There are many, many posts, essays, books, and instructional videos about starting a novel.
Not a lot about finishing a novel.
When I'm working on a novel, it is my number one project, my primary drive, my marathon race. Over that time frame, two things happen:
I become more and more attached to these characters.
I collect a lot of stuff.
So when a novel is finished, I have to also go through the process of saying goodbye to the characters. When I finished Mothers of the Missing Mermaid, I had worked on it for years. I started it during my masters program and finished it at the end of my Phd program. I then had to send it through another round of edits and revisions until it was finally ready for public consumption. I had created these imaginary people and spent every day with them, plotting out their every movements.
And while I knew I was ready to start my next project -- I had my moodboards, character sketches, and outlines all lined up -- I still had a hard time getting over the previous one. I was a little sad. I was a little disoriented. I was lost.
My therapist suggested I allow myself time to grieve the fact that I was not going to be spending the day with these characters any longer. And eventually, I was able to shed the old and welcome in the new.
And that's the process I am in right now. I feel unfocused and a little lost without a novel to work on. I'm trying to sit with the discomfort. I am trying to rest.
It kind of sucks.
But I know it's necessary because if I don't feel these feelings now, they're just going to brew and fester into a different anxiety and I'm going to have to go through this whole process again anyway, so I might as well allow myself this time now. Especially because it's almost Christmas. I can fill my cup reading books, watching good TV and movies, and organizing my space for when I do start my next novel.
I also started packing away the evidence of Pretty Girls Get Away With Murder.
I collect many things when I am working on a project. Part of my process is sketching out my scenes by hand, which means I have many notebooks, journals, and legal pad pages full of the novel. I also have post it notes with reminders of things to include. I have notecards from my outline. I have quotes from other stories that I've been using for inspiration. I also have printed pages from different series of edits.
Today I sat and gathered all those tactile artifacts of the construction of the novel. I punched holes in the printer pages and placed them in the binder. I arranged the post it notes in the pockets.
And now that binder rests on my bookshelf. The evidence of a job completed with love.
Until it's time to start the new project, I am collecting ideas and writing them on my whiteboard. I have a new idea that's partially outlined, but maybe I'll write some short pieces in the interim.
Be sure to checkout my video tour of what I have collected over the course of writing Pretty Girls Get Away With Murder as well as other tours of my writer's notebook and how I plan my time as a writer over on YouTube @thebrandibradley.
Read Books. Wear Boots.
XOXO,
B.
Get excited! Preorders are now available at brandibradley.com store. Preorders will be mailed on the release date on March 14, 2025.
Comments