H ow to end my novel was never an issue for me; I knew exactly how it would end before I’d typed a word. It was the journey to reach the end that lay ahead of me.
But at the end of June, at the point where I believed I was within one chapter of finishing my first draft, I came away from my interviews with literary agents at the London Festival of Writing with the unsettling news that I needed to turn this, the first part of my trilogy, into a standalone novel. Gulp.
Throughout July, August and September I struggled with how to end my novel without writing a first draft that ran to 3000 pages. I experimented with different endings that ranged from adding one, short epilogue chapter, to summarising the following fifteen years in order to reach the denouement.
The first felt too hasty, as if I just wanted to finish the thing, and the second felt like I’d written volume one, then compacted volumes two and three in fast forward mode. The rhythm of the whole draft was altered and felt forced.
I was also painfully aware that, instead of sliding gracefully from the arc of the novel, into closure, I was beginning another mini arc.
Setting a deadline
A s the weeks and months slipped by, I was painfully aware that I needed to bring my draft to a conclusion or it could drag on for the rest of the year, and I had other fish to fry. My Banana Road publisher was relinquishing publishing and had handed publishing rights back to me. I needed to crack on with preparations to move from partnership publishing to self-publishing as soon as I was legally permitted to do so.
It was time to bite the bullet. I set myself a deadline of 30 September to get my draft to my alpha reader (Jack).
Having spent over 20 years as a freelance travel writer, I have a Pavlovian response to deadlines, even when they’ve been set by me. It worked. On the last working day of September I emailed my draft to Jack for him to read for the first time.
A week later I emailed a revised draft with a different ending. Sigh.
I always find Jack’s feedback invaluable. I may not always like it, but it always results in a better version of whatever I’m writing so I’m hoping that, once he’s read the draft he’ll be able to give me his opinion as to how to end my novel.
I have read the thing so many times I can no longer detach the finished product from the multiple drafts, the thinking processes, and the lurking doubts that dog every sentence. A fresh pair of eyes doesn’t bring any of that baggage and will simply see the text for what it is, or what I hope it is – a compelling story.
And hopefully one he’ll be able to help me bring to a satisfactory end.
