The PNP is the process of creating a novel from shitty first draft (SFD) to publication. It’s one thing to read or write a how-to, and another to do them or see an actual demonstration. Not only the processes of character creation, dialogue, structure, drafting, and submission. But the angst, indecision, and self-doubt that come from putting our hearts and souls to word then placing them before the public for judgement. Things I believe all writers share and which we’re going to share with the world, because we love public repudiation. We also think it will inspire us through the times we want say screw it and binge Netflix. Now we have deadlines and responsibilities to you. As a former journalist I love deadlines. We didn’t consider this idea until our SFDs were nearly complete, so we have no podcasts for those. It seemed silly to start whole new books, but no worries. Our SFDs are posted on our PNP Patreon for subscribers to review the initial edit suggestions. The only thing you’re missing is all mocking comments we made about our funnier mistakes.
So, what is the SFD? That’s the thinking process. Your first thoughts in written form. The thing you agonize over. The anchor that slows your progress when you go back to rewrite until it’s perfect – even though you’re only on chapter two – or discourages you enough to hit the delete button. (Or ball up the paper and toss it in the basket for you old school peeps.) It’s what perpetuates the myth of the thing called writer’s block. Don’t go back and rewrite. Move forward. Keep grinding – even if you know you’re changing everything later. What happens when a few chapters later you decide on a major change that forces you to rewrite those perfect pages? Or even delete them!
I wrote hundreds of articles in the Navy. None of them were perfect out of the gate. It wasn’t until I had all my thoughts down when I could start to organize those thoughts. That’s why I love this article “Shitty First Drafts” by Anne Lamott. Her thoughts, fears and process when writing an article mirror my own and I believe applies to novel writing as well. Yes, it’s easier to go back and reshape a 750 to 2000-word article than a 100k-word novel but ignoring the shit I wrote in the first draft is what finally got me from multiple uncompleted drafts to a completed one. I just wrote and refused to turn around. Even in the face of daunting future changes and unrelenting use of the word ‘stared.’ I just vomited onto the screen with my fingers every day until I was done. As I did so, murky plot elements became clear. I saw how a minor character could become a star and how others needed to disappear. (Which in my SFD they did without explanation!) Steve discovered new elements to relationships and put a name to the string puller making his detective’s life hell. Writing this story (the next one will probably revisit hell) no longer feels like a grind. I’m looking forward to adding flesh to theses bones and seeing what Steve does with his latest ideas.
How many more drafts and rewrites do we need to do? No idea. As many as it takes. We hope you’ll stick around for the ride and grind out your SFDs with us.
– JP
For more writing and editing fun, see this article and it’s original draft edits on our Pacific Novel Project Patreon page.
Pacific Novel Project 