Fiction Unboxed cover art

Fiction Unboxed

How Two Authors Wrote and Published a Book in 30 Days, from Scratch, in Front of the World, The Smarter Artist 2

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Fiction Unboxed

By: Johnny B. Truant, Sean Platt
Narrated by: Simon Whistler
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About this listen

Part hero’s journey, part crash course in storytelling by the modern mavericks of indie publishing, and the bestselling authors of Write. Publish. Repeat., Fiction Unboxed offers something that’s never been offered before: a naked look into two writer’s process, as they wrote and published a book in 30 days, from scratch, in front of the world.

In 2013 Sean Platt & Johnny B. Truant wrote and published 1.5 million words (a Harry Potter series and a half worth of fiction). The next year they showed the world how they did it.

In May 2014, Johnny and Sean, along with their third partner David Wright, launched a Kickstarter campaign to see if their fans wanted to see how they wrote behind closed doors. They promised to start their newest project without knowing their story, characters, or even their genre, and publish the final draft before their 30 days were up. They promised to capture every email, every story meeting, and every word from every draft. They promised to show every molecule of their process, warts and all.

They had 30 days for their fans to green light the campaign. It fully funded in 11 hours. Fiction Unboxed is as revealing as it is inspiring, empowering readers and writers as much as it will entertain them. With actionable advice that will benefit any writer, this book is a true gem for anyone who loves a well told story.

©2014 Johnny B. Truant and Sean Platt (P)2014 Johnny B. Truant and Sean Platt
Creativity Personal Development
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Hearing the behind the scenes story of this campaign was interesting. I'm sure I will pick up more of their non fiction work in the future.

Interesting.

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these guys are legends. Brilliant and helpful account of how they ran their kick-start campaign and wrote a novel in 30 days. inspirational and instructional. Á must read for any serious fiction writer...

frikkin Amaze-balls! !!

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As one of the 1000 unboxers this brought back many memories of the many hours I followed Sean and Johnny during the Fiction Unboxed experience.

Wonderfully written by the guys, and beautifully read (as usual) by Simon, this audio book brought back many of the emotions that us unboxers went through as we followed S&J through the 30 days and followed their emotional roller coaster as they wrote 'The Dream Engine'.

But above all, I remember feeling proud of them as I watched them achieve their goal of writing and publishing their book in 30 days, even though you could see the toll and the tiredness begin to etch on their faces (well you couldn't see a lot of Sean's towards the end!).

For a new author it was both awe inspiring and daunting. You couldn't fail to be inspired by what you were watching and listening too, but I also found it daunting because it seemed a lifetime away before I could imagine writing a first draft in a month let alone a whole book from start to finish!.

But, as usual with the SSP guys, they were fully open, honest and hard working. If you've read or listened to WPR you know they say you've got to work at it and work hard. And they certainly demonstrated this during the unboxed month, and have done so with their large library of books and their weekly SSP (we won't mention the other podcast they do!!).

This book is a warts and all look behind the scenes of writing a novel in fast frame. It talks about the process and the story that evolved from it. It talks about how they came up with ideas, characters and twists and turns. It talks about the hard knocks and the 'scary' moments all writers get (no matter how experienced) and most importantly it talked about pushing on through everything to get to the end. Because without pushing through you'll never do it.

If you are a writer and you doubt yourself and your ability, keep this by your side and listen to it as a reminder of what can be achieved if you set your mind to it and set goals. Make yourself accountable and do it.

Sean, Johnny and Dave do it all the time and they are now creating their own empire within the indie author world. You'll not go far wrong to keep them and their motivation (tune into their weekly podcast - Self Publishing Podcast) close by.

Yes, they really did do it!

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This book (well narrated) describes the way the three hosts of the self-publishing podcast hastily decided to write, in the public eye, a novel in a month. It shares both the highs and the lows of the journey and what they learnt along the way.

An under-the-covers look at writing

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I bought this after finishing Write Publish Repeat, a book i enjoyed but initially struggled to get into. Not so this book: I lapped it up as fast as possible. It's filled with great advice on writing stories - alone or as a duo - but, the best part of it is seeing the story come alive along the way. Layer by layer it comes into being, proving the old adage: don't get it right, get it written

A brilliant guide to the creative process

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