Fiction Unboxed  is a project from Sean Platt, Johnny B. Truant, and David Wright (hosts of the Self-Publishing Podcast and authors of ‘Write, Publish, Repeat’ and a load of novels). They are pulling back the curtain and broadcasting their story meetings, posting their raw, unedited drafts, and letting the world in on their process as they write a novel in thirty days.

To view all the content, you need to pay, but you can get the rundown on what they are doing each day for free at www.fictionunboxed.com.

I subscribed, partly because I was curious about their process and partly as a way of saying thanks for all the free content on the podcast. I also truly enjoy their novels, and I was interested to see one come together from scratch.

While I was happy to pay the cost to subscribe in order to support the project, I wasn’t sure what to expect.

We are five days in and, so far, it has been utterly fascinating.

Here are a few observations thus far:

1. It’s pretty inspiring how authentic and real the guys are in revealing their process. Case in point: on day two, the story timeline Sean brought to the table wasn’t working for the other guys. After the meeting stalled, they agreed to take some time to clear their heads, rethink the ideas, and reconvene later. The second story meeting of the day was much more productive. I love that we got to see that, warts and all.
2. The way they collaborate is different than I expected. I think Johnny pointed it out of day three, but in their story meetings they rarely change each other’s ideas. It is more about building on each other’s ideas.
3. It really makes me want to collaborate with another author at some point. I’ve been lucky enough to be part of a few great creative collaborations in my life (Six-String Bliss, Real Dad Fitness, etc). When I was in my early twenties, two friends and I started a production company called Plethora Films. Those were fun, crazy times, but my favorite memories are the story meetings. Sitting in a room with Jonathan and Greg for hours discussing story. Those were some of the most creatively fulfilling times of my life.Watching Sean, Dave, and Johnny has brought those memories back in a powerful way.

   So, someday I intend to collaborate on some fiction. I’ve even got a pretty neat idea for a unique method of collaboration (I think). There are some things I want to do before I get to that, but it’ll happen eventually.