Into the Nanten: The World’s First Real-Time Fantasy Blog

Writing the world’s first real-time fantasy blog is unlike anything else I’ve ever done. I had written three fantasy books and plenty of blog posts, but I had never written anything like this:

Into the Nanten is the journal of Marceles na Tetrarch, a warrior currently exiled to the Nanten – a jungle so hostile that to enter it willingly is considered suicide. It is updated in real time (EST) – when he finishes an entry or illustration it appears here in our world, on the blog. He writes almost every evening.

Here are three major differences between producing Into the Nanten and pretty much anything else I’ve ever written.

 

Pressure
If you’ve ever written a book (or made a noble attempt at it), you know how much pressure can build. There’s the oppressive sense that it has to be “worth it.” Worth the time people must invest to read it. Worth the paper it’s printed on. Worth your effort to write in the first place.

There’s the broiling uncertainty if you have “what it takes” to write something of substance. Even if it has a sliver of objective value to it, you wonder if anyone will take the time to read it. Will they enjoy it? Will they dig up your deepest self from between the lines, and with it all your personal flaws and shortcomings? Your craft somehow becomes a public measurement of your very soul for all to see.

Into the Nanten is no different, and has a few additional pressures that tag along.

For one, there’s the never-ending deadline. I post a new entry every day (with rare exceptions), which requires graphics and tweets and Facebook posts along with it. Everything has to be scheduled out in advance, but I can only schedule as far as I have resources available (namely illustrations). And when you’re sitting staring at an empty Dropbox folder, waiting for illustrations to appear the day a post is supposed to go live (from the back of a taxi speeding from the airport), you start to feel a little pressure.

Instead of handing over a finished product all at once, one that you’ve had ample time to revisit and rework at your leisure, the final product is built one step at a time in front of your audience. Live. I have a couple of months worth of buffer that I can play with, but there is little-to-no going back once it’s out.

What’s written is written, which brings me to the lack of polish on the whole thing.

 

Polish
One of the biggest things missing from my first book (that is present in my second and third) is polish. Anyone who says “I could see you grow as I read the book,” may be paying you a compliment – but it’s simultaneously a harsh critique.

On the upside: I have grown a lot as I’ve written.

There’s no time for edits, revisions, or proof edits on Into the Nanten. It’s a living creature, one that grows every day and never looks back. I could have taken a longer route – I could have written the whole thing and spent eons reworking it – but I wanted it to be raw. Marceles doesn’t edit; he’s too busy dodging cannibals and cursing leeches.

I wanted it to be fresh, quick to print, and if nothing else a responsive experiment.

That means the blemishes are still there. The typos aren’t all found (though I appreciate the emails that let me know when they are). The sentences aren’t all perfect.

But the excitement is higher. There’s a sense of vibrancy in the unfinished. I feel more vulnerable with this project, and yet the risks that come along with it spark a different reward than I’ve had before. It’s quick and dirty, but that doesn’t mean it takes less work.

 

Persistence
To borrow one of Marceles’ favorite words, I don’t think I’ve ever slogged so hard on a written project in my life.

Into the Nanten claims hours of my day, every day. If I’m not writing entries, I’m editing graphics. If the quotes are finished, I’m tweaking the website and trying to catch up on the Summary to Date. When I’m not working with my illustrator and directing his workflow, I’m honing the Kickstarter for season two, writing tweets for @MTetrarch, or working on the first draft of a related novel – The Butcher of Rinoa: Salisir’s Story.

When I wrote books or blogs, I was able to do it at what I would consider my own pace. I wrote books in spurts when I had the energy and motivation. I wrote blog entries as I felt I had something worth writing (which was regularly when I was living in western Africa). But Into the Nanten has no grace period. I set one date, the launch and have been under the gun ever since.

And I’ve absolutely loved it.

There is a freedom in structure. One of the biggest reasons I made myself do Into the Nanten this way was because it would force me to write. I’ve always said I won’t be a worthy author until I’ve published 1 million words. Marceles’ journey into the jungle brings me one step closer to that goal with every mile he gains on Brin Salisir.

Into the Nanten, though the most challenging, vulnerable, and stressful project I’ve ever worked on is also the single most rewarding. I get giddy writing the posts and even more excited when I realize where an arc is headed. I squeal when I see fresh illustrations in my Dropbox. And yet there is a stable satisfaction that comes with publishing a post and letting it go.

This story was meant to be immersive, and I have certainly immersed myself in it. I can only hope I’m not the only one.

You can start reading Into the Nanten from the beginning by clicking here.