But that makes it sound cleaner and more straightforward than it actually was.

At this point we “lock” the manuscript which means we’re not allowed to make any other major changes to the book.

Phase 3 involves powering through reading and rereading the book after every round of technical edits. It’s the boring but necessary part.

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Ok, I got through a bunch of your initial questions. If you have other questions, post them as comments and I’ll add them to the list and keep doing these Q&As from time to time.