WIP tell-all

all secrets revealed about the story i'm working on

For the past year or so (or the past six years on-and-off, depending on how you look at it), I’ve been working on a novel that I like to call my “friendship love story.” It’s a contemporary novel about three close friends breaking apart and coming back together as they navigate their first semester after high school. It alternates between the points of view of the three main characters: Violet, who has found herself despite her extreme anxiety, as an exchange student in her grandmother’s homeland of France; Alycia, who is trying hard to prove her independence even as ties from her hometown drag her down; and Aaron, the hometown golden boy whose rose-coloured view of life is quickly getting smudged.

Talking about my works-in-progress (WIP) is something that I find awkward and uncomfortable, so naturally I thought, why not dedicate an entire newsletter to talking about it??

Where did you get the idea for your book?

I always find myself writing stories about questions I have or things that are bugging me. I wrote this is a love story because it bugged me how in denial and scared I had been of my own mental health. This current WIP, no surprises, also has the characters dealing with various mental health issues, as well as self-discovery. I wrote the first few drafts throughout my university years, writing through my own experiences of self-discovery and friendship throughout those years. Now as I’m in revisions for draft 3, years later, I can reflect on those years and bring a new perspective.

What is the book about?

My favourite themes at the moment: self-discovery, coming of age, mental health and illness, friendship and interpersonal relationships. It’s about that time right after high school when you’re freshly 18, feel like you’re an adult now, and have no idea what you’re doing but you’re not quite ready to admit that yet.

What is your main character like?

There are three main characters in this book! I’m writing alternating point-of-view between the three friends/main characters: Violet, Aaron, and Alycia. I love reading alternating POVs, there’s just something about seeing the same events from multiple perspectives that I love, so it is SO fun to write and also SO complicated! But mostly fun.

This is my summary of my three POV characters:

💜 Violet
-anxious and timid with new people and experiences; needs a push sometimes
-a bit sheltered but threw herself out of her comfort zone to study in France
-is terrible at making friends but good at keeping them
-made of feelings
-has a big squishy heart; loves a lot

💙 Alycia
-stubbornly independent
-keeps herself busy to not think about things too much
-ambitious af
-will do it herself because no one else will
-pulls herself up by her bootstraps
-works very hard to look put together to everyone but is falling apart inside
-really just needs a hug but will never ask for one

💛 Aaron
-happy-go-lucky kid who’s had nothing but good luck so far
-the boy all the church ladies call a “nice young man”
-idealistic & optimistic to a fault
-a bit naïve which makes moving away from home real hard (for sure the one that has no idea how to study in university)
-loves learning
-honest & transparent

Where is your book set?

Aaron, Violet, and Alycia are all from a fictional small town in my province. To be honest, I have never lived in a small town, but I did have a beta reader who is from a small town say I did a pretty good job. Aaron and Alycia go to the same university in “the city” a couple hours from their hometown, and Violet is doing a study exchange in Lille, France. I have also never been to France, but I am hoping one day I can go and count it as a writing “work” trip. :)

What has your writing process been like for this book?

As I said, I started writing this book in university. My writing process is and never will be very consistent, but that’s life. I wrote a couple drafts in university, sent it out to one or two betas (and got some really good, positive feedback) and it has been stuck in my head since then. It’s the first thing I wanted to go back to once I was done writing and publishing this is a love story. Not only has this story and these characters been stuck in my head, I’ve also had the pleasant surprise of rereading my drafts and thinking, hey this is pretty good actually. That almost never happens, so I’m going with it!

Right now I’m on the tail end of draft 3. Draft three for me is the clean-up draft. I know the characters, I know the story, I just want to tighten things up here and there. I would take this stage over a first draft any day! Once I finish this draft, I’ll put feelers out to my regular beta readers (and maybe collect a couple more?) to get another round of feedback while maybe doing some submissions research.

How has this book changed over your multiple drafts?

I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently. When I first started writing this book, I was quite a bit younger than I am now and I was determined to stay in touch with all my friends forever, so the main point I was trying to make in the early drafts was don’t give up on your friends. I have an essay in this is a love story about just that called “heartbreak”. Now, I’m older and have come to understand that sometimes relationships just change, or you change and you realize certain relationships aren’t good for you or aren’t serving you anymore. So now I have to think, okay, so what’s the point of this story now? Why do these friends come back together? What am I trying to say? I’m still not sure if I’ve really worked it out yet. (Maybe in draft four I will).

Would I like this book?

If you enjoyed this is a love story, this book is basically the fiction version of that. Also if you like friendship stories, stories that prioritize friendship over romance, coming-of-age, contemporary fiction or YA, that’s kind of the vibe. Along the lines of a Melina Marchetta book (but I don’t think I’m quite at her level of genius yet!)

