New Year, New Novel: Charging Ahead by Martha Reed

“The only thing harder than finishing your new novel is starting the next one” – Martha Reed

Wintry gale force winds are whipping the Allegheny River into meringue peaks as I write this blog. Both cats (Bailey and Moe) are curled up like commas in their fleecy beds, dreaming fierce jungle cat dreams as they snooze by the gas log fire. I bundled into four layers with boots and trudged out to get the mail, but that’s my outdoor adventuring for today. I’ve balanced my checkbook and scheduled February’s bill payments. In other words, I’ve cleared the deck and it’s time to face with mingled anticipation and gut-wrenching dread The Moment When I Must Start Writing My Next Book.

Every writer has a different way of getting started. Do you imagine yourself bodily leaping off a cliff yelling “Look out below!” Or is it a calm, unrippled initiative where you simply open a blank Word document and type Chapter One. I imagine Jane Austen wrote this way. I’d love to hear how you get started in the Comments.

When I think back to my first Nantucket Mystery, I recall that I spent months writing the first chapter. That was before I learned that chances are I’ll either edit the first chapter beyond all recognition or delete it altogether. I know now it’s not important where I start. The vital thing is to commit to the project and get started. It’s best to just get on with the job.

I started a new series with Love Power, my fourth book. That first blank page felt as open and vast as the Grand Canyon. What story could I tell that would fill that immense space? As I considered that question, the answer came to me: for Love Power I needed to narrow my storytelling focus down to a close-knit NOLA neighborhood, catty-corner houses on a single street. Characters who had known each other for decades. Who thought they knew everything there was to know about each other. (Spoiler alert: Surprise!) Once I mapped that boundary and hard-coded the limited cast of characters, I simply filled in the blanks.

With Up Jumped the Devil, NOLA Book Two, I felt comfortable expanding the story into other NOLA neighborhoods. I knew the main characters. I had city maps. I felt free to explore, to see where the story takes me (and where it goes).

This leads me to wonder about writers who write stand-alone novels. How do you decide where the boundaries are? Do you create imaginary neighborhoods, whole imaginary towns? When you start a new novel, do you world-build the location and the cast of characters from the ground up?

Word of the Day: Interregnum – An interval or pause between two periods of office or other things.

I’m also curious about when stories get written, the timing of things:

·        When do you start your new novel? As soon as you type “The End” or “###” on the last one?

·        Are you a linear writer who needs to complete one story before beginning another?

·        Are you juggling more than one story at a time, and if so, any advice on doing that?

·        Are you drafting a new story while editing another one or more? How does that work?

What's your process? Inquiring minds want to know.