I had a great comment on my last post written by one of my Creative Writing students (of whom I am a great fan btw). Her comment:
"I can't wait to read your first book! Now...I can't wait to read your second one, when it comes out...and would love to hear more about the story and characters as the manuscript progresses. What is your process like for creating a beginning and ending? I know it's different for all writers...some already know the ending and write the whole body of the story knowing...and some let the ending evolve naturally...and others do something in between the two. Is it always the same process for you?"
No matter what kind of award-winning, jaw-dropping, awe-inspiriing beginning and ending I create, I will inevitably cut, rewrite, be equally impressed for a while, and then cut it again. My first novel: Don't Tell, had about a million beginnings and two billion endings before I settled. (Only slight exaggeration.) I can't say too much because Don't Tell is so new, and many of you have not finished reading it yet, and I don't want to give anything away, but let's just say that the beginning AND ending is not how it used to be. At all.
I really, really, really hope the ending of my newest book will be what I envision. But I have to give it over to Angel and Jesse, because it is their story to tell, not mine. I just hope they like my idea. It's really, really good. And since I'm so sure of this, it probably means it will be slashed. Sigh. Writing, really writing, is about giving over. Kind of like in the12-steps when we turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understand God, I turn my characters and their story over to the care of the characters themselves to tell their own story. Total surrender.
Thanks for asking, Emma!
xooxo
