First Draft, First Season, Into the Nanten is Unedited and Ready to Roll

Written by the illustrious Jay Swanson

I just finished the first draft of Into the Nanten (ITN) tonight. Then, in one of those deflating moments of self-awareness, I realized that’s all it is.

That’s not to say I didn’t get excited. The sensation is much the same as finishing a book (and at 107,114 words, ITN might qualify) which is a really satisfying feeling. But as I look at reviewing the last batch of posts to edit them, I was struck with a fear that has followed me through the entire process.

If there was one thing I’d hope people would understand, it’s this: Into the Nanten is an unedited piece of fiction.

Unedited – Unfiltered – Unflattering?

This won’t come as a shock to the people who have pointed out some of my more grievous and repetitive errors (for which I am always grateful – I do go back and fix them when I find them). But I always wonder whether or not there are people who get started and go, “meh,” simply because ITN doesn’t have the full polish.

Dionus in his unedited, unfinished glory from Entry 116

I could have waited, but that wasn’t what this project was supposed to be. The idea was so vibrant in the moment that the few months it took to get the ball rolling felt like torture enough as it was. If I’d had to write the whole thing up front, edit it, revise it, then start posting it, the whole experience would have been different. And I wanted to write while it was live. I wanted to be nimble, to be able to let it evolve on its own and take some unexpected turns. I didn’t want it to be rigid, and it’s been rewarding to see it grow in ways I didn’t expect.

The problem is that when I’m writing, and as I see improvements in my writing over time, I start to feel confident. For a fleeting moment I know I’m good at this and I’m getting better. I know the story is good. I know that at the very least I am excited by what I’ve written and am doubly so by what I know is to come.

Then I get a bit of perspective and that all comes loose. I start to wonder, am I like Patton Oswalt’s wizard?

It’s in that most unfortunate of wizard moments I realize that I’m probably writing drivel. And now people are getting to see my unedited wizard drivel? They get to see how terrible I really am at writing? There are no filters. No one is actively watching for mistakes to point them out before it hits the internet.

[No one wanted to – my usual crew opted out because none of them wanted to spoil the story for themselves! They wanted to read along with everyone else.]

So here I am, doing battle with grand wizards in my head like a badass when in reality I’m just chilling out in a psych ward somewhere cuddling a stuffed Alf.

Unedited Appearance

Creating ITN has been a blast. It has forced me to write regularly, to think in a different form, to reveal myself in a new way. Marceles and I have so little in common, and yet we share so much. You all get to see that in a very unfiltered way.

We share in our ignorance, moments of self-righteousness, and blindness to ourselves. Marceles walks through life on assurances he’s held for his entire life only to have them melt in the face of the challenges a new world brings. He’s oblivious because he took what he knew to be fact before he ever stepped outside and put it to real tests.

Like I said, we share a lot. And you get to see that without anyone combing through it for me.

Moving Forward

All that scares me less now. I’m just happy that I’ve managed to make it this far. I will feel doubly accomplished when it’s all out and available for you to read. That’s what can be maddening, having no one to give me feedback until it’s already out in the open. “Oh there was a glaring error in paragraph three? Well, I’m really glad only 200 people read that before you told me about it.”

Have you enjoyed it? Will you want a second season? Those are the fears that linger still.

Whatever happens, I have no regrets with this season. And if you found any typos along the way, feel free to tell me where they are. I’d love to hunt them down and kill them for you.

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