And a question from an Instagram follower: when will I be able to read it??

Right now! Here’s a snippet:

Savannah throws her leg over the bike, somehow without catching her dress on anything. “So, where is this hill Anne talked about?”
	Violet doesn’t respond because she’s got another text. But it’s not Alycia, still, it’s her mom asking how she’s doing. I’m good. She can’t help but let her heart and face fall. Did Alycia not like her anymore? Had Violet imagined the good times they had this summer? Was it never meant to last? Maybe she had imagined their connection completely? It hurts to lose what she thought was a friend so soon. 
	Violet jumps when something hits her from behind. Savannah’s just run into the back tire of Violet’s borrowed bike with hers. “Violet,” Savannah says. “Who’s that? Why do you suddenly look like you’re about to cry?”
	Violet rubs her hands over her face, trying to let go of all her inner thoughts. She stares at the horizon where the sun is threatening to dip behind the hills before they can enjoy its setting fully. “Sorry, I’m… just a friend of mine back home isn’t replying to me.” She shrugs hoping she seems nonchalant and pushes off the sandy gravel driveway. “Let’s go.”
	Violet leads them down the gravel country road that Anne and Joel’s quaint French farmhouse is on and into the rolling hills surrounding. They come up to the hill Violet’s been to a couple times before with her aunt and uncle to admire the view of the valleys bellow. It’s much steeper than the other hills around and since it’s surrounded by a fence, they have to leave their bikes at the bottom and climb up on foot. Both of their faces are flushed by the time they reach the top, just as the sun has completely sunk below the horizon, leaving the sky a blurry grayish-purple haze of evening.
	“Well,” Violet says, gasping, “Five minutes ago, that sunset would have been stunning.”
	Savannah starts laughing with what breath she has left, holding her stomach. “I can’t believe after all that, we missed it.”
	They stare at the darkening view. The valley has pretty much disappeared into night, and the cloud cover has made it so they can’t really see stars yet. The long grass around them scratches Violet’s knees. Since there’s not really any view left to admire, Violet checks her phone again. 
	“Would you put that thing away?” Savannah says, and before Violet can react, grabs the glowing screen out of Violet’s hand. “You’re ruining the moment.”
	Violet laughs. “What moment? There’s nothing to see!”
	Savannah hold Violet’s phone to her chest and just looks at her with a raised eyebrow. “Hey,” she says softly, “What’s up?”
	And of course, Violet melts. “It’s my friends back home. I don’t know what’s up with them. We were so tight when I left in summer, and now Alycia won’t reply to me and you know what Aaron texted me? ‘I think I need help.’”
	Savannah rubs Violet’s arm gently and Violet almost goes into shock. “Oh, honey,” Savannah says. “It’ll be okay. Sometimes people move on and change and that’s okay. And you know it’s hard to keep in touch with people far away. Maybe you’ll go back home to visit and you’ll pick up right where you left, who knows?”
	“But don’t be afraid to move on. I used to let people or places hold me somewhere but it’s really detrimental. Now I say if someone or something doesn’t work for me, I let them go. Maybe it’s okay. You’re having new experiences here, meeting new people, and so is she.”
	“I don’t want her to have to new experiences,” Violet pouts. “I want her to remember I’m the best friend she’s ever had. I want to believe things won’t change and we’ll be friends until we die.”
	Savannah laughs. “If only life worked that way.”
	“What about Aaron? What does that mean, he needs help?” Violet says. “And he like never messages me. It must mean something really bad.”
	Savannah smiles gently. “Well, how about you wait to actually talk to him and find out what’s going on. Sounds like he does need a friend right now.”
	“I don’t know how I can help him from here.”
	“Maybe just listen, for now,” Savannah suggests. 
	Violet wipes a runaway tear from her cheek. “I just wish I could be there. I miss them so much.”
	Savannah smirks. “You don’t wish you could be on a hill in the dark with a ginger English-francophone?”
	“I need two Violets,” Violet says, “One to be here, one to be there.”
	“You know, splitting your soul is dangerous business,” Savannah says mock-seriously. “At least that’s what I learned from Harry Potter.”
	Violet laughs. “I’m glad you learned something from Harry Potter.”
	They’re silent for a few seconds in the dark. Now the twilight purple is gone and it really is getting hard to see, so they should probably get back soon. The grass shhs in the wind. A cow moos on a farm nearby. 
	“Wow it’s cold,” Savannah says, rubbing her arms. 
	“That’s what happens when the sun goes down,” Violet teases.
	“Yeah, let’s go.”

But the entire thing… unless you’re one of my lucky beta readers, I honestly have no idea when you’ll be able to read it!

What other questions do you have for me about my WIP?

New keyboard means a lot more writing!! …right??

Happy June!

Alyssa