On Starting a New Novel
The excitement (and work) of book five begins.
My revision of my summer 2025 novel, Our Last Vineyard Summer, is complete — well, it’s in my editor’s hands now and will likely go through one more round of edits. But (BUT!!) the big edit is done.
With a gap in my schedule, this is when my mind begins looking for a new project to take on.
I had a few new book ideas bouncing around my head over the summer. One was a historical fiction novel about a real-life iconic newspaperwoman. Another was something contemporary that was set in Europe. But when I sat down to scribble down my thoughts, I had a different vision: The three characters who I daydreamed about back in June returned to me. I find them the most interesting of all of the others, and they passed the longevity test. Who would I want to spend several months or more with?
The hardest part of beginning a new novel is this: uncertainty. There are so many unknowns. With only the first and second chapters written, I’ve been working on trying to see everything about these characters—their personalities, their clothes, the time period in which they live and their house and garden. I’ve been honing in on how to structure the plot. Also, where should I begin in their lives, and whose point of view should come first? Is this a multi-POV novel? Is it dual timeline?
These types of open-ended questions might seem overwhelming to someone who doesn’t write. But for the writer, they are filled with so much possibility and excitement. Beginning a story is a little like filling an empty room; you get to make all of the choices, down to the placement and fabric of the furniture. At times, it feels like a lot, but you’re often overrun with excitement, too.
Some writers will spend a lot of time in research and outline mode at this point. I always begin with a blank page. I like to just write and see the characters as they come to me. It’s a way to get to know the characters early on. Sometimes I will stop and google photos of a place I’m writing about or read an article that would pertain to them for inspiration. Mostly, I just free write.
At this point, I’m also very focused on the names of characters. If I can get the character’s names just right, they suddenly come alive on the page. Last week, I spent many minutes scrolling through babynames.com, like I’m trying to name my first born. I think I have my main character’s name; it’s feeling right but again, I’m open to changing it. In my last book, my character had a different name for three months before I realized it just didn’t suit her.
A key element of working on a new book: You have to trust that all of this inefficiency will turn into a novel. I know that I will feel like I’m walking around in the dark for awhile holding a flashlight before I can see everything. Honestly, that sensation will remain for even longer, even after some big elements of a book are nailed down. But now that I’ve written a few books, I know that it will always gel into something worth reading.
One last thing: I keep a very committed writing schedule during this time. This can be the hardest part of a book — getting the initial story down — and if I don’t show up every day, the story won’t grow and evolve. So that is where I will be headed for the rest of the day. To my desk. Parachuting into a brand new world and meeting all new people and trying to figure out how to tell a feel good story.
The names are the turning point, I go to babynames too, or I google popular names in 1987. It can be a major rabbit hole
Names are crucial for grounding me, but more important than that is the title. It's works like a compass. Some manuscripts have had a new title for each draft, to reflect the deeper emotional truth at the story's core. I'm a pantser, so the title works as my outline